IDS loses legal appeal to keep universal credit problems secret
Posted: June 26, 2014 Filed under: ESA, DLA, PIP & Universal Credit, News | Tags: commissioners, Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), DWP, government, Home office, Iain Duncan Smith, IDS loses legal appeal, NHS reforms, taxpayer, tribunal, Universal Credit, Universal credit problems Leave a commentIain Duncan Smith’s latest effort to prevent the publication of documents warning of the dangers of universal credit has been dismissed by a judge.
You can see the desperation quite clearly now. IDS’ team are throwing any old legal argument at the wall to see if it will stick. The judge’s casual dismissal of the arguments seems to show a flicker of resentment at having to hear them at all.
Quick recap: The information commissioner ruled the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) should release documents about the progress of universal credit, an assessment of independent reviews and a record of problems with it. He ruled against the release of a risk register – a department document listing possible problems with the scheme – but a tribunal overruled him and said it too should be published.
Basically, this is IDS’ worst nightmare: documentary evidence of the problems his department imagined universal credit could have, the scale of the problems which eventually transpired, and proof of whether they deliberately misled the public about the progress of the programme.
The DWP insisted publication would have a “chilling effect” on the working of the department – a standard defence against disclosure last used by Andrew Lansley to prevent publication of the risk register into his disastrous NHS reforms. The information tribunal ruled there was no evidence of that but that there was “strong public interest” in publication.
IDS appealed, as the government always does in these things. The DWP’s first argument was that the tribunal misunderstood the nature of the chilling effect and the evidence needed to support that argument.
Judge Wikeley gave it short shrift.
“[The chilling effect] is a well known concept, and I can see no support for the argument that the tribunal misunderstood its meaning. The opening sentence of paragraph 62 might perhaps have been better phrased, but it seems to me still some way from suggesting an arguable error of law. The tribunal was surely saying that whilst it heard Ms Cox’s [Sarah Cox, director of Universal Credit programme coordination, witness for the DWP] claim that disclosure would have a chilling effect, neither she nor the department provided any persuasive evidence to that effect.”
“In my view the tribunal here has done exactly what it is meant to do when weighing up the competing considerations in the application of the public interest test. It is plain from its comprehensive and cogent reasons that it has considered the evidence… applied its expertise and reached a decision that the chilling effect argument was unpersuasive.”
The DWP’s second argument – and this is where they get really desperate – is for ‘perversity. This states that the tribunal reached a decision which no reasonable tribunal, on a proper appreciation of the evidence and the law, would have reached. It’s obviously a very high threshold which they did little to reach.
Judge Wikeley found:
“This challenge, in my assessment, does not get near clearing this high hurdle. The tribunal identified the relevant issues, analysed the material evidence, made its findings and in that context reached its conclusions, explaining why it had done so. It seems to me its approach was entirely sustainable. The perversity ground is not arguable.”
Finally they tried to argue, weirdly, that the tribunal had not given due weight to the expertise of the DWP’s witness, Ms Cox. This was irrelevant, Judge Wikeley found. He said:
“An appeal to the upper tribunal is confined to a point of law. Upper tribunal judges cannot substitute their own view of the facts for that taken by the tribunal – not least as the tribunal is an expert tribunal in this specialist field. In my view this proposed ground of appeal, as with the second, adds nothing to the first ground of appeal on the chilling effect. I conclude it is not arguable.”
So there you have it. God knows how much taxpayer money dedicated to making these frivolous legal appeals – all in a bid to save the work and pension’s secretary’s blushes.
When we ask the Home Office, they refuse to answer. I’ll fire off a Freedom of Information request to the DWP on their legal costs later today, but I doubt the answer will be any different. The government is very good at not recording data it wishes to remain secret.
When there are disability benefits which need cutting, every pound counts. When it’s the secretary of state who needs saving, the government’s wallet bursts at the seams.
