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  3. Social Policy Publications
  4. Welfare and pensions
  5. Benefits
  6. Family benefits
  7. Page 6

Family benefits

  • Research Briefing

    Draft Universal Credit Regulations 2013

    Thursday, 07 February, 2013

    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
    • Benefits policy
    • Family benefits
    • Housing benefits
    • Sickness, disability and carers' benefits
    • Working age benefits
  • Research Briefing

    Welfare Benefits Uprating Bill

    Friday, 04 January, 2013

    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
    • Benefits policy
    • Family benefits
    • Housing benefits
    • Sickness, disability and carers' benefits
    • Work and incomes
    • Working age benefits
  • Research Briefing

    Localisation of the Social Fund

    Friday, 16 November, 2012

    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
    • Benefits policy
    • Community care
    • Family benefits
    • Local government
    • Sickness, disability and carers' benefits
    • Working age benefits
  • Research Briefing

    Universal Credit: an introduction

    Friday, 09 November, 2012

    Starting from next year, Universal Credit (UC) will begin to replace a range of means-tested benefits and tax credits for working age families. The intention is to simplify and streamline the benefits system for claimants, making it easier for people to understand; to reduce the financial and administrative barriers to work; to tackle in-work poverty; and to bear down on fraud and error.

    • Research Briefing
    • Benefits policy
    • Family benefits
    • Housing benefits
    • Sickness, disability and carers' benefits
    • Working age benefits
  • Research Briefing

    Cold Weather Payments for winter 2012/2013

    Thursday, 25 October, 2012

    Cold Weather Payments of 25 pounds a week are made to certain recipients of Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance or Pension Credit during periods of very cold weather. To ‘trigger’ the payments, the average temperature at a specified weather station must be recorded as, or forecast to be, zero degrees or below for seven consecutive days.

    • Research Briefing
    • Energy
    • Family benefits
    • Pensions
    • Sickness, disability and carers' benefits
    • Working age benefits
  • Research Briefing

    Child Benefit for higher income families

    Monday, 16 April, 2012

    At the Conservative Party conference in October 2010 the Chancellor announced that from January 2013 Child Benefit would be withdrawn from families with a higher rate taxpayer. Revised proposals were set out in Budget 2012 under which Child Benefit will instead be clawed back gradually from families with a taxpayer with an income between £50,000 and £60,000 a year.

    • Research Briefing
    • Benefits policy
    • Children and families
    • Family benefits
    • Tax
    • Working age benefits
  • Research Briefing

    Changes to the Working Tax Credit hours rules for couples with children from April 2012

    Monday, 26 March, 2012

    At the moment, couples with children need only work at least 16 hours a week in order to qualify for Working Tax Credit. From April 2012, this will increase to 24 hours for most couples. Over 200,000 families will be affected, and there are concerns about the impact on those unable to increase their hours to meet the new threshold. The change does not affect lone parents, for whom the 16 hour threshold for WTC will still apply.

    • Research Briefing
    • Benefits policy
    • Family benefits
    • Tax
    • Working age benefits
  • Research Briefing

    Welfare Reform Bill 2010-12: amendments at the Lords Committee and Report stages

    Friday, 27 January, 2012

    The Welfare Reform Bill has its Third Reading in the House of Lords on 31 January 2012. At Report Stage in the Lords, the government suffered defeats on amendments relating to under-occupation of social housing, the Employment and Support Allowance, the proposed benefit cap, and child support maintenance

    • Research Briefing
    • Benefits policy
    • Child support
    • Family benefits
    • Housing benefits
    • Sickness, disability and carers' benefits
    • Working age benefits
  • Research Briefing

    Uprating of social security benefits

    Monday, 05 December, 2011

    Most but not all benefits are uprated in April each year, by reference to the increase in prices over the year to the previous September. The current Government has adopted the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) as the measure of inflation for uprating purposes. CPI tends to rise more slowly than the measures used. previously. The CPI for September 2011 was higher than expected, and media reports have suggested that the Government was considering changing the basis for uprating benefits. In the Autumn Statement the Chancellor announced that while benefits would increase by the full CPI from April 2011, the couple and lone parent elements of Working Tax Credit would be frozen and the child element of Child Tax Credit would increase by less than was planned.

    • Research Briefing
    • Benefits policy
    • Family benefits
    • Housing benefits
    • Pensions
    • Sickness, disability and carers' benefits
    • Working age benefits
  • Research Briefing

    EEA nationals: the ‘right to reside’ requirement for benefits

    Monday, 05 December, 2011

    To access most social security benefits and tax credits, a EEA national has to have a 'right to reside' in the UK. Broadly speaking, this means they must be economically active. The European Commission has stared infingement proceedings agains the UK on the basis that the test discriminates against non-UK nationals from other Member States, but the UK Government has pedged to fight any challenge.

    • Research Briefing
    • Benefits policy
    • Family benefits
    • Housing benefits
    • Immigration
    • Working age benefits
  • Research Briefing

    Welfare Reform Bill 2010-12: Commons Report Stage and Third Reading

    Friday, 26 August, 2011

    The Commons Report Stage and Third Reading of the Welfare Reform Bill took place on 13 and 15 June. Amendments relating to the Universal Credit, housing support, the Social Fund and the Personal Independence Payment were debated, but other groups of amendments –including those on Employment and Support Allowance changes and the benefit cap – were not discussed as proceedings on each day reached the deadlines specified in the programme motion before they could be considered.

    • Research Briefing
    • Benefits policy
    • Family benefits
    • Housing benefits
    • Pensions
    • Working age benefits
  • Research Briefing

    The Habitual Residence Test

    Wednesday, 18 May, 2011

    The Habitual Residence Test is applied to people (unless they are exempt categories) who have recently arrived in the country and who make a claim for certain means-tested social security benefits, or seek housing assistance from a local authority.

    • Research Briefing
    • Benefits policy
    • Family benefits
    • Housing benefits
    • Immigration
    • Working age benefits
  • Research Briefing

    Welfare Reform and the Universal Credit

    Thursday, 17 February, 2011

    On 11 November 2010 the Government set out plans for a 'Universal Credit' to replace most in work and out of work benefits for people of working age. This note gives an overview of the main features of the Universal Credit and looks at some of the issues raised by the proposals.

    • Research Briefing
    • Benefits policy
    • Family benefits
    • Housing and planning
    • Sickness, disability and carers' benefits
    • Working age benefits
  • Research Briefing

    Restriction of the Sure Start Maternity Grant

    Thursday, 10 February, 2011

    The June 2010 Budget announced that from April 2011 the Sure Start Maternity Grant would be restricted to the first child only in a family, saving around £73 million a year. The Social Security Advisory Committee believes that the measure "lacks a coherently argued rationale", and the House of Lords Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee has suggested that the Government needs to set out more clearly the rationale for the change and its anticipated impact. A particular concern is that changes to the Social Fund Budgeting Loans scheme to mitigate the impact on families will not come into effect until early 2012.

    • Research Briefing
    • Benefits policy
    • Children and families
    • Family benefits
    • Working age benefits
  • Research Briefing

    Cold Weather Payments for winter 2010/2011

    Thursday, 23 December, 2010

    Cold Weather Payments are made to certain claimants of means-tested benefits during periods of very cold weather. To trigger the £25 payments, the average temperature in an area must be recorded as, or forecast to be, 0°C or below for seven consecutive days.

    • Research Briefing
    • Energy
    • Family benefits
    • Pensions
    • Sickness, disability and carers' benefits
    • Working age benefits

Total results (page 6 of 7)

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