Welfare rights news

16 December, 2024

Clearance times for mandatory reconsiderations almost doubled between December 2023 and July 2024

Responding to written questions, DWP Minister advises that Department is recruiting extra decision makers and making overtime available to increase productivity

13 December, 2024

DWP estimates that last year’s winter fuel payments contained ‘irregularities’ worth £40 million

Social fund accounts for 2023/2024 also highlight errors in relation to funeral expenses payments, cold weather payments made to people in residential care, and benefits paid to people resident in the EU

13 December, 2024

Scottish Social Justice and Social Security Committee launches inquiry that will explore how well the social security system takes account of domestic abuse

Views also sought on the extent to which public authorities take account of the fact that debts owed to them might have arisen from being in or leaving an abusive relationship

13 December, 2024

Scottish Government commits to development of new Employment Injury Assistance scheme to better reflect the modern economy and workforce

Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice says that responses received to recent consultation reflect a clear view that UK Government's Industrial Injuries Scheme is in need of reform

13 December, 2024

Draft regulations laid in Wales to permit an application for a council tax reduction to be treated as made where a person has claimed universal credit

Written Statement from Cabinet Secretary for Finance confirms that the regulations will be debated early next year ahead of implementation from April 2025

12 December, 2024

Roll-out of online Apply for PIP process is now likely to take ‘several years’

Department explains that due to a 'significant and persistent' increase in the number of claims in the pilot areas, it does not have capacity to deal with what could be 'hundreds of thousands' of additional applications

12 December, 2024

Almost a third of people on universal credit have a health condition or disability that restricts their ability to work

New work capability assessment statistics highlight that 2.3 million people are currently on 'UC health', a 22 per cent increase on last year

12 December, 2024

More than a third of local authorities spent less than 40 per cent of their DHP allocation in the first half of 2024/2025

New DWP statistics also highlight that more than 60 per cent of expenditure was recorded as relating to welfare reform, with the bedroom tax accounting for the greatest share

12 December, 2024

Additional funding for Discretionary Assistance and work to tackle food poverty included in Welsh Government’s draft budget for 2025/2026

Cabinet Secretary for Finance says that while they will not fix everything, the budget proposals 'provide us with optimism about a brighter future'

11 December, 2024

National Audit Office finds that more than half of all carer’s allowance overpayments are caused by claimants exceeding the earnings limit

New report undertaken at the request of the Work and Pensions Committee also finds that total outstanding overpayments of around £250 million last year was more than £100 million more than in 2018/2019

9 December, 2024

Government-backed independent review of carer’s allowance overpayments will ‘get to the bottom of what has been going on’, says Work and Pensions Minister

Terms of reference published today confirm that the review will focus on overpayments accrued due to earnings and how to address them

9 December, 2024

Amendment of tribunal rules to clarify that a mandatory reconsideration by HMRC is not a precondition of appealing a tax credits decision

New statutory instrument

9 December, 2024

Tribunal Procedure Committee confirms intention to amend tribunal procedure rules to ensure decisions may be set aside without an application from a party to the proceedings

Decision follows consultation on proposed change earlier this year and will apply to rules including those for the Social Entitlement Chamber and the Upper Tribunal

9 December, 2024

DWP confirms plan to launch independent ‘Keep Britain Working’ review into how employers can help to reduce health-related inactivity

Review will engage with employers, disabled people, and people with long-term health conditions to help the Department better understand the issue

9 December, 2024

DfC in Northern Ireland consults on potential equality implications of change to the winter fuel payment scheme

View sought on cut to support in light of mitigations such as this winter's one-off 'Emergency Winter Fuel Payment'

6 December, 2024

DWP analysis of its use of machine learning to prevent universal credit advance payment fraud identified statistically significant disparities in relation to protected characteristics

However, Department says that results, including in relation to age and disability, were 'as anticipated' and that continued operation of the model is 'reasonable and proportionate'

6 December, 2024

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Welfare rights

Clearance times for mandatory reconsiderations almost doubled between December 2023 and July 2024

Responding to written questions, DWP Minister advises that Department is recruiting extra decision makers and making overtime available to increase productivity

DWP estimates that last year’s winter fuel payments contained ‘irregularities’ worth £40 million

Scottish Social Justice and Social Security Committee launches inquiry that will explore how well the social security system takes account of domestic abuse

Scottish Government commits to development of new Employment Injury Assistance scheme to better reflect the modern economy and workforce

Draft regulations laid in Wales to permit an application for a council tax reduction to be treated as made where a person has claimed universal credit

Roll-out of online Apply for PIP process is now likely to take ‘several years’

Almost a third of people on universal credit have a health condition or disability that restricts their ability to work

New work capability assessment statistics highlight that 2.3 million people are currently on 'UC health', a 22 per cent increase on last year

More than a third of local authorities spent less than 40 per cent of their DHP allocation in the first half of 2024/2025

Additional funding for Discretionary Assistance and work to tackle food poverty included in Welsh Government’s draft budget for 2025/2026

National Audit Office finds that more than half of all carer’s allowance overpayments are caused by claimants exceeding the earnings limit

Government-backed independent review of carer’s allowance overpayments will ‘get to the bottom of what has been going on’, says Work and Pensions Minister

Amendment of tribunal rules to clarify that a mandatory reconsideration by HMRC is not a precondition of appealing a tax credits decision

Tribunal Procedure Committee confirms intention to amend tribunal procedure rules to ensure decisions may be set aside without an application from a party to the proceedings

DWP confirms plan to launch independent ‘Keep Britain Working’ review into how employers can help to reduce health-related inactivity

DfC in Northern Ireland consults on potential equality implications of change to the winter fuel payment scheme

DWP analysis of its use of machine learning to prevent universal credit advance payment fraud identified statistically significant disparities in relation to protected characteristics

Welfare mitigation payments in Northern Ireland to be extended to 2028

Pension credit claim clearance times now exceed 60 working days despite DWP staff recruitment and redeployment

DWP awards contract to IBM to help it ‘scale up’ its work on the use of Generative AI