Via http://politics.co.uk/blogs/2014/06/26/ids-loses-legal-appeal-to-keep-universal-credit-problems-sec
At Last, A Report That Skewers Iain Duncan Smith’s Welfare Policies
Posted: December 9, 2013 Filed under: ESA, DLA, PIP & Universal Credit, News | Tags: ATOS, Conservatives, disabled people, DLA, Duncan Smith's welfare policies, ESA, Handicapped, Iain Duncan Smith, Medication, Member of Parliament, MPs, news, Petition, PIP & Universal Credit, reports, self harm, Universal Credit, vulnerable people, welfare reform, Work capability assessment Leave a commentToday Iain Duncan Smith is being questioned by the Commons work and pensions committee on universal credit, after finally admitting last week that the scheme’s targets had been “reset”. Last week, the petition calling for a cumulative impact assessment of the way welfare reform affects sick and disabled people, known as the WOW petition, passed 100,000 signatures, triggering its consideration for debate by the backbench business committee. To add to Duncan Smith’s woes, the well-respected Centre for Welfare Reform has released details of its report, How Norms Become Targets, which exposes the myth that Atos, the private company responsible for assessing the needs of people unable to work, does not do so on the basis of targets.
Today also sees the publication of the stunning People’s Review of the Work Capability Assessment (pdf). It has been compiled by the anonymous organisation, We Are Spartacus, whose activism in this area has been hugely empowering. The report is a collection of statistics surrounding welfare reform and reactions of MPs, charities and professional groups to the way in which it has been administered. An almanac of condemnation, if you will. Most importantly, the report compiles statements from sick and disabled people actually going through the system.
These are most encouraging developments and point to a sea-change in the way our democracy works in this internet age. There is no doubt that without extensive use of the internet and social media, the compilation of such a detailed report would have been impossible and its publication unnoticed. For too long, this group of most vulnerable people, many of them with serious health and mobility problems, have been too easy a target for cost-cutting governments of all hues to demonise, recalibrate and victimise. This is no longer the case. Vulnerable people have grabbed the issue by the scruff of the neck and are taking the fight to the government. It is inspirational and points the way to a level of democratisation hitherto unseen.
I encourage you to read the report. It is packed with striking statistics and heartrending stories, in the words of people being put through this inhuman and degrading assessment. It contains the stories of those who can no longer speak, having taken their own lives or succumbed to their illness, while being hounded by the very department which is meant to protect them, people like Peter whose leg fused as a result of injury and, having suffered a stroke which meant he couldn’t grip with one hand, received a text telling him to attend the Jobcentre. He sent his partner a text which read “I give up”. He was found hanging at his home.
It contains incredibly powerful quotes which show that dissatisfaction with Atos is spread across MPs of all parties. Dr Sarah Wollaston, the Conservative MP, said of the assessment procedure: “Not surprisingly, it adds to their [claimants] sense of worthlessness – already stoked by a longstanding political narrative from both sides of the political divide that they are ‘shirkers, not workers’ or a drain on Britain’s ‘hardworking people’. They are neither.”
It contains tragic and often simultaneously humorous stories of ridiculous assessment reports, like the one on a 59-year-old woman who had had a hysterectomy following cervical cancer, which observed: “There is no evidence that the client is currently pregnant.” Or the one which concluded that someone who took an overdose of medication the previous night had “no current thoughts of self harm”.
This programme of welfare reform was always doomed to fail for a very simple reason. The purpose of welfare is to provide a safety net for the most vulnerable; its reform must have their interests at heart, rather than cost-cutting targets. Proper reform costs money. Duncan Smith himself recognised this simple fact before he came into power. In 2009, explaining his proposed reforms, he recognised that they would lead to a rise in the welfare bill in the short-term.
Iain Duncan Smith’s fall from grace, because of a botched IT system which has already caused £140m to be written off, is properly a cause of both frustration and comedy – like Al Capone being arrested for tax evasion. But I must ask, we all must ask: how many of the vulnerable people mentioned in the Spartacus report would still be alive today if that money has been properly spent?
Via welfarenewsservice.com
London Remembers over 10,000 dead after Atos Work Capablity Tests
Posted: October 10, 2013 Filed under: ESA, DLA, PIP & Universal Credit, News | Tags: ATOS, Atos work capability test, benefits, David Ison, Dean of St Paul's, Department for Work and Pensions, disabiltity, disabled activists, disabled people, DLA, ESA, Handicapped, ill health, Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell, news, Occupy activists, parliament square, PIP & Universal Credit, Universal Credit, welfare benefits, Westminster Abbey 2 CommentsOn 28th September, disabled activists and supporters came to Parliament Square for ‘10,000 Cuts & Counting’, a ceremony of remembrance and solidarity for over 10,000 who died shortly after the degrading Work Capability Assessments run for the government by Atos.
The ceremony, in the square bounded by the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, the Supreme Court and the Treasury was organised by the 10,000 Cuts & Counting Campaign including disability activists, Occupy activists and the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral for those who have had their lives devastated by the austerity programme.
