Information Library

Earlier today I advised you that the Judicial Review attempt had failed. You’ll find the full judgement at: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2013/2213.html Below you’ll find evidence of the court’s displeasure with our Secretary of State for not creating secondary legislation in relation to the earlier Gorry, Burnip Judgement and relying instead on the…

Judicial Review Appeal fails! The BBC and Guardian have just announced that the Judicial Review (JR) attempt, pursued by a number of disabled families, has been unsuccessful. The JR involved ten families who wished to challenge the loss in their housing benefit due to the imposition of “Bedroom Tax” sanctions.…

The Work and Pensions Committee has just announced it intends to undertake an Inquiry into the provision of support to meet housing costs in the reformed welfare system. Recently the Committee published a report in November 2012 on Universal Credit implementation: meeting the needs of vulnerable claimants. The Government Response was…

Almost every day you’ll find newspaper articles covering protests against: under-occupation penalties; threats of repossession action by councils and RSLs for rent arrears; combined with complaints about new Council Tax charges arising from the less generous Council Tax Reduction scheme which started in April. In Sheffield anti-Bedroom Tax protestors gathered outside…

Earlier this week, the DWP issued its latest circular A14/2013 providing councils with some advice on how the Ashton-under-Lynne Pathfinder will prepare the way for the national roll-out of Universal Credit. The circular is really quite technical, as a whole, so I’ve decided not to attach it nor depress you. But…

In earlier bulletins I’ve commented on the critical importance of Housing Benefit (HB) to RSL revenue streams. With all the attention being focused on the Bedroom Tax and Universal Credit it’s easy to overlook the scheme still has still another 5 years, at least, to run, and probably many more as the…

The DWP confirmed on Monday this week that Personal Independence Payments (PIP), the replacement for DLA for people between 16 and 64, will now be rolled out nationally. Those currently receiving DLA outwith this age band are not affected and so will continue to receive DLA. In contrast, those 16-64…

DWP has just issued a HB circular which provides a breakdown, council by council, of how much of a DWP allocation has been made, and secondly, how much the budget can be increased to with your local council’s support. If you examine Annexe A you’ll see the “Government Funding” column…

The latest newsletter has now been published and is available via the link below. HB Direct February Newsletter (pdf: 28kb)…

Access to some of the content of this page is limited to members of the site. If you are already a…

The Welfare Reform Act 2012 – This Act contains provisions and confers regulation-making powers for an integrated working-age benefit to be called universal credit, which, depending on the claimant’s circumstances, will include a standard allowance (to cover basic living costs) along with additional elements for responsibility for children or young persons,…