Insight
For Ministers and civil servants alike, the recent National Audit Office and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) reports on progress implementing Universal Credit (UC) will have made uncomfortable reading. The PAC described management of the UC programme as “extraordinarily poor”, pointing to a “shocking absence of financial and other internal controls.”
Research Briefing
The Bill provides the legislative framework for a new Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme to make payments to people with diffuse mesothelioma who were exposed to asbestos either negligently or in breach of statutory duty by an employer, and who are unable to bring a claim for damages against the employer or an Employers’ Liability (EL) insurer.
Research Briefing
People in residential care who receive Pension Credit do not qualify for the Winter Fuel Payment. Other care home residents receive half the full rate (£100, or £150 for people aged 80 or over). This note describes the rules as they apply to people in care homes, and explains the rationale behind them.
Research Briefing
Cold Weather Payments are made from the Social Fund to certain recipients of Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Universal Credit or Pension Credit during periods of very cold weather.
Research Briefing
Information on the current system of bereavement benefits (Bereavement Payment, Bereavement Allowance and Widowed Parent’s Allowance) and on the Government's proposals for a new Bereavement Support Payment.
Research Briefing
In Spending Round 2013 on 26 June, the Chancellor announced that new Universal Credit claimants subject to work-related conditionality who have not had a UC claim in the previous six months will have to wait seven days before becoming eligible for support. The measure is expected to be introduced from April 2015, and ultimately yield savings of around £260 million a year.
Research Briefing
From 1 April 2013, a new advance of benefit facility administered by DWP replaced Social Fund Budgeting Loans, interim payments of benefits and "alignment payments". This note gives details of the new system of Short Term Benefit Advances and Budgeting Advances.
Research Briefing
This paper has been prepared for Second Reading of the Pensions Bill on 17 June 2013
Research Briefing
On 12 February 2013 the Court of Appeal ruled that regulations underpinning some of the Government’s back to work schemes were unlawful and must be quashed. The Bill - which has retrospective effect - would remove the ability for individuals sanctioned for not participating in one of the schemes to challenge the sanction decision on the grounds that the regulations were invalid, or notices given to them were inadequate.
Research Briefing
Starting in selected “Pathfinder” areas from April 2013, Universal Credit (UC) will begin to replace a range of means-tested benefits and tax credits for working age families. The Draft Universal Credit Regulations set out the detailed rules for the new benefit.
Research Briefing
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is to replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for people of working age, starting from April 2013. Part 4 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 provides the framework for PIP, but the detailed rules for the new benefit – including the assessment criteria – are to be set out in regulations.
Research Briefing
Social security legislation requires the Secretary of State to review benefit levels each year to determine whether they have retained their value relative to prices. For most benefits annual uprating is not mandatory, but historically governments have exercised their discretion by increasing the principal means-tested working-age benefits each April in line with prices. In his 2012 Autumn Statement, the Chancellor announced that increases in most working-age benefits would be limited to 1% a year for three years from 2013-14, as part of a package to deliver additional welfare savings of £3.7 billion a year by 2015-16. The Bill amends primary legislation to enable the decisions on uprating in 2014-15 and 2015-16 to be implemented.
Research Briefing
The Work Capability Assessment (WCA) was introduced in October 2008 to assess entitlement to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). Between now and 2014, 1.5 million incapacity benefits claimants will also undergo the WCA. The WCA has however proved controversial and remains so, depsite changes to the test itself and how it is applied as a result of Government an independent reviews.
Research Briefing
As a result of measures in the Welfare Reform Act 2012, certain elements of the discretionary Social Fund scheme will be replaced by new locally based provision delivered by local authorities in England and the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales.
Research Briefing
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is to replace Disability Living Allowance for people of working age, between April 2013 and March 2016. The changes will affect existing working age DLA claimants, as well as those making a new claim. For those existing DLA claimants found not to satisfy the conditions for PIP on reassessment, their DLA will stop.
Total results (page 15 of 19)