A large area of Parliament Square was covered by white flowers to represent the more than 10,000 people who have died shortly after undergoing the Atos Work Capability Assessment, the degrading test used by the government to assess the needs of people receiving benefits related to disability and ill health.
The event included a number of moving testimonies by disabled people and a mother of three disabled children, and these including many damning indictments of the failures of Atos and the Department of Work and Pensions, with a failure to understand the needs of the disabled or to treat them with dignity and humanity, of deliberately discriminatory policies, arbitrary decisions and bureaucratic incompetence.
The government appears to have taken a highly cynical approach, mistakenly seeing the disabled as and easy touch for cuts, thinking they would be unable to defend themselves. But nothing has proved further from the truth, with disabled activists at the vanguard of protests against benefit cuts and in particular the bedroom tax. These have put a totally unfair burden on disabled people, and they have responded with fury and some purpose. Many of those who spoke or sat listening in wheelchairs were those who I have got to know blocking roads, picketing Atos, occupying the DWP and more.
As well as the many testimonies, there was a 2 minutes of silent remembrance for those who have suffered and died and then four prayers facing the four sides of the square: towards Westminster Abbey for the families of those who have suffered and disabled people still suffering or despairing; facing the Supreme Court calling for justice and compassion for those without resources and power and for an end to discrimination and violence against the disabled; towards the Treasury calling on those in national and local government who decide on the use of resources to take into account the effect on people of what they do; and finally towards Parliament, calling for a new deal for disabled people and to put right the evident wrongs in the current system.
The event was led by David Ison, Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, together with well-known Sunni Muslim Mohammed Ansar. Michael Meacher MP made a powerful speech, and when I left both John McDonnell MP and Jeremy Corbyn MP were waiting to speak, along with a number of disabled activists.
People who claim benefits should have a genuine need for them
Posted: October 4, 2013 Filed under: ESA, DLA, PIP & Universal Credit | Tags: benefits claim, Carer's allowance, child benefits, David Cameron, DLA, ESA, PIP, The Tory conference, Universal Credit Leave a comment
Via https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Naked-Truth-CameronIs-he-the-worst-prime-minister-in-British-history/349274725156523
Ministers have been “frustratingly unclear” about Universal Credit
Posted: September 9, 2013 Filed under: ESA, DLA, PIP & Universal Credit | Tags: anxiety, benefits, budgeting, Citizens Advice Bureau, Gillian Guy, government, Ministers, Universal Credit, welfare benefits Leave a commentCitizens Advice warns that a lack of planning and clear direction from ministers about Universal Credit is causing anxiety and making the implementation of the Government’s flagship programme harder.
Gillian Guy, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, said:
“Even as Universal Credit is being rolled-out, we still do not know what support will be put in place to help people to move onto the new system.
“The NAO is right to highlight a lack of planning by Government. Ministers have been frustratingly unclear about what support will be made available to ensure there is a strong safety net to help people make the transition to Universal Credit. Clearer direction from Government would ensure taxpayers get value for money and give people facing hard times the support they need.
“Even though only a tiny number of people have so far moved onto Universal Credit, many people across the country are already going to our bureaux because they don’t know what’s happening. Constant uncertainty adds to the anxiety people are feeling about the new system. More than 23,000 people went to our website for advice on Universal Credit between April and July this year.
“A staggering nine out of ten Citizens Advice Bureaux clients told us they will need some support with budgeting or getting online as they move onto the new system.
“Government must allow people to choose whether they get monthly or fortnightly payments for the first twelve months to help them budget, and banks must make basic accounts available to ensure claimants can actually get their money.
“Implementing Universal Credit has the potential to make or break millions of families. The new benefit must be introduced slowly and correctly, not quickly and badly.”
Via http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk via Matthew
Benefit test overhaul as Atos rapped over wrongly passing fit to work up to 41% of claimants
Posted: July 23, 2013 Filed under: ESA, DLA, PIP & Universal Credit, News | Tags: ATOS, benefits, Disability Living Allowance, DLA, DWP, Employment Support Allowance, ESA, Fit to work, Ian Duncan Smith, Mark Hoban, Personal Independence Payments, PIP, the youth contract, Universal Credit, Work capability assessment, Work Programme Leave a commentWork and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith’s department was told to act because of deep concerns about Atos at No10
Ministers have been ordered to revamp their “appalling” benefits testing system after they found 41% of claimants may have been wrongly passed fit to work.
