Welfare rights news and case law

11 October, 2021

Amendments to social security regulations in Northern Ireland in relation to rights of third-country nationals lawfully living and working in the UK after exit from the EU

New statutory rule

8 October, 2021

Carer’s Allowance Supplement (Scotland) Bill passed unanimously by Scottish Parliament

Bill provides for December 2021 payment of carer's allowance supplement to be doubled to £462.80

8 October, 2021

Exception to bedroom tax for claimants living in a social sector property that has been adapted under a sanctuary scheme

New DWP guidance

7 October, 2021 Open access

Household Support Fund should primarily be used for essential costs but may be used for housing costs in ‘exceptional cases of genuine emergency’, says DWP

Draft guidance issued to local authorities also clarifies that eligibility is not restricted to households on benefits and can include those with no recourse to public funds

7 October, 2021

DWP issues guidance on claimants without a status under the European Union Settlement Scheme at end of application grace period on 30 June 2021

New guidance confirms that claimants with proof of late application to EUSS remain entitled to income-related benefits until Home Office makes decision on application or they have exhausted their appeal rights

7 October, 2021

Social Security Advisory Committee sets out its strategic objectives for 2021/2022

While effective scrutiny of regulations continues to be the main priority, the Committee also seeks to improve its engagement with stakeholders by ensuring consultations are more accessible and making more use of 'virtual' engagement

7 October, 2021

Scottish Government to go ahead with protections within children’s rights legislation despite Supreme Court ruling that parts of it falls outside competence of Scottish Parliament

Deputy First Minister confirms that Scottish Government remains committed to incorporation of UN Convention of the Rights of the Child into domestic law 'to the maximum extent possible'

6 October, 2021

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions granted general extension of time for pre-hearing case management actions in the Upper Tribunal

Upper Tribunal Administrative Appeals Chamber President grants concession due to an 80 per cent fall in the availability of Decision Making and Appeals team staff to draft submissions and comply with directions

6 October, 2021

Renumbering of provisions within the Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 relating to the duty on Ministers to consider effects of inflation in uprating devolved benefits

New statutory instrument

5 October, 2021 Open access

Even with the £20 uplift, half of universal credit claimants are food insecure and a quarter are severely food insecure

New research finds that significant fall in food insecurity would require broader increase in benefit levels, including abolition of bedroom tax and benefit cap

5 October, 2021 Open access

Reintroduction of the universal credit minimum income floor

New DWP guidance

5 October, 2021

Scottish Government on course to significantly miss its interim child poverty target for 2024

Joseph Rowntree Foundation also warns that while planned doubling of Scottish child payment is a move in the right direction, government must show 'far greater urgency and commitment'

5 October, 2021 Open access

Northern Ireland Assembly passes motion calling on Executive to maintain universal credit uplift for remainder of financial year

However, Communities Minister says that, while she is willing to consider proposals for mitigating cut, 'there are hard questions to be asked about where that money is to come from'

4 October, 2021

Government sets out details of ‘enhanced’ job support to be made available as part of a £500 million expansion of its Plan for Jobs

Chancellor tells Conservative Party Conference that the 'only sustainable route out of poverty comes from having a good job' and not by people 'leaning ever more on the state'

4 October, 2021 Open access

First Ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland unite to call on Westminster Government to 'do the right thing' by reversing its decision to withdraw the £20 universal credit uplift

Prime Minister urged to consider the moral, social and economic harms of the cut that is being made just as the country is facing a significant cost-of-living crisis

4 October, 2021

Tribunals hearing PIP appeals must be cautious not to infer from a claimant’s ability to engage with others in a very specific context that they would be able to carry out that task in other contexts

AC v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (PIP)
[2021] UKUT 216 (AAC)
CPIP/1627/2020

1 October, 2021

Giving effect to new Convention on Social Security Coordination between the UK and the Swiss Confederation so far as it relates to Scotland’s devolved benefits

New statutory instrument

1 October, 2021

Giving effect to new Convention on Social Security Coordination between the UK and the Swiss Confederation in Northern Ireland

New statutory rule

30 September, 2021 Open access

As furlough scheme and £20 ‘uplift’ come to an end, government launches £500 million support fund to ‘help vulnerable households with essentials over winter’

However, Joseph Rowntree Foundation says new Household Support Fund 'does not come close' to scale of challenge facing struggling families