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Forum Home  →  Discussion  →  Universal credit administration  →  Thread

UC Map - Updated

Jon Blackwell
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Programmer - Lisson Grove Benefits Program, Brighton

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I’ve updated the UC map with a case-mix filter - that should give a clearer picture of the who/when/where for the spring part of the UC “national roll-out.”

This version shows the situation by the end of Dec 2014 ..

https://www.lgbp.co.uk/ucpcdec14/ucpc.html

.. and this one shows what I think might be the situation by April 2015 ..

https://www.lgbp.co.uk/ucpc/ucpc.html

It adds the LA areas involved in the first wave of the “national expansion” and the changes in areas for claimants with children (coming in later this month and in March) which were announced in today’s commencement order.

I don’t think the actual start dates for the Feb-April areas have been formally announced yet but I understand they’re available locally - if you let me know I can add them.

 

Andrew Dutton
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Welfare rights service - Derbyshire County Council

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Hail Jon - we have been told the single-person UC will come in at the following JCs on following dates:

from 23/2/15 - Ilkeston and Long Eaton
from 23/3/15 – Chesterfield and Staveley

HB Anorak
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Benefits consultant/trainer - hbanorak.co.uk, East London

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Those are really powerful tools Jon - nice work!

Peter Turville
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Welfare rights worker - Oxford Community Work Agency

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Jon

We have been advised the start date for Oxford City, West Oxon, South Oxon & Vale of White Horse is 20/4/15.

It is not clear which post codes this will includes as there are complex overlaps between the district boundaries, postcodes (OX, RG, SN) and current DWP Benefit Centers particularly in South & Vale areas (and their shared main office was burnt down last week - although their HB is provided by Crapita!)

Jon Blackwell
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Programmer - Lisson Grove Benefits Program, Brighton

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Thanks Peter / HBA / Andrew - that’s 6 LA’s start dates (out of 78) - any others out there?

BC Welfare Rights
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The Brunswick Centre, Kirklees & Calderdale

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Calderdale (Halifax, Brighouse and Todmorden Jobcentres) starts 27th April, single claimants only who would otherwise have claimed JSA, standard Gateway conditions as far as I know.

Jon Blackwell
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Programmer - Lisson Grove Benefits Program, Brighton

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Cheers, Billy - now on the map.

Peter Turville
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Welfare rights worker - Oxford Community Work Agency

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Southampton 16/3

Jon Blackwell
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Programmer - Lisson Grove Benefits Program, Brighton

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Thanks for those - Somerset Districts and Southampton added.

Jon Blackwell
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The second wave of LAs were announced today so I’ve added a (rather speculative) July 2015 version of the map here…


http://www.lgbp.co.uk/ucpc/ucpcjuly.html

Daphne
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Wow Jon - that’s fast - they’re keeping you busy!

Jon Blackwell
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I’ve added the new relevant districts and start dates announced today. It’s an even messier picture now you can see the individual districts and sectors.

For the moment it’s at ...

https://www.lgbp.co.uk/ucpcx/ucpcjuly.html


( Note that some nominally “tranche 1 or 2” LA areas will still have large parts where UC won’t be available - see e.g. Aberdeenshire . On the other hand there will be a few areas which are beyond the original LA boundaries. )

Some of the postcodes listed look a bit odd to me (not sure if that’s DWP oddness or mapping error) - let me know if anything locally is on the list ...

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/402501/universal-credit-index-of-relevant-districts.pdf )

... but not on the map (or vice-versa).

Peter Turville
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Hello Jon

Ive had a look at the Oxon postcodes - there do seem to be some strange boundaries with market towns like Wantage & Thame half in & half out! The postcodes are not contiguous with the district boundaries. Also appears to include postcodes that don’t exist!

This does not appear to be, for example, due to the post code crossing a district council boundary. Local DWP say this may be due to the allocation of a postcode to a specific jobcentre. But even this does not make sence as there is no obvious alterntaive jobcentre claimants could sign on at! I have asked them to clarify.

Jon Blackwell
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Peter Turville - 11 February 2015 10:46 AM

Hello Jon

Ive had a look at the Oxon postcodes - there do seem to be some strange boundaries with market towns like Wantage & Thame half in & half out! The postcodes are not contiguous with the district boundaries. Also appears to include postcodes that don’t exist!

This does not appear to be, for example, due to the post code crossing a district council boundary. Local DWP say this may be due to the allocation of a postcode to a specific jobcentre. But even this does not make sence as there is no obvious alterntaive jobcentre claimants could sign on at! I have asked them to clarify.

Hi Peter -  thanks - definitely some anomolies there.  I think the map is showing what’s on the list round Oxon ( there’s quite a few postcodes listed which are non-geographic/non-residential/PO-box only. )

It’s hard to tell whether these are mistakes (see also Kidlington) or just intentional weirdness - I know at least one LA was advised by DWP to double check their list of applicable postcodes for errors.

 

Peter Turville
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Hi Jon

With some further info I have now identified the 20/4 & 4/5 relevant districts 36 & 38 which account for some of the anomolies like Kidlington (& the postcode where we are located!). There are also two postcode sub areas in RD47 (6/7). However there do appear to be a few omissions inc. OX5 2.. & OX9 3.., all of OX17 & OX39 and some which don’t seem to exist (SN6 6..). However the postcode map I was using may not be up to date (but is free) and does not indicate non-residential businesses, hospitals etc that may have a dedicated sub-code.

I suppose the moral is for everyone to cross-check the list and gasp at the logic!

Peter Turville
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Peter Turville - 11 February 2015 03:05 PM

Hi Jon

With some further info I have now identified the 20/4 & 4/5 relevant districts 36 & 38 which account for some of the anomolies like Kidlington (& the postcode where we are located!). There are also two postcode sub areas in RD47 (6/7). However there do appear to be a few omissions inc. OX5 2.. & OX9 3.., all of OX17 & OX39 and some which don’t seem to exist (SN6 6..). However the postcode map I was using may not be up to date (but is free) and does not indicate non-residential businesses, hospitals etc that may have a dedicated sub-code.

I suppose the moral is for everyone to cross-check the list and gasp at the logic!

The plot thickens .....
DWP advise that some postcodes that are ‘shared’ with a Jobcentre outside the county will not be included until that area also goes live. That might explain county ‘border’ discrepancies. However The City council (hardly a disputed border area) cannot find OX2 4, OX2 5 or OX3 5 in the list (nor can I) although they hold benefit claims for claimants with these postcodes!

Is it just Oxfordshire or are these issues repeated elsewhere??

Daphne
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This is the DWP’s version of the UC map - http://stats.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Viewer/index.html?appid=82116e01690d4e8584014362d67900c6

Nowhere near as good as yours Jon!

Jon (CANY)
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Welfare benefits - Craven CAB, North Yorkshire

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Our area, Skipton JCP/Craven, went live on 16th Feb (BD23, BD24, LA2 7, LA2 8, LA6 3). There are some postcode areas which are partially within the district (BD20 and BD22) but don’t appear in the tranche 1 list. However, the LA say that claimants in those areas can still fall under UC, as long as they live in the LA district.

Jon Blackwell
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Programmer - Lisson Grove Benefits Program, Brighton

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Jon (CHDCAB) - 23 February 2015 04:23 PM

Our area, Skipton JCP/Craven, went live on 16th Feb (BD23, BD24, LA2 7, LA2 8, LA6 3). There are some postcode areas which are partially within the district (BD20 and BD22) but don’t appear in the tranche 1 list. However, the LA say that claimants in those areas can still fall under UC, as long as they live in the LA district.

That’s interesting - do you know if they were told that by DWP? As far as I can see there’s no mechanism in the regs to allow that to happen.

Jon (CANY)
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Jon Blackwell - 23 February 2015 05:35 PM
Jon (CHDCAB) - 23 February 2015 04:23 PM

Our area, Skipton JCP/Craven, went live on 16th Feb (BD23, BD24, LA2 7, LA2 8, LA6 3). There are some postcode areas which are partially within the district (BD20 and BD22) but don’t appear in the tranche 1 list. However, the LA say that claimants in those areas can still fall under UC, as long as they live in the LA district.

That’s interesting - do you know if they were told that by DWP? As far as I can see there’s no mechanism in the regs to allow that to happen.

Local JCP [when I rang to query this, nothing in writing] say they are following district boundaries or Jobcentre areas for UC roll-out, not postcodes. We’re not aware of any actual claimants in those postcode areas, either way.

Edit to add:
Just for confirmation, if I try to start a UC claim using those postcodes, it knocks me out: “You cannot claim Universal Credit”.

[ Edited: 26 Feb 2015 at 04:53 pm by Jon (CANY) ]
Peter Turville
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Local Jobcentre should read the Commencemnt Orders and the list of ‘relevant districts’!

They are determined by post code in the regulations! They are defined by sub-post code (for example AB1 7). In tha case of postcode AB1 only those sub-codes wholly within the same district council (or other appropriate local authority area) may be prescribed as part of the relevant district (for example AB1 3,4 & 7 are in but AB1 2, & 6 are not because they are wholly or partly within a different district). Note that sub-codes are not sequential so there may be no AB2 or 5.

This means in practice unless your local postcodes are entirely contigueous with the district boundary then some parts of the district will not be within the ‘relevant district’ and will not be within UC until the district with which they overlap is also prescribed as a ‘relevant district’. So for example in our area some sub-postcodes become a UC area 2 weeks after the adjoining sub-postcodes! This is to ensure that UC is not dealing with housing costs in part of an area that overlaps of the adjoining district Housing Benefit office which is not ‘UC ready’.

Then add in issues where the individual jobcentre area (particularly if it covers a large rural area) overlaps several district (HB) areas - then that entire Jobcentre area won’t go live until the last district is ready to ‘go live’ for UC.

Just imagine a very irregular patchwork quilt that is of no practical use to anybody (and beyond the understanding of DWP staff)!