The Government admitted many tests carried out by private firm Atos between October 2012 and March 2013 were “C grade”.
The French company said that did not mean its reports were wrong but it has been told to create an action plan.
Employment Minister Mark Hoban said new firms will also help carry out work capability assessments – the controversial tests which decide if someone on incapacity benefit is fit to work.
Meanwhile in a further blow for the DWP, the Coalition’s youth contract scheme has helped 4,600 18 to 24-year-olds in the past year – missing its target by more than 90%.
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith’s department was told to act because of deep concerns about Atos at No10.
And Labour’s Liam Byrne said Mr Duncan Smith needed to “get a grip”.
He said: “This is a direct consequence of three years appalling contract management by Iain Duncan Smith.
“He has quite simply let Atos spin out of control and the taxpayer and vulnerable people are picking up the pieces.
“There are now profound questions about Atos’ role going forward. We will study this statement in detail, but it is now vital the Government rebuilds a system that’s fit for purpose.
In a statement Atos Healthcare said: “We continue to provide Work Capability Assessments on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions and continue to support the need to increase the number of health professionals on the ground to minimise waiting times and improve the system for those going through it.
“We are sorry when we do not meet our own high standards but can reassure that a ‘C’ grade report does not mean the assessment was wrong and there are checks and balances throughout the system so that the correct decision on benefit is made by the Department.”
In a further blow to Mr Duncan Smith, figures showed the Government’s flagship youth contract scheme had helped just 4,600 18-24-year-olds between June 2012 and May 2013.
The scheme offers firms a subsidy of up to £2,275 for taking on someone who has been out of work for at least six months and was supposed to have helped 160,000 young people.
But DWP figures showed it had missed its target by more than 90%.
Mr Byrne added: “The Youth Contract has utterly failed to get our young people back to work. This flagship scheme is on course to miss its target by more than 92% – no wonder there are still almost a million young people out of work.
“The welfare revolution we were promised has fallen apart. The Work Programme doesn’t work, Universal Credit is disappearing into the sunset, and now we know that the Youth Contract has been a disaster.”
#RT via Welfare News Service via www.mirror.co.uk
Disabled To Lose £3,000 In Benefits
Posted: May 7, 2013 Filed under: ESA, DLA, PIP & Universal Credit, News | Tags: benefits, Child poverty action group, Disability Living Allowance, DLA, Employment and Support Allowance, ESA, Housing benefit, Ian Duncan Smith, income support, Jobseeker's Allowance, Personal Independence Payments, PIP, Universal Credit Leave a commentThis article written by Rory MacKinnon was first published by the Morning Star on 7 May 2013.
Just one in 10 households are set to gain anything from the Con-Dem universal credit scheme, with half actually losing out.
Trade unionists and child poverty campaigners called on Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan-Smith yesterday to take note as they released a damning report on the economic effect of his benefits changes.
The scheme combines a range of benefits – from jobseeker’s allowance to housing benefit and income support for those on low wages – into a single lump sum paid in arrears each month.
The millionaire minister hailed a pilot scheme launched in Manchester earlier this month as starting a “fundamental cultural shift,” moving people off benefits and into work.
But critics have already warned the scheme carries heavy sanctions for those already in work but too poorly paid to support themselves.
Claimants on minimum-wage jobs of less than 35 hours a week risk losing their benefits unless they trawl classifieds, attend job interviews with 48 hours’ notice or even quit the job they already have.
The TUC and Child Poverty Action Group‘s report found that some of the worst off under universal credit were working couples with children and working solo parents.
Ninety-four per cent of two earner couples with children will receive less in benefits by the end of 2015 than they would under the existing regime, while 76 per cent of working-lone parents will also miss out.
But the biggest losers would be working people with disabilities, as the government’s decision to scrap the severe disability premium – an allowance for people without an adult carer – would cost some £3,000 a year.
The coalition’s cull of working tax credits for workers with disabilities would also mean an additional drop in annual incomes of at least £2,800 each year.
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said ministers had ignored the policy’s pitfalls in the current economic crisis with under-employment rife and official jobseeker figures five times greater than the number of existing vacancies.
“Ministers must not turn a blind eye to these problems or universal credit will fail to help those very people it has been designed to support.”
The report was a “useful blueprint” for a government wanting to make a real difference, she said.
And Child Poverty Action Group chief executive Alison Garnham added the high costs of housing and childcare to the mix.
