Ongoing News

At present claimants need to wait 3 days before either Job Seekers Allowance(JSA) or Employment and Support Allowance(ESA) is paid.  The government is thinking of extending this to a 7 day wait from October 2014. The average loss in benefit  '.. at the start of each award will be £40 for JSA claimants and £50 for ESA claimants.', according to the DWP.

Universal Credit claims are now being taken in Shotton, North Wales, from single, childless claimants who are looking for work and don't have mortgage costs. This is the tenth pathfinder area to start taking claims- others are Tameside, Wigan, Oldham, Warrington, Hammersmith, Rugby, Inverness, Harrogate and Bath. Claims from couples are due to start soon in Greater Manchester.

Conditionality is what a claimant needs to do to keep their benefit. From 28/4/2014 theLaw has changed (here's the guidance) to increase that conditionality.

Thank you for all those of you who attended the Personal Independence Payment(PIP) 2014 courses recently (open and in house courses).

We'd like to share a few of the points during the many interesting discussions that were had-

Sanctions have risen in the last year. During the same session(see above) with the Scottish Parliament's Welfare Reform Committee, Neil Couling, was asked whether he could '...categorically tell us that you are not driving a target to have a set proportion of people going through the system who have to be sanctioned?'and replied'... Yes—exactly....

Charities have, for some time, suggested that the rise in the use of food banks is in large part down to Benefit cuts, delays in Benefit payments and sanctions. Food banks have produced evidence from their users about why they have asked for help and benefits cuts have been given as a leading reason.

We have heard from one of our subscribers in East Anglia,  about a case concerning a disabled couple who could not share a bedroom because of disability.  The tribunal allowed the extra bedroom saying '"It was accepted that they are partners but also that because of their disability they cannot share a bedroom.

We are now taking orders for our popular colour Weekly Beneft Rates Posters 2014–15. Costs per poster are £4 for A3 size and £6 for A2 size (plus a total of £2.25 postage for all orders).

The posters include the latest rates for Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payments, Tax Credits and Housing Benefts, as well as the Beneft Cap.

The system of mandatory revisions before appeal is being introduced for tax credit decisions from April 2014 onwards. Clients should not be put off appealing, but instead just need to ask for a mandatory revision/ reconsiderationwhichisaninternalreviewconductedbyHMRC. Iftheclientisstillnothappytheycanthengofor an independent appeal.

There is new guidance on what amounts to 'exempt accommodation' for benefit rules and therefore affects which clients may be exempt from many of the main welfare reform changes.

So which contract have ATOS lost? ATOS have lost the contract for the Work Capability Assessment(WCA- the medical tests for Employment and Support Allowance and Universal Credit).

CLICK HERE for our guide to Benefit Changes in the Budget 2014.