Government outlines biggest change to the welfare system for more than 60 years

WhatThe

The Welfare Reform Bill 2011

Amongst the reforms set out in the Bill are –

● the introduction of a new benefit, to be known as universal credit, which will replace income support, income based JSA, income-related ESA, working tax credit, child tax credit, housing benefit and council tax benefit;

● changes to the responsibilities of claimants of income support, JSA and ESA in the period leading up to the introduction of universal credit, with particular provision made for the introduction of a ‘claimant commitment’ that will be a record of the requirements claimants are expected to meet in order to receive benefit and the consequences should they fail to do so;

● the introduction of increased lone parent conditionality, removing entitlement to income support for those whose youngest child is aged at least 5;

● limiting awards of contributory ESA to a maximum period of 365 days for those in the work related activity group, and the abolition of the youth condition in contributory ESA;

● the introduction of entitlement to work as a condition of entitlement for contribution-based JSA, contributory ESA, maternity allowance and all statutory payments;

● provision for a new benefit, ‘personal independence payment’, to be paid at two rates in place of the existing disability living allowance, with entitlement based on the ability of an individual to perform specified activities;

● provision for the capping of the total amount of welfare benefits a claimant or a couple receives by reference to the average earnings of working households in Great Britain;

● housing benefit reforms, including provision for appropriate maximum housing benefit to be calculated other than by reference to rent officer determinations in order that, for example, the Secretary of State can periodically consider re-setting LHA rates without reference to rent officer determinations (providing for LHA rate increases to be linked to the CPI), and a size criteria can be introduced for working age claimants receiving housing benefit in the social rented sector;

● the abolition of community care grants and crisis loans (other than ‘alignment loans’ currently available to applicants pending payment of benefit), to be replaced by ‘locally-administered assistance’, the replacement of budgeting loans and alignment loans with payments on account, and the abolition of the Social Fund Commissioner and the Independent Review Service;

● measures to resolve more disputes with claimants through the internal reconsideration process before an appeal to the tribunal is made, by enabling the Secretary of State to make regulations setting out the cases or circumstances in which an appeal can be made only when the Secretary of State has considered whether to revise the decision;

● amendment of the Limitation Act ,that imposes a time limit of six years on any ‘action’ to recover a sum recoverable, to make clear that references in that Act to ‘action’ do not include recovery under social security and tax credits legislation by means other than proceedings in a court of law;

● the introduction of a civil penalty where claimants fail to disclose information that would affect benefit entitlement or the amount of benefit payable, fail without reasonable excuse, to report changes of circumstances or negligently provide incorrect information;

● the extension, from 4 to 13 weeks, of the loss of benefit sanction for claimants who are convicted of a first benefit offence, the introduction of a 26 week sanction for those convicted of a second benefit offence, and a three year sanction for claimants convicted of a benefit offence preceded by two previous offences;

● the introduction of a new minimum administrative penalty of £350 for benefit fraud or 50%of the amount overpaid whichever is greater up to a maximum of £2,000;

● measures relating to the creation of a Single Fraud Investigation Service to assume sole responsibility for the investigation of all suspected benefit fraud, combining relevant resources across local authorities, HMRC and the DWP;

● date sharing measures, for example to allow local authority housing benefit teams to use information from local authority social services teams to confirm whether a person requires an overnight carer, in relation to organisations delivering skills, employment and training services to Jobcentre Plus customers, and in relation to the operation of the Tell Us Once service; and

● changes to industrial injuries benefits, including paying under18s at the normal IIDB scheme rate, the abolition of the right to request an accident declaration, and the repeal of legislation that maintains separate schemes for pre-1948 industrial injuries.

(lasa review in association with www.rightsnet.org.uk no 145 - 5 February 2011)

ISSN 1740 – 3294