Changes To Benefit Entitlements From April 2017

·         Employment and Support Allowance work-related activity group - Work Related Activity component is being abolished so those in this group will receive the same rate of benefit as those claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance

·         Families with children - support provided through Child Tax Credit will be limited to two children; Universal Credit will be limited to two children

·         New taper rate - a reduction in the taper rate to 63%, from 65%

·         Universal Credit and the benefit cap - From 1 April 2017 if a claimant is in work they will be exempt from the Benefit Cap if weekly earnings are equal to or greater than the equivalent of 16 times National Minimum/Living Wage rate, rather than a flat rate of £430 per month/£100 per week.

Read more on the NHF website.

Tory And SNP MPs Demand Benefit Cut Debate

Some Conservative MPs are to join the SNP in demanding a debate on postponing disability benefit cuts. They will jointly call for a debate on plans to cut Employment and Support Allowance payments for sick and disabled people by £29 a week. One MP said there could be an attempt to force the government to concede at next year's Budget. The DWP said savings would be reinvested in a new package of support. Ministers announced draft plans for extra support for people affected by the cut - known as the work-related activity group - but worried Conservatives say they will not be content unless staff and funding is promised to help sick and disabled people. Read more on the BBC website.

Housing Benefit: Supported Housing – Parliamentary Written Answer

Mr Roger Godsiff:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether housing benefit recipients living in supported housing due to mental health problems will be subject to the benefit cap.

Caroline Nokes: People receiving a range of disability benefits including Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment or who receive the support component of Employment and Support Allowance, are exempt from the benefit cap. The benefit cap does apply to claimants living in specified accommodation if they do not meet the criteria for an exemption but any Housing Benefit they receive will not be taken into account when determining whether the cap should be applied

Government Cuts Mortgage Support

The amount of money struggling homeowners can claim to help them meet monthly mortgage repayments is to fall in July, after the government cut the interest rate used to make the calculations. Currently homeowners entitled to support for mortgage interest (SMI) can get help with monthly payments on a mortgage worth up to £200,000 based on an interest rate of 3.63%. But following a sharp fall in high-street mortgage rates, the rate will be reduced to 3.12%. SMI is a means-tested benefit that can be claimed by people receiving income-based jobseekers allowance, employment and support allowance and pension credit. It is designed to cover a borrower’s interest payments to their bank or building society, but not the original capital they borrowed. It is currently claimed by 161,000 people. Read more on the This is Money website.

Welfare Delays Cause Soaring Numbers Using Food Banks

Delays and gaps in the welfare state are behind the soaring numbers turning to food banks, according to new research into those relying on charity in Britain. Minor adjustments to the benefits system could prevent many from needing emergency food, research commissioned by Oxfam, Child Poverty Action Group, Church of England and The Trussell Trust has found. For more than half of those interviewed, the immediate trigger which sent them to a food bank was linked to problems with welfare, including waiting for benefits to be paid, sanctions, problems with Employment Support Allowance or missing tax credits. Read more on the Independent website.

DWP Denies Risk of Breaching Welfare Spending Cap

The DWP has denied that the government risks breaching its self-imposed cap on welfare spending because of the rising cost of disability benefits.  Leaked documents suggested that the government was running out of options to cut costs, while employment and support allowance (ESA) costs continued to rise. Internal government memos reportedly said that the ESA was "one of the largest fiscal risks currently facing the Government", leaving it "vulnerable to a breach" of the cap, which was set at £119.5bn for 2015-16. According to the documents, the cost of ESA was projected to rise by nearly £13bn between the current financial year and 2018-19, largely due to people moving on to the benefit from jobseeker's allowance, which has more sanctions for misconduct. Read more on the Guardian website.

Government 'Could Breach Its Own Welfare Spending Cap'

The government could breach its self-imposed cap on welfare spending as a result of the cost of the main sickness benefit, leaked documents say. Internal memos suggest Employment and Support Allowance costs are rising and few cost-cutting options are available. In March, MPs agreed a 2015-16 welfare cap of £119.5bn, excluding the state pension and some unemployment benefits. Ministers say suggestions the cap might be breached are "outrageous" but Labour says the system is at "crisis point". Read more on the BBC website.

Sanctions and Homelessness

The government has published statistics revealing the number of sanctions imposed on benefit claimants, but what do these statistics tell us and what is the impact on homeless people?  The number of people being sanctioned during the first three quarters of 2013 rose steadily. Although numbers dipped slightly in Q4 2013, figures were still 7% higher amongst Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) claimants than Q4 2012. The most notable increase has been amongst Employment Support Allowance claimants, which was 188% higher in Q4 2013 compared to Q4 2012. These figures show that sanctions are affecting a growing number of claimants. This is particularly concerning for homeless people, as research has shown that they are more likely to be sanctioned than the general population. Read more on the Homeless Link website.

