Good afternoon, The House of Commons Library has just published an interesting report on the use of DHP awards, UK wide, which you can find here. It highlights the variable approaches of LAs and how many applicants are being refused, probably unfairly. I would recommend you provide access to your…

Hi, Yet another DWP announcement, today, about further expansions in the roll out, this time relating to what the DWP calls the “Universal Credit Gateway” i.e. the eligibility criteria, which, until now, has severely restricted claims to only the simplest of cases. In the main, these only involved, single, newly…

Good Morning, Hot on the heals of its pre-Christmas announcement, DWP has just published its 2nd list of Jobcentre and Council areas, that will represent the next tranche of the national rollout, starting May, and completing in July 2015. The expansion plan, has been ongoing, since June 2014, when it moved to the…

Hi, In the current climate of welfare reforms, where wholesale changes are being made to tenants benefits, which invariably impede and frstrate RSL staff in their attempts to assist, it’s important to be au fait with how to minimise the adverse impact. Council HB sections are under the financial cosh…

Good afternoon, DWP has just issued an URGENT circular to all UK councils, highlighting two recent housing benefit appeal cases, concerning the “Bedroom Tax”, which were initially successful at First-tier level, but have since been overturned by a 3 Judge Tribunal at Upper-tier level. The decision, made by the tribunal,…

Good morning, Hard on the heels of last week’s announcement, of UC’s expansion to 150 jobcentre areas, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has provided the NHF with more comprehensive details of what’s likely to happen after April 2015. My bulletin, earlier in the week, covered what was proposed…

Good morning, Due, I suspect, to the summer holiday period, there’s not been much happening, DWP wise, on the Universal Credit front. However, the National Housing Federation has just published a really informative & helpful report, based on the experiences of RSLs involved in the UC pilots and “live sites”…

Good morning, It’s not surprising, with all that’s happened this week on the Universal Credit news front, that tenants and landlords alike, are scratching their heads trying to make sense of all the conflicting and confusing messages that abound. Some landlords, especially in the NW of England, are also understandably…

Hi, This course has been designed specifically for Housing Association staff, including those who work closely with tenants to ensure rent collection is maximised and the need for associated recovery action is kept to a minimum. This is especially important in the current climate of welfare reforms where wholesale changes…

Good morning, Earlier this year, I highlighted a social security scandal, relating to JSA/ESA sanctions and their unintended knock-on effect on Housing Benefit. The problem has, if anything got worse, despite the fact both DWP and councils are well aware of its existence, not to mention the unnecessary rent arrears…