Ongoing News

Another set of Universal Credit pilots to help claimants with budgeting and    digital inclusion have been launched– 12 local authorities have been chosen- Bath and North East Somerset Council, Birmingham City Council, Caerphilly County Borough Council, Dumfries and Galloway Council, London Borough of Lewisham, Melton and Rushcliffe Borough Councils (as a partnership), Newport Ci

Between 20 September and 5 October 2012 letters will be sent by the DWP to  claimants who could be affected by the benefit cap (due in April 2013).  

The letters will detail the amount that may be lost and support available to claimants through the DWP, local authorities and other advisory groups.

The DWP currently produces yearly statistics on the take up of Welfare Benefits.  These are invaluable to  help illustrate the scale of the problem of people not claiming their legal entitlement.  It focuses on the amount unclaimed and then we can question why and how we can tackle this. 

The DWP intends to introduce a new sanctions regime for JSA from 22/10/2012 and the ESA Work Related Activity Group from 3/12/2012.  There will be three levels of sanctions for JSA and one level for ESA.

From 1 October 2012, Access to Work will be available to support young disabled people who do voluntary work experience as part of the Youth Contract.  This change will help thousands of young disabled people do voluntary work experience placement over the next three years.   Access to Work  provides Employers a

By the end of October 2012,  all new claims for DLA(children) should be dealt with only at the Midlands Benefit Centre in Birmingham.  All Attendance Allowance claims will be centralised to the Blackpool office.

The government has stated that it intends by early 2013 to have changed regulations and processes so that more people undergoing treatment for cancer will qualify to enter the ESA support group.  The rules wi

Give your views on a new set of guidance for Discretionary Housing Payments for  Local Authorities due to be introduced from April 2013.  This will replace the current guidance that came in March 2011 and is needed because of the large number of change to the Benefits System.

At present people (among others) with the Higher rate of the Mobility Component can apply for the Blue Badge to access a range of parking concessions.  When Personal Independence Payments(PIP) is introduced next year,  how  people get a blue badge is up for discussion.  The Department for Transport is asking for your

Atos HealthCare has been awarded most of the contracts to carry out the medical tests for the forthcoming Personal Independence Payment(PIP). 

The PIP assessment competition has now been completed and the preferred bidders for each of the Lots in Britain are:

Lot 1 – Atos Healthcare- Scotland, NE England, NW England & Isle of Man

The 2011/2012 Annual Report on the Social Fund makes the case for reform of the Social Fund describing it as ‘complex, over-centralised, poorly targeted and failing those it is meant to help the most ‘.  www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/2012-annual-report-social-fund.pdfC:/Users/Neil/Documents/Ableton

A court case has decided that children who would normally have to share a room under the Local Housing Allowance criteria for Housing Benefit may be able to get the rate for one bedroom each.   The Local Authority needs to agree they are unable to share a bedroom because of severe disabilities.  The Court of Appeal judgment in

New regulations are expected to be debated in both Houses of Parliament in September / October 2012 to see the introduction of the so called ‘bedroom tax’ from April 2013.  The change will mean a reduction in the eligible rent for housing benefit(social rented sector) purposes for those who are deemed to be under occupying their property.  Private tenancies already have such restricti