Ongoing News

From 10/6/2015 the law changes so that EEA nationals who are jobseekers and their family members with a right to reside in the UK will no longer be treated as being habitually resident for the purposes of Universal Credit entitlement.

Previous to 30/3/2015, a claimant who was found not to be sick(or the legal term would be 'limited capability for work') could reclaim ESA if it had been at least 6 months since that last decision. The law has changed from that date so that this is no longer possible.

From 6/4/2015 people age 55 have more fexibility about what to do with their pension pot- perhaps buy a pension, take out a lump sum or set up 'fexible drawdowns'. How will this effect benefits?

From this Winter onwards, people who live in European countries which have an average temperature above that of the UK, will no longer be entitled to Winter Fuel Payment. For example those living in France, Spain, Portugal and Italy will no longer qualify.

The BBC has seen DWP documents during an investigation into where the earmarked £12billion in benefit cuts may be made-'Carer's Allowance - this could be restricted to those eligible for Universal Credit. Leaked documents suggest about 40% of claimants would lose out. DWP predicted saving - £1bn.

Lord Freud, the Minister for Welfare Reform, has provided an interim response to a Social Security Advisory Committee's report on a proposed 7 day Universal Credit waiting period in which he states:

The government has said in its March stakeholder bulletin that it has improved the ESA50 which is used as part of the work capability assessment for ESA.

From Wednesday 25 February, contact numbers for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) claimants whose date of birth is on or before 8 April 1948 have changed-
For those born on or before 8 April 1948
Telephone: 0345 605 6055 Telephone: 0845 605 6055 Textphone: 0345 604 5312

From 2 March 2015 single/ family claims, including those with children will be taken in those areas that rolled Universal Credit pre 2015.
At the same time the major expansion of Universal Credit this year is rolling out in 4 tranches- Click here for tranche 1and2.

From 30/3/2015, the rule that allows a new claim for ESA after 6 months of being found to not be 'sick' has been removed. We had a recent query in our Members' Area about this-

The government has created a handy online toolkit about changes to the State Retirement Pension due in 2016.

It's that time of the year when the budgets for Discretionary Housing Payments are either overspent or commonly, underspent. We have been hearing from you in our training this week how some Local Authorities are encouraging last minute claims. Contact your Local Authority before April to see if there are any payments on offer.

A New Policy Institute report has found-

The government has announced ‘tranche 2’ of the Local Authority Areas where Universal Credit will be rolled out by local Job Centre plus offices from May – July 2015-

The Discretionary Housing Payment(DHP) budget(2015/2016) has been reduced by £40 million to £125million. The graph opposite shows how the money is allocated.

Click here to see how much your Local Authority has been allocated.

Local Housing Allowance Budget 2015/16.