Welfare rights news and case law

24 July, 2023

Universal credit claimants responsible for young children now required to have more frequent meetings with their work coach

DWP advises that work-focused meetings will explore steps to improve skills, identify support needs, learn about childcare provision, and boost confidence

24 July, 2023

High Court rules that Home Office system for supporting asylum seekers while they wait for their asylum claims to be determined is unlawful

HA & Ors v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWHC 1876 (Admin)

21 July, 2023

Court of Appeal rules that it has jurisdiction to consider appeal against Upper Tribunal’s refusal to set aside earlier decision to refuse permission to appeal

Plescan v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2023] EWCA Civ 870

21 July, 2023

Infrastructure and Projects Authority maintains ‘Amber’ rating for DWP’s Universal Credit and Health Transformation Programmes

Data provided by the DWP highlights that 'significant challenges remain' in completing the migration of tax credit households to universal credit, and that there has been a delay in awarding new health assessment contracts

21 July, 2023

Work and Pensions Committee launches inquiry to examine how the DWP supports vulnerable claimants and whether its approach to safeguarding needs to change

Steep rise in the number of reviews into internal processes raises serious questions as to whether the Department is doing enough, says Committee Chair

20 July, 2023

DWP publishes new statistics to ‘provide transparency’ in relation to its White Paper proposal to abolish the WCA in universal credit and instead provide a health top up based on receipt of PIP

New figures show that around 70 per cent of claimants in receipt of universal credit with the LCWRA element or ESA with the support group component are also in receipt of either PIP or DLA

20 July, 2023

Regulations extending the deadline for payment of voluntary national insurance contributions to increase new state pension entitlement are an ‘instrument of interest’, says Scrutiny Committee

While welcoming the extra time people have to make contributions, Committee expresses concern that DWP 'so misjudged demand and available resources' that the second, and longer, extension had become necessary

20 July, 2023

Amendment of child support collection arrangements in Northern Ireland corresponding to those made in Great Britain by the Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Act 2023

New statutory rules

19 July, 2023

Labour leader says decision to keep two-child limit demonstrates willingness to take tough decisions

Speaking at a Future of Britain conference yesterday, Keir Starmer confirms that he will not make unfunded spending commitments and make the same mistakes that former Prime Minister Liz Truss made

19 July, 2023

HMRC says it is on target to transfer all tax credit claimants to universal credit by 2025 and that it expects around half a million to migrate during each of 2023/2024 and 2024/2025

Reporting on HMRC's 2022/2023 annual report and accounts, Comptroller and Auditor General also highlights that while HMRC has transferred £3.6 billion of tax credit debt to DWP, there remains a further £1 billion still to be moved over

19 July, 2023

Government should expand employment support to those not on benefits, say MPs

New Work and Pensions Committee report also calls for improved support for young people, people over 50 and people with disabilities and long-term health conditions

18 July, 2023

LHA rates are failing to match private rented sector rents for around two thirds of households receiving universal credit housing support

Written answer to Parliament shows that more than 800,000 claimants are facing average shortfalls of more than £100 a month

18 July, 2023

People with pre-settled status under EUSS to automatically have their status extended by two years if they have not yet obtained settled status

Home Office confirms that process will come into effect from September 2023 and will be reflected in the person's digital status

17 July, 2023

New study presents ‘unassailable case’ for need to end both the two-child limit and the benefit cap

Three-year research project highlights that neither policy is meeting the government's behavioural aim, and are instead sending families into debt and affecting children’s opportunities and well-being

17 July, 2023

DWP launches ‘Invitation to Claim’ trial to encourage take-up of pension credit

Letters and leaflets will be targeted at 2,000 households in ten local authority areas that are already in receipt of housing benefit and are likely to be eligible for pension credit

14 July, 2023

Ten years after its introduction, benefit cap is leaving some families with at little as £44 per week to live on

New CPAG research also finds that effect of cap has increased substantially over time as benefits and rents have risen while the cap remained frozen

13 July, 2023

Children’s charities and Commissioners call for abolition of the two-child limit, as new DWP statistics show that 1.5 million children are living in households affected by the policy

Letter sent to all Westminster party leaders says that two-child limit is discriminatory and a clear breach of children’s human rights, and is the biggest driver of rising child poverty in the UK today

13 July, 2023

More than 900,000 households in receipt of universal credit are repaying a budgeting advance

Written answer also shows that around 650,000 households are repaying tax credit overpayments

13 July, 2023

Councils in England and Wales contributed an additional 15 per cent funding from their own resources on top of DHP allocations from central government in 2022/2023

New DWP statistics also show that more than four in ten local authorities spent more than 105 per cent of their allocation, with 64 per cent of expenditure related to welfare reform