Read the latest social welfare news from around the UK.
passporting under Universal Credit still undecided
'Mr Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how the qualifying conditions for each passported benefit for which he is responsible will change under universal credit. [157425]
Partnership Contacts for Policy Work
AS PIP is rolled out, it’s important that if your clients are having problems that the Department for Work and Pensions(DWP) know about this and can respond. Here’s a list of contacts released by the DWP ’Who to contact about claimants with disabilities/long term health conditions, pensioners and welfare reform’-
Discretionary Assistance Fund for Wales
In Wales, the replacement for Community Care Grants and Crisis Loans is the ‘Discretionary Assistance Fund’. Call 0800 859 5924 or
More Exceptions for the Bedroom Tax?
A case has recently been heard in Judicial Review proceedings at the High Court about whether the new bedroom tax(or under occupancy in the social rented sector) rules discriminate against disabled people. 10 claimants who are either disabled or live with a disabled person are taking the case jointly.
National roll out of PIP begins this month
Clients age 16– 64 with a disability will claim Personal Independence Payment(PIP) from 10/6/2013 instead of Disability Living Allowance. Unlike many of the recent changes in April 2013, such as the bedroom tax and local Council Tax Support which affected new and existing claimants, the introduction of PIP applies initially only to new claimants. Existing claimants
View On line Claims for Universal Credit
Click here to have a look at the online claim form being used in the Pathfinder area in Tameside. Note ‘Your session will time out and you’ll have to start again if you’re inactive for more than 20 minutes’. At the moment there does not seem to be a function to allow a person to save the claim as they proceed.
Buy A3 or A2 Colour copies of 2013/ 2014 Welfare Benefit Rates Poster
email us with your order to buy colour copies of our 2013/ 2014 Benefit Rates Poster(A3 £4, or A2 £6 +a total of £2.25 p&p).
Personal Independence Payment Starts
Pilots for Personal Independence Payment have started in some area of the country ahead of a national roll out for new claims from June 2013. Areas affected are those in postcode areas BL, CA, CH (except CH1, CH4, CH5, CH6, CH7, and CH8), CW, DH, DL (except DL6, DH7, DL8, DL9, DL10 and DL11), FY, L, LA (except LA2 7, LA2 8, LA6 2 and LA6 3), M, NE, PR, SR, TS (except TS9), WA and WN. We have heard from support workers in these areas that the initial telephone call to make a claim can take 45 minutes. During this call all the non disability questions are asked (a PIP1 form is completed on computer by the DWP). If successful, a claim is then started and the client is sent a paper form(PIP2) asking about the disability questions. New claims for DLA are still possible during May for clients not in the above postcode areas. Click here for our Personal Independent Payment 2013 course.
Job Seekers Allowance Claims ‘Digital by Default’
From April, most claimants will be directed to claim Job Seekers Allowance on line unless ‘vulnerable’ or aged under 18/ without a National Insurance Number/ with appointees. Introduction to Welfare Benefits 2013 course.
Will Universal Credit Incentivise Work? Our View
The current system of means tested benefits are seen as complex. They are viewed as acting as a disincentive to getting into work. After a small earnings disregards (for example £5 for single people), benefits such as Job Seekers Allowance (income based) are withdrawn £1 for £1 as a client enters work. Similarly taper rates for Housing Benefit and Local Council Tax
‘Supported Housing’ same under Universal Credit
Steve Webb (Minister of State (Pensions), Work and Pensions ) has confirmed that ‘The definition of supported exempt accommodation in universal credit remains the same as that in housing benefit.’ This means that housing costs will continue for this group of claim
Some of the Changes to Benefits this April
- Replacement of Council Tax Benefit with a localised Council Tax Support. Replacement of Community Care Grants and most Crisis Loans with locally Adminstered Assistance.
- The bedroom tax.
- The Benefit Cap will start a little later than planned. It will apply from 15 April 2013 in Bromley, Croydon, Enfield and Haringey-12 DWP staff have been co-located to help there. It will be rolled out in all other local authorities from July 2013 onwards(click here to see numbers affected in your area).
- PIP to start in some pilot areas. From 8/4/2013 a new War Pension related benefit (like Personal Independence Payment) called Armed Forces Independence Payment.
- Most working age benefits will rise at 1% per year from 2013 for 3 years(exceptions are pensions– will rise by 2.5%, and benefits relating to disability and carers– will rise by inflation). Local Housing Allowance will rise by 2.2%.
Vulnerable Claimants and Universal Credit
Mark Hoban, MP, has stated ‘Universal credit will have a process in place to identify claimants who are vulnerable at the start of their universal credit claim.
Personal Independence Payment – How to View Descriptors
Personal Independence Payment will be assessed under a scoring system involving descriptors and a points based system (like Employment and Support Allowance). A new regulation has usefully prescribed that when helping clients to decide if they can or can’t perform certain tasks, the following s
Budget 2013
The budget this year was relatively quiet in terms of big changes to the Benefits System. There was mention that the overall Social Security budget would be capped at some point in the future. Key Benefit announcements are-