Forum Home → Discussion → Universal credit administration → Thread
UC and Healthy Start
Does anyone know what entitlement to Healthy Start vouchers there will be via Universal Credit - and has any legislation been published (on a quick search I cannot find any; it is not covered in the main consequential regs). I’m thinking of course about the free school lunches amendment in England which means all on UC will be entitled and hoping something similar might happen for Healthy Start…?
Any leads welcome.
Will
Does anyone know what entitlement to Healthy Start vouchers there will be via Universal Credit - and has any legislation been published (on a quick search I cannot find any; it is not covered in the main consequential regs). I’m thinking of course about the free school lunches amendment in England which means all on UC will be entitled and hoping something similar might happen for Healthy Start…?
Any leads welcome.
Will
Hi I’m afraid I’ve not seen anything on Healthy Start passporting.
Just on the FSM passporting : is that confirmed as long term policy? I suspect it could just be a holding position which will be reviewed after the Pathfinder.
i think you’re right - that whats been said in explanatory memoranda for passporting regs so far - i think it’s because people on UC in pathfinders are people who would have been eligible anyway.
Yes - this makes sense - but then it also make sense to do the same thing for Healthy Start in the Pathfinder. Nobody could be eligible for Healthy Start when they first claim UC in the Pathfinder (as not supposed to be claiming UC if pregnant or have children), but if a claimant becomes pregnant or has responsibility for children under 4 whilst on UC would be important to include HS.
I’ll ask the DWP and see if anything is forthcoming!
The Healthy Start website suggests that someone on UC should ring the Healthy Start line to see if they qualify for Healthy Start. This has been confirmed by DWP, and suggests that not everyone on UC will qualify even in Pathfinder, which does seem a bit odd given the school meals provision.
The Healthy Start website suggests that someone on UC should ring the Healthy Start line to see if they qualify for Healthy Start. This has been confirmed by DWP, and suggests that not everyone on UC will qualify even in Pathfinder, which does seem a bit odd given the school meals provision.
It is odd, isn’t it. The advice from the helpline is to send in proof that you’re on UC and they’ll ‘look at it’ but they can’t say if you’ll qualify automatically (That seems reasonable enough on the part of the helpline - if policy hasn’t been decided at this stage then the fault lies elsewhere.)
I have written to the DWP again to ask them exactly what is happening with UC and Healthy Start, explaining that we’re approaching a ‘need to know’ situation here, and also that surely they have to amend the Healthy Start Scheme etc regs in order to allow any UC claimant to have the vouchers….
If I don’t get a response, I might try a Freedom of Info request, but I’m reasonably hopeful that the response this time will be less vague.
we’ve been puzzling about passports under UC too ...
it seems DWP have put the onus on OGDs (other government departments) to decide where the threshold for passporting should be set for those departments’ services (eg Dept of Education and free school meals)
The minutes of the April 2013 SSAC meeting have a useful summary of DWP’s current position
http://ssac.independent.gov.uk/pdf/minutes/minutes-10-04-13.pdf
“2.3 The Committee’s report had highlighted the need for an interim solution for passported benefits during the period of the phased rollout of Universal Credit. The Department had accepted that approach and was proposing three stages to the reform of passported benefits:
? a short-term solution;
? an interim solution; and
? a longer-term strategic solution.
2.4 The plans for the short-term solution had now received cross-Whitehall agreement. There were essentially two options: to passport all Universal Credit claimants, or to use the Universal Credit award notice as a way of identifying whether people met an eligibility criteria. Most departments had opted to passport all Universal Credit claimants in the short term (this was not expected to exceed 100,000 people by March 2014). The short-term solution would draw to a close as the numbers of people flowing on to Universal Credit increased and an interim solution would be adopted. The interim solution had not yet been agreed by all OGDs. Most were looking at a way of differentiating between claimants for example by using earnings thresholds and were seeking to target passported benefits at a cohort similar to those who were eligible under existing income related benefits.”
not greatly informative, but the position seems to be ‘we’ll have a short term fix and think about something more medium term later’
I think you are right - here’s Employment Minister’s answer on when governement will announce arrangements for passporting under UC from yesterday’s Hansard -
Yes, that does seem to be the position - and it’s similar for Healthy Start. The DWP have since written to me to clarify that:
The Healthy Start scheme regs are not being amended between now and October. They will be amended from October and it is likely that there will be some kind of earnings threshold to get Healthy Start vouchers via UC (ie claimants will need to have income below a certain level, yet to be determined).
Meanwhile, if someone getting UC in the Pathfinder area becomes pregnant or takes on responsibility for a child under 4, they will need to ring the Healthy Start helpline to see if they can get help. The Department of Health cannot give them Healthy Start vouchers (because the regs do not allow for this), but will make a discretionary payment to them equivalent to the value of Healthy Start vouchers they could have applied for if they were able to claim any of the existing qualifying benefits (ie if they were not in a Pathfinder area).
worth waiting for…. new healthy start eligibility rules for UC claimants in force from 1 November 2016 - must have total earned income of £408 or less in either the most recent complete assessment period or the assessment period immediately preceding that, if single or one of joint claimants.
SI.No.985/2016 available from legislation.gov.uk