DWP: Housing Benefit Will Be Sanctioned

Part-time workers judged to be doing too little to find full-time work face having their benefit for housing costs sanctioned by the government for the first time under universal credit. Under the present system housing benefit is paid direct to landlords and sanctions can only be applied to out-of-work benefits. Landlords have been lobbying the government to exempt the housing element of the single payment from sanctions in all circumstances. However, the DWP has confirmed that under universal credit, where a tenant is working less than 35 hours a week at minimum wage and is not eligible for JSA or ESA, the housing element can be sanctioned instead. Read more on Inside Housing.

‘Unintended’ Housing Benefit Cuts Hit Tenants

Councils are cutting off housing benefit payments to tenants who are entitled to receive them, as an unintended consequence of sanctions applied to other benefits. Jobseeker’s allowance and employment support allowance claimants can have sanctions applied to their claims if they miss appointments or fail to do enough to find work. But many are also having their housing benefit cut, because they are unaware that they need to tell councils their financial circumstances have changed. Local authorities are stopping claims as a result. Charities warn they are dealing with a rising number of housing benefit problems as the number of JSA and ESA sanctions soar - because many recipients don’t realise the reductions could affect their claim. Read more on Inside Housing.

MPs to Quiz Duncan Smith over Universal Credit Delays

Problems surrounding the implementation of a central pillar of government changes to the welfare system are to be examined by MPs. Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith will be asked to explain why Universal Credit will not be paid to about 700,000 people until after a planned 2017 deadline.  The Work and Pensions Select Committee will also ask about IT system problems.

Mr Duncan Smith told the Committee in July and the Commons in September that the 2017 plan remained in place. But he has now said some people receiving Employment Support Allowance may not be transferred in time. Read more on the BBC website.

Campaigners Voice Outrage at DWP’s Regime of Destitution

The DWP is operating a draconian sanctions regime that often penalises claimants for the department’s own mistakes, leaving people at risk of severe hardship and even homelessness, claims the charity Crisis. The charity spoke out against the DWP’s sanctions regime after the department released new figures on the number of sanctions imposed on those claiming Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). Crisis made its claims with the publication of new report, ‘Dashed Hopes, Lives on Hold’, which has gathered the experiences of the charity’s clients placed on the Work Programme. It claims that many of the sanctions imposed were “unfair” or made in error.  Download a copy of the report from the Crisis website.

Universal Credit – Parliamentary Written Answer

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will exempt families with an unemployed non-dependant aged under 25 years old from housing cost contributions following the introduction of universal credit. [

Steve Webb: It is a long-established principle that someone living in a benefit claimant's home should be expected to contribute towards the rent. This principle will be carried forward into universal credit, although the system will be simpler and will provide improved work incentives. We are introducing a single flat rate of housing cost contribution which will apply, irrespective of income, to non-dependants aged 21 and over.  While many non-dependants aged under the age of 21 are currently expected to make a contribution in housing benefits, under universal credit all will be exempt. For those aged 21 and over, a contribution will be expected only where the person is either in work or there is an expectation that they should be working/can return to work. A contribution will not be expected if the person is a carer, is responsible for a young child, or is in receipt of a specified disability benefit.

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will exempt people who are (a) in receipt of employment and support allowance and (b) awaiting a work capability assessment from housing cost contributions under universal credit.

Steve Webb: It is a long-established principle that someone living in a benefit claimant's home should be expected to contribute towards the rent. This principle will be carried forward into universal credit, although the system will be simpler and will provide improved work incentives.  Employment and support allowance does not of itself exempt a non-dependant from the contribution in housing benefit. This principle will be carried into universal credit.

Conservative Claims about Benefits Are Not Just Spin, They're Making It Up

Government ministers like Iain Duncan Smith and Grant Shapps are misrepresenting official statistics for political gain.  In the past few weeks, readers of UK newspapers have learned a number of things about the UK social security system and those who rely on it. They have learned that 878,000 claimants have left employment and support allowance (ESA) to avoid a tough new medical assessment; that thousands have rushed to make claims for disability living allowance (DLA) before a new, more rigorous, assessment is put in place; and that one in four of those set to be affected by the government's benefit cap have moved into work in response to the policy. These stories have a number of things in common. Each is based on an official statistic. Each tells us about how claimants have responded to welfare policy changes. Each includes a statement from a member of the government. And each is demonstrably inaccurate.  Read more on the Guardian website.