“Many of universal credit’s shortcomings can be fixed but if the government wants to reduce poverty, it needs to take a long, hard look at its broader policies rather than expect universal credit to save the day.”
#RT via http://welfarenewsservice.com
Your free benefits guide
Posted: April 11, 2013 Filed under: ESA, DLA, PIP & Universal Credit | Tags: Bedroom tax, benefits, council tax benefit, Crisis loans, DLA, ESA, PIP, Resources, Universal Credit Leave a commentBenefits rules are confusing at the best of times. But this month, we have been deluged with changes. Bedroom tax, the end of DLA, PIP, Crisis loans, Council Tax Benefit, the list goes on….
We’re hoping that we can help you get the information you need about all these changes. Our advisers have put together a pack explaining all the changes we know about. It is free to anyone and everyone
Get your free copy of ‘Benefits – how the changes will affect you’
You can read the guide online or print it out. Please give it to anyone you think needs it. We know it’s a very worrying time for many people affected by mental illness. There’s a black and white version without photos if you want to save on ink.
We’re sending it to everyone we can think of who could help others – psychiatrists, CPNs, GPs and our own services. So please feel free to do the same – the more we can get real information to people, the better. And it has details of our advice line, which we have opened for an extra hour this month to try and help more people who are struggling.
Print a copy and give it to anyone who needs it
Rest assured, this is not all we’re doing. We are still working on our secret campaign to improve benefits tests, which we will tell you about as soon as we can. And we are working on more information about Universal Credit. We will send that to you once it is ready.
I hope this helps you and your loved ones to get the support you need.
Best wishes
Jane Harris
Rethink Mental Illness
We call for a Cumulative Impact Assessment of Welfare Reform, and a New Deal for sick & disabled people based on their needs, abilities and ambitions
Posted: April 4, 2013 Filed under: Campaigns | Tags: ATOS, British Medical Association, Campaigns, Cumulative Impact Assessment, Disability benefits, e-petition, Universal Credit, welfare reform, Work capability assessment Leave a commentWe call for:
A Cumulative Impact Assessment of all cuts and changes affecting sick & disabled people, their families and carers, and a free vote on repeal of the Welfare Reform Act.
An immediate end to the Work Capability Assessment, as voted for by the British Medical Association.
Consultation between the Depts of Health & Education to improve support into work for sick & disabled people, and an end to forced work under threat of sanctions for people on disability benefits.
An Independent, Committee-Based Inquiry into Welfare Reform, covering but not limited to: (1) Care home admission rises, daycare centres, access to education for people with learning difficulties, universal mental health treatments, Remploy closures; (2) DWP media links, the ATOS contract, IT implementation of Universal Credit; (3) Human rights abuses against disabled people, excess claimant deaths & the disregard of medical evidence in decision making by ATOS, DWP & the Tribunal Service.
This e-petition has received the following response:
As this e-petition has received more than 10 000 signatures, the relevant Government department have provided the following response:
Cumulative impact analysis is not being withheld – it is very difficult to do accurately and external organisations have not produced this either.
The Government is limited in what cumulative analysis is possible because of the complexity of the modelling required and the amount of detailed information on individuals and families that is required to estimate the interactions of a number of different policy changes. In addition, the Government’s programme of welfare reform will not be fully implemented until 2017/18 and many policy details are still to be worked through. Equality Impact Assessments are however carried out for individual policies where there is a requirement.
No other organisation produces this analysis in a robust way. The Treasury does publish some cumulative analysis with each Budget but this is a broad brush assessment of all tax, benefit and expenditure changes since 2010 across households. Because the Budget cumulative analysis is so complex, it is not robust enough to break down by family type – so impacts on disabled people cannot be shown separately.
The IFS also produces some cumulative analysis but also do not feel the results are reliable enough to disaggregate for the disabled.
This e-petition will remain open to signatures until the published closing date and will be considered for debate by the Backbench Business Committee should it pass the 100 000 signature threshold.
Disability Rights UK Factsheet: Benefits cap
Posted: June 18, 2012 Filed under: Resources | Tags: Benefit Cap, benefits, bereavement allowance, Carer's allowance, child tax credit, guardians allowance, Housing benefit, incapacity benefit, income support, maternity allowance, Resources, Universal Credit Leave a commentIntroduction
From 8 April 2013 there will be a cap on the amount of benefits you can receive unless you considered to be exempt from this rule. If you are a lone parent or if you have a partner you will only be paid £500 a week in benefits. If you are single you will only be paid £350 a week in benefits.
You will have a cap on your combined income from the following benefits:
- bereavement allowance
- carer’s allowance
- child benefit
- child tax credit
- employment and support allowance except where the support component has been awarded
- guardian’s allowance
- housing benefit
- incapacity benefit
- income support
- jobseeker’s allowance
- maternity allowance
- severe disablement allowance
- widowed parent’s allowance
- widow’s benefit
There will be a ‘grace period’ of 39 weeks, when you will not be capped, if you (or your partner) have been doing paid work for a period of 50 weeks out of 52 weeks before claiming the above benefits and you were working at least 16 hours in your last week of work.
The grace period starts from the day after you finished working and can include periods of work before the cap is introduced in April 2013. For example if you finish work at the end of January 2013 your 39 weeks starts from February 2013.
The cap will also apply to universal credit (except for the childcare element) when it is introduced.
Benefits not included in the cap
The following benefits will not be included in the cap:
- bereavement payment
- cold weather payments
- council tax benefit or the replacement localised support for council tax
- discretionary housing payments
- free school meals
- funeral payments
- retirement pension
- social fund payments which are being replaced by local authority discretionary payments (community care grants and crisis loans)
- state pension credit
- statutory adoption pay
- statutory maternity pay
- statutory paternity pay
- statutory sick pay
- sure start maternity grants
Exemptions from the cap
You will be exempt from the cap if anyone in your household is claiming:
- attendance allowance
- employment and support allowance support component
- industrial injuries benefits
- households with a claimant, partner or child receiving disability living allowance
- personal independence payment
- war disablement pension/armed forces compensation scheme payments (that are equivalent to industrial injuries benefits)
- war widow’s or war widower pension
- working tax credit even if you have been awarded a “nil entitlement” (you must be working the relevant number of hours – for more information see Factsheet F9 – a guide to tax credits)
How will the cap be applied
If your total benefits assessment is greater than your cap your local authority will reduce your housing benefit payments. When universal credit is introduced deductions will be made from that.
Benefits cap timetable
1st Phase; April 2012 – Work to identify and alert those customers likely to be affected who are on Employment Support Allowance and Housing Support Benefit.
2nd Phase; April 2013 – The benefit cap is planned to go live, delivered initially by Local Authorities through deductions from Housing Benefit.
3rd Phase; October 2013 – Implementation of the benefit cap through Universal Credit is planned for new claims with existing claims being migrated to Universal Credit between October 2013 and 2017.
Benefits cap calculator
There is now an online benefits cap calculator on the DirectGov website, at www.direct.gov.uk, where you can test how the benefits cap might affect you.
Effect of the benefits cap
The latest estimates are that the cap will affect 67,000 households in 2013/14 and 75,000 in 2014/15. By far the worst are those living in Greater London. a breakdown of those affected suggests:
- 54% of affected households are in Greater London
- 9% of affected households are in the South East
- 6% of affected households are in the North West
- 5% of affected households are in Scotland
- 3% of affected households are in Wales
The average benefit reduction is £83 a week per household
- 17,000 households will be subject to both the local housing allowance cap from Jan 2012 and this cap from April 2013
- 44% of households affected by the cap are in the social rented sector
- 56% of households affected by the cap are in the private rented sector
- 69% of households affected by the cap have 3 or more children
- 27% of households affected by the cap have 5 or more children
- 52% of households affected are lone parents
- 39% of households affected receive jobseeker’s allowance
- 22% of households are in receipt of ESA
- 38% of households are in receipt of income support
Where can I get more help or information?
The draft Housing Benefit (Benefit Cap) Regulations 2012 are now online at http://tinyurl.com/c3f5u76. The Department for Work and Pensions also have a benefits cap page atwww.dwp.gov.uk/adviser/updates/benefit-cap/.
This factsheet is a basic overview of the benefits cap. You can find out detailed information about the current benefits system in our Disability Rights Handbook available at www.radar-shop.org.uk/. You might also find our Factsheet F55 – universal credit useful.
You can get help and information at your local advice centre, such as a Citizens Advice Bureau. You can get more information about where to get personal advice from our Factsheet F15 – Getting advice.
All our publications are available from our shop at www.radar-shop.org.uk/. You can also place an order by contacting Disability Rights UK on 020 7247 8776 (this is not an advice line) or by fax on 020 7247 8765. All our factsheets are available at www.disabilityrightsuk.org/factsheets.htm.
18 June 2012
South London Involvement Forum 