Welfare Rights Bulletin articles

Simon Osborne describes the latest mandatory reconsideration problems and solutions.

The Supreme Court’s judgment on the benefit cap in R (SG and others) was handed down on 18 March 2015. The Court was sharply divided over whether the benefit cap, which limits the amount of welfare benefits any family with children can receive to £500 a week, regardless of family size, breaches the Human Rights Act 1998. Mike Spencer comments.

Although the Welfare Reform Act 2012 provides for the abolition of tax credits, it is still possible for people who are not entitled to universal credit to make a new claim for tax credits for 2015/16 and the majority of claimants will see their awards renewed as normal. There are also some new developments in policy and legislation, described here by Mark Willis.

Paul Treloar reviews the first of the official independent reviews of personal independence payment (PIP).

Susan Mitchell and Simon Osborne outline the main rules on a new payment which, from April, will replace additional statutory paternity pay in England, Scotland and Wales.

Various changes, some unintentional others deliberate, have made it more difficult to bring an appeal against a tax credits decision outside the time limit. Following on from Martin Williams article in Bulletin 234, Mike Spencer looks at the issues and discusses potential legal challenges.

Mark Willis describes a new scheme due for introduction during 2015, aimed at assisting with childcare costs for some families, and its exclusive interaction with universal credit (UC) and tax credits. UPDATE: Tax-Free Childcare will not be introduced until 2017.

Paul Treloar describes an official report on the impact of universal credit (UC).

As the deadline for the government to make a final decision on the future funding of local welfare assistance schemes (LWAS) nears, there have been a number of significant developments in recent weeks. Dan Norris explains.

The DWP has issued new guidance (Memo DMG 27/14) about repeat referrals for the work capability assessment (WCA), where the claimant has been successful in an appeal. As before, when a repeat WCA is to be applied is not a matter of law, and so is not in itself a potential subject of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal.