JSA and Hardship Payments

Does anyone know whether child tax credit should be taken into account as income for hardship payments - lone parent is therefore effectively disqualified where arguably is more vulnerable because of the children. Reg 145 - 6 JSA regs deals with reduction of personal allowance and Schedule 7 para 6B JSA regs states that CB and CTC should disregarded in calculation of Income for JSA. Does not appear to say specificically anywhere that same should apply to calculation of income for hardship payments though common sense would seem to suggest that it should - Jobcentre think otherwise but have yet to provide any guidance or regs to back this up - if anyone has dealt with this before would appreciate some advice

Hi yes I’ve seen that too but are there any regulations that specifically refer to what can or cannot be taken into account? -  my colleague has spoken to Cpag and they were a bit stuck on it so just wondered if anyone else had come across it

Reg 140(5)(b) of the JSA Regs.

Still possibly challengeable then - interpretation of resources and whether it is reasonable to expect the claimant to rely on them is down to the discretion of the decision maker. Whereas possible loans from family or friends are one thing, It does seem particularly unjust to include money for children, especially when pre tax credits, a claimant’s applicable amount would have included an allowance for their children

We have had problems with the DWP taking CB and CTC into account and then refusing a hardship payment. Our Chief Exec has written to our MP (Derek Twigg) who in turn wrote to Chris Grayling MP. In his reply (dated 18/11/11) Chris Grayling MP said the following, “it does appear to be the case that a strict interpretation of Regulation 140(5)(b) might have an unintended effect. The regulation currently requires the family’s total resources to be compared with the applicable amount of Jobseeker’s Allowance that could be payable. ... the problem for families is that the applicable amount only includes an amount for the claimant and any partner, and this can often be lower than the total weekly amount of Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit payable for children. This may lead a decision maker to conclude that the family as a whole is not in hardship.  ... we will urgently review this issue and, if necessary, make changes to guidance or legislation to remove any possible risk of claimants with children being disadvantaged whan applying for a hardship payment.”

welcome aboard phil!

:)