welfaresummer edition 2021 benefits team factsheet

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In this edition we cover

Factsheet Welfare Benefits TeamSummer Edition 2021

The Circumstantial impact on benefitsWelcome to the Summer EditionThis months edition focuses on changes in circumstances and the impact on benefits. Eighteen months into the pandemic and the benefit casualties continue to pile high. In October 2021, we will see the end of the furlough schemes and the £20 per week increase in UC. What has been the real impact?

Research by Save the Children found that 60% of families on low incomes had gone into debt during the pandemic with 50% going into rent arrears. On average families borrowed over £1700 over two months, sums that will take them a long time to repay: supporting_families_through_covid.pdf (savethechildren.org.uk)

Our team of advisors provide advice on benefits and budgeting support. This helps to manage the spiral of arrears and gives the tenants back some sense of control. Feel free to contact us to discuss what we do and how we may be able to help.

We also run training courses on benefits for any teams who have contact with residents and want to have a better understanding of the support that’s available and how to access it.

Absent joint tenants (untidy tenancies)

Remedial Order to extend bereavement benefits to surviving cohabiting partners with children

Moving onto Universal Credit

State Pension Age

DWP policy of cold-calling disabled people over benefit claims to end

Claimant views on ways to improve PIP and ESA questionnaires

Post Office Card Account to end

For further information contact: [email protected]

LBHF0041-Welfare Benefits Team Newsletter Summer_issue6-rev2.indd 1LBHF0041-Welfare Benefits Team Newsletter Summer_issue6-rev2.indd 1 19/08/2021 08:09:3319/08/2021 08:09:33

https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/content/dam/gb/reports/supporting_families_through_covid.pdf

https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/

2 | Welfare Benefits Team Factsheet Summer Edition 2021

Absent joint tenants (untidy tenancies) have proven problematic in the Universal Credit (UC) system from the very beginning. Despite improvements to the UC service, we continue to see claimants losing out on help with their rent.

What is an untidy tenancy? A joint tenancy is where two or more tenants have all signed a single tenancy agreement for a property and so are jointly and severally liable for paying the rent. Responsibility for the rent is equal between all of them. This means that if one of the tenants moves out, the remaining tenant will be responsible for the full rent charge.

There are fewer non-couple joint tenants in social housing, although there can sometimes be joint tenancies between siblings, dad/mum, daughter/son, or even friends.

UC will continue to only pay what they deem to be the remaining tenants percentage of the rent, even though they are fully responsible for 100% of the rent.

Impact• UC claimants are left confused and uncertain about

how their rent will be supported• Arrears start accruing on the UC claimant’s rent

account causing distress and worry• Landlords are having to step in and help their tenants,

sometimes resulting in additional costs.Once claims have finally been reassessed, the claimants can miss out on their full housing cost entitlement leaving them paying off arrears that have arisen through no fault of their own.

What’s the problem? The DWP work on the assumption that it’s easy for the landlord to convert that joint tenancy into a sole tenancy, allowing UC to award the housing cost on the full rent to the UC claimant remaining in the property.

However, despite recent guidance, claimants are sometimes told by the DWP that they need to ask their landlord to amend the tenancy agreement before they can amend the housing costs.

There are a number of reasons why landlords may not want to do this, including:• if there are rent arrears on the account that accrued

during the period when the other tenant lived there and was liable for rent,

• or the absent joint tenant does not agree to relinquish their side of the tenancy.

Most social landlords will allow the joint tenancy to continue as the remaining tenant becomes liable for the full rent.

The issue for the DWP is that they have to fit this situation into the UC regulations.

To do this they’ll want to be assured that, on the balance of probabilities, the absent joint tenant has left the property on a permanent basis.

Absent joint tenants



Welfare Benefits Team Factsheet Summer Edition 2021 | 3

Bereavement benefits for surviving cohabiting partners with childrenCurrently, when a partner in a couple that are living together and have children dies, the surviving partner is not entitled to claim support through bereavement benefits.

The DWP has confirmed a change to that rule and that once approved by Parliament, the changes will apply retrospectively from 30 August 2018, with any backdated payments owed being made as lump sums.