Should Social Landlords Pass On The Bedroom Tax To Tenants?

The idea of social landlords reducing rents by universally reclassifying their properties against those hit by the bedroom tax may seem absurd, but let's do the maths.  We already know there aren't enough alternative one-bedroom properties for the 400,000 who qualify for them; there are only 60,000 relets of existing one bedroom properties each year.  Even if all one bedroom homes we have were only allocated to underoccupiers from now on, some would wait for seven years while being charged as much as £25 extra a week from an income of as little as £75. Add on council tax, utilities and existing debts, and it becomes an impossible, unaffordable situation for many.  The impact will be worst in the north of England, hit by higher levels of underoccupation and by other benefit cuts such as changes to employment and support allowance, tax credits, incapacity benefit and council tax. Recent estimates suggest that working age households will face an additional £4.50 a week in council tax, while across the north east of England 50,000 underoccupiers will need to pay an additional £30m a year in rent. The government's discretionary housing payment (DHP) fund stands at £1.25m, leaving a shortfall of at least £28m in help available for underoccupiers.  This won't improve much even when a promised DHP increase kicks in next year. Durham county council has estimated the impact of welfare reform as a whole on the local economy in 2013 at £150m, worse in following years. That's £150m less going into local pockets, businesses and services when it already has the highest worklessness and the lowest job creation rates in the country.  Read more of this opinion piece on the Guardian website.

Benefit Reforms Will Cause 'Family Breakdown'

New rules will leave young benefit claimants struggling to contribute towards their households’ rent, leading to family breakdown, housing bodies have warned. In its response to the SSAC’s consultation on regulations for the universal credit, the National Housing Federation has voiced concern over a change to rules for ‘non-dependents’. Deductions from benefit are made for non-dependent members of the household, such as grown-up children. Currently, households with people claiming jobseekers allowance or employment support allowance under the age of 25 are exempt from deductions, while those in work can lose between £11 and £74 a week from their housing benefit depending on their income.  The new system brings in a flat rate deduction of £65 per month for everyone over the age of 21, regardless of their employment status. This means working non-dependents will be better off but those aged 21 to 25 years on benefit will be hit by the deduction for the first time.  The NHF believes this is unfair as people aged under 25 years receive less jobseekers allowance and will receive less universal credit. The NHF believes this will make it more difficult for these non-dependents to contribute to housing costs.  Homelessness charity Shelter has warned the move could lead to family breakdown.  Download a copy of the NHF response to the consultation below.

MPs Block Lords Welfare Challenge

MPs have overturned a series of defeats inflicted on the government's welfare reform bill in the House of Lords. The coalition won seven key votes in the Commons, rejecting amendments made by peers and reinstating their original proposals into the legislation. These include plans for a £26,000 annual limit on total household benefits, including child benefit. Ministers say they will use a rule known as "financial privilege" to ensure Parliament approves the cap.
This will mean the Lords cannot send the same amendments back to the Commons when they re-consider the bill for a final time, preventing what is known as "ping pong" between the two chambers and effectively ending parliamentary opposition. The measure, which the government says it will also apply to Lords amendments on employment and support allowance (ESA), relates to the principle that the Lords cannot oppose tax and spending decisions agreed by the Commons. Read more on the BBC website.

Welfare Amendments Face Government Fight

The government will seek to overturn all amendments to the Welfare Reform Bill when it returns to the House of Commons later in the year. The government was defeated in December over plans for financial penalties for social housing tenants with spare rooms. An amendment tabled by Lord Best, which allows tenants one spare room if there is no other suitable accommodation was passed by the Lords in December. The government also lost three votes last week over plans to restrict Employment and Support Allowance. A Number 10 spokesperson said the cabinet has now agreed to seek to overturn the amendments in the Commons. Read more on Inside Housing.

Government Urged To Re-Think Welfare Changes after Crushing Lords Defeat

The Government has been urged to re-think its welfare reform plans after they were dealt a crushing blow in the House of Lords. Peers voted in favour of ensuring young disabled people continue to be eligible for employment support allowance (ESA). They would have lost their entitlement under Government plans. The Government was also defeated on plans to means-test ESA payments for disabled people after only a year and to time-limit ESA for those undergoing cancer treatment. Shadow work and pensions secretary Liam Byrne urged ministers not to try to reinstate the measures in the House of Commons. Read more on 24dash.