Welfare rights advisers use the law on a daily basis to challenge decisions on social security benefits and to ensure their clients receive their legal entitlement. However, there are occasions when what needs to be challenged is not a decision which has not been taken in accordance with the existing law, but rather the law itself.
Jon Shaw looks at when housing benefit (HB) awards can (and cannot) be suspended and then terminated.
Advisers are reporting delays in receiving DWP submissions. Ed Pybus looks into the issue.
People entering and leaving prison tend to encounter a specific set of difficulties within the universal credit (UC) system. These include confusion about whether they are entitled to UC, doubts about whether they have permanently lost entitlement to legacy benefits and the consequences of detention for those claiming benefits because they have limited capability for work. Barbara Donegan explains.
It is now clear that the DWP does not accept that use of the ‘Help to Claim’ service (operated by Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland) permits a claimant to rely on rules allowing the date of a claim for universal credit (UC) to be fixed at the date help is first requested. Simon Osborne explains.
Owen Stevens discusses attempts by third parties to make DWP aware of ‘complex needs’ among universal credit (UC) claimants.
The expected date for Britain to leave the European Union, March 29 2019, has come and gone, but the nature of the UK’s future relationship with the European Union remains uncertain.
The United Nations’ Agenda 2030 was agreed at a global level in 2015. It set out 17 ‘Sustainable Development Goals’ on a range of social and environmental issues, to be achieved by all countries.
Spring saw the release of new poverty figures for the UK. This year they did not show a rise on the main headline measure we use (relative child poverty after housing costs), but did show alarming jumps in so-called ‘absolute’ child poverty.
The impact of poverty on children’s education is well documented and many schools are now developing initiatives to support children and families who are living on a low income.