The Order has been drafted in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling on 30 August 2018, which was later applied by the High Court in relation to bereavement support payment, acknowledging that the current entitlement conditions for widowed parent’s allowance are incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.

The DWP advised that, ‘Under these draft plans, a surviving partner with dependent children will only need to have lived with the deceased on the date of death.’ This confirms that the Order, once agreed by Parliament, will extend current eligibility conditions for widowed parent’s allowance and bereavement support payment - that currently requires claimants to have been married or in a civil partnership at the time of their spouse’s or civil partner’s death - to now include cohabiting parents.

For more information on bereavement benefits and widowed parents allowance, please call our advice line or go to www.gov.uk. For more information on Cohabiting couples benefit changes to bereavement benefit rules please go to:• Draft Bereavement Benefits (Remedial) Order 2021

(publishing.service.gov.uk) PDF document.

What the regulations sayThe relevant UC regulations for this are Para 35(5) of Schedule 4, which allows the DWP to apportion a rent charge differently to splitting it evenly between the named joint tenants. This can in basic terms mean that the DWP can apportion the rent 100% to the remaining joint tenant if its reasonable to do so.

Is there an absent joint tenant?The easiest way for the DWP to check this is to contact the landlord. If the landlord confirms that there’s an absent joint tenant who has permanently left the property, then this is all the evidence that’s required.But what if the landlord wasn’t aware that the absent joint tenant was indeed absent, or not 100% certain it’s a permanent move?

Social housing tenants may find it easier to report that someone has left the property and request a new tenancy agreement from the council or housing association, as they are unlikely to go through a credit check process and be charged by the landlord to create a new tenancy. In some private tenancies, they may also request a new guarantor.

If the landlord doesn’t know that the claimant has an untidy tenancy / absent joint tenant, or suspects this but has no evidence or corroboration from the tenant, they should then verify the rent as normal. The UC system will then apply the normal joint tenancy rule – ie, splitting the eligible rent evenly between the joint tenants, and the claimant’s housing costs will be based on their share of the eligible rent.

This situation leaves the UC claimant living in the property with the responsibility for providing the DWP with sufficient information for them to decide that, on the balance of probabilities, the absent joint tenant is absent and isn’t going to return.

The DWP Decision Maker (DM) must decide claims and applications on the balance of probability. This is not the same as “beyond reasonable doubt”. The balance of probability involves the DM deciding whether it is more likely than not that an event occurred, or that an assertion is truer.

Whilst the UC regulations do allow for it to be determined that a joint tenant be apportioned 100% of the total rent for the property they live in, the decision to do so is discretionary and therefore, requires an intervention by the case manager. Tenants will need to request a mandatory reconsideration of the decision and should seek help and advice to do this.

Absent joint tenants



http://www.gov.uk

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1002576/draft-berevement-benefits-remedial-order-2021.pdf

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1002576/draft-berevement-benefits-remedial-order-2021.pdf


If you are currently in receipt of certain benefits and you have a change in your circumstances, you might be better off claiming Universal Credit. It depends what happened and which benefits you are still getting. Universal Credit is gradually replacing these six benefits called ‘legacy benefits’:

• Housing Benefit• income-related Employment and

Support Allowance (ESA)• income-based Jobseeker’s

Allowance (JSA)• Child Tax Credits (CTC) • Working Tax Credits (WTC)• Income SupportIf you are in receipt of any of these benefits, you can stay on them for now but the DWP plans to move everyone across to UC by 2024. However, if your situation changes, you might need to claim Universal Credit sooner, such as if you’ve separated from a partner or moved to a different council area.Once you apply for Universal Credit:• any other legacy benefits you are

receiving will end• you won’t be able to go back to

any of the legacy benefits in the future - even if you’re appealing a benefit decision

You should always check if you will be better off on Universal Credit before applying.

If your work, home or family situation changes, you might be better off claiming Universal Credit. Some changes will end your benefit claim - so claiming Universal Credit might be the only way to replace that income.

You cannot claim Universal

Credit if you, and your partner if you have one, have both reached State Pension age. It would usually be best for you to claim Pension Credit if your income is low. If you need help with housing costs for rent, you can also claim Housing Benefit.

If you are over State Pension age but have a partner under State Pension age, you will likely be directed to apply for UC unless you or your partner reached State Pension age before 15 May 2019 you’ve been claiming Housing Benefit or Pension Credit as part of the same couple since before 15 May 2019

You should always report any changes in your circumstances wherever possible, to each of the benefit offices that you receive payment from. This includes:• If you separate from your partner• If you’ve moved home or your

partner moves in• Changes to do with your children• If your work situation has

changed• If you have a partner and the

older partner reaches State Pension age

You should report a change of circumstances as soon as you can or it could result in your being paid too much or too little benefit. If you don’t report a change in your circumstances and are paid too much benefit, you will need to pay the money back and you might have to pay some extra money as a penalty.

If you are receiving Working Tax Credits or Child Tax Credits, you need to tell HMRC about the change and this can be done online, by post or phone.

If you are in receipt of other

benefits, you can check how to report the change of circumstances on www.gov.uk

You can also check how much Universal Credit you may be entitled to by using a benefit calculator. To get an accurate answer, you’ll need to know details about your:• income - including any earnings

or benefits • rent and living costs • savings and investmentsIf you claim Universal Credit, you will usually get one payment each month and you usually have to manage your claim online. It will usually take 5 weeks to get your first Universal Credit payment - but it could take longer.

If you were in receipt of ‘legacy benefits’, you can keep getting them for 2 weeks after you apply for Universal Credit. This applies to:• income-based Jobseeker’s

Allowance• income-related Employment and

Support Allowance• Income Support• Housing BenefitYou won’t need to pay back the extra payments and they won’t affect how much Universal Credit you’ll get.

If you won’t have enough money to live on while you wait for your first Universal Credit payment, you can ask for an advance payment. The advance payment is a loan - you’ll have to pay it back.

If you need help moving on to Universal Credit, you can talk to an adviser on our advice line 020 8753 5566

Moving onto Universal Credit



http://www.gov.uk


State pension ageThe following tables show how the legislated increases in State Pension age will be phased in. A State Pension age calculator is provided on www.gov.ukThis calculator tells people when they will reach their State Pension age, under current legislation, based on their gender and date of birth.The www.gov.uk webpages provides more information about claiming the State Pension and how to get a State Pension statement.

Increase in State Pension age from 66 to 67, men and women

Date of birth Date State Pension age reached

From To Years Months

6 April 1960 5 May 1960 66 years 1 month6 May 1960 5 June 1960 66 years 2 months6 June 1960 5 July 1960 66 years 3 months6 July 1960 5 August 1960 66 years 4 months (1)6 August 1960 5 September 1960 66 years 5 months6 September 1960 5 October 1960 66 years 6 months6 October 1960 5 November 1960 66 years 7 months6 November 1960 5 December 1960 66 years 8 months6 December 1960 5 January 1961 66 years 9 months (2)6 January 1961 5 February 1961 66 years 10 months (3)6 February 1961 5 March 1961 66 years 11 months6 March 1961 5 April 1977* 67 years*For people born after 5 April 1969 but before 6 April 1977, under the Pensions Act 2007, State Pension age was already 67.

In the Autumn Statement on 5 December 2013, the Chancellor announced that this government believes that future generations should spend up to a third of their adult life in retirement. This principle implies that State Pension age should rise to 68 by the mid-2030s, and 69 by the late 2040s.

However, the government is not currently legislating for this change – these dates are indicative only, showing a general direction of travel for future State Pension age changes.

What are third party deductions?The process known as ‘third party deductions’ (TPD) involves the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) deducting a fixed amount from benefit payments to clear debts, most commonly housing costs, fuel costs, council tax, unpaid fines, and water and sewerage charges.

The amount deducted is paid directly to a creditor until the debt is cleared. At present the level of deduction is set by DWP at £3.70 per bill, per week. However, under Universal Credit the amounts that can be deducted are significantly higher.What are the effects of deductions?Research conducted by StepChange Debt Charity highlights how TPDs can deepen existing financial problems. In a survey conducted with the charity’s clients, of those who had such deductions, 71% of respondents said that it had caused their family hardship, 40% reported falling behind on essential household costs and a quarter said they found it difficult to pay for food, clothing and heating.

Where cutting back spending was not viable, one in five of the charity’s clients with TPDs said they had to resort to credit in order to keep on top of essential bills.

If you have TPD for any debts and are struggling to manage, please contact our advice line for information and support to explore reducing your TPD and other expenditure and to identify sources of support that may assist with reducing your bills. 020 8753 5566



https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-age

http://www.gov.uk

http://www.gov.uk

https://www.gov.uk/browse/working/state-pension

https://www.gov.uk/browse/working/state-pension


The DWP backed down before a legal challenge by a claimant, who felt pressured into accepting a lower benefit offer on a claim that was she waiting for an appeal to be heard on.

Prior to a judicial review challenge at the high court, the DWP agreed to change its controversial policy of cold-calling vulnerable and disabled people and trying to persuade them to accept lower benefit claims than they are legally entitled to.

In 2020, disabled people who had appealed against a DWP decision on their benefit claim were called by DWP officials and offered “decide right now” offers to abandon the appeal before it reached tribunal. Some of these offers were lower than the claimant would have received it they had continued with their appeals

People had felt under pressure to accept the offer, sometimes worth thousands of pounds a year less than they were entitled to and were not told about their appeal rights or given the opportunity to discuss the offer with representatives.

K had made a claim for the personal independence payment

benefit in 2017 but was refused. She applied again in 2019 and was awarded only a small amount. She appealed against the decision after her GP advised her that her serious mobility problems meant she was entitled to the highest levels of benefit.

After submitting an appeal request to the Her Majestys Court and Tribunal Service, she was called by the DWP, without warning, from a “withheld” number and was offered an award of benefit that was higher than her current award but less than she was entitled to. She states that she was told, “tribunals are not very nice to go to” and advised that she could risk losing all her benefit.

K, who has fibromyalgia and epilepsy and needs help with personal care, accepted the offer but said afterwards that she had felt pressured into making the decision. She said she was “haunted” by her choice and decided to challenge the DWP after seeing press reports exposing the practice.

She said: “I wasn’t given the time I needed to speak to my mum or seek any advice. They didn’t give

me the information that I needed to work out if it was what I was entitled to, and they didn’t tell me I could accept the offer and still appeal the decision if I wanted.”

Disability benefit decisions are notoriously unreliable and the process of appealing against them is long and stressful. The vast majority of claimant benefit appeals cases that reach tribunals are successful.

The DWP has agreed to issue guidance to officials making it clear they should not make so-called “partial lapse” awards similar to that made to K. Staff involved in these cases will be given mandatory retraining.

A DWP spokesperson said: “Our overarching aim is that claimants are paid the correct amount of benefit at the earliest opportunity. “We contact people if we can revise a decision and increase their benefits award as a result of new evidence becoming available after their appeal was lodged – and they always have the option to continue with their appeal or challenge a revised decision.

DWP policy of cold-calling people over benefit claims is to end




Claimant views on ways to improve PIP and ESA questionnairesIn response to recommendations made by the Work and Pensions Select Committee, the DWP commissioned research to explore claimant experiences of claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and, more specifically, to obtain their views on how the questionnaires used as part of the respective benefits’ assessment processes, could be made more user-friendly and “less distressing” for claimants.

The research involved an initial phase of focus groups and in-depth interviews with PIP and ESA claimants to explore their experiences of completing the questionnaires. Following a workshop with DWP colleagues, to discuss potential solutions to the issues raised by claimants, a further round of focus groups and in-depth interviews were conducted with PIP claimants, to explore their views on some additional information that might be provided along with the PIP questionnaire. These focused on whether any of this additional information might have helped to address claimants’ concerns about the assessment process.

PIP and ESA claimant preferences and suggestions for questionnairesPIP and ESA claims both involve completing a health questionnaire and having to undertake a health assessment (medical), conducted by a health care professional such as a nurse, physiotherapist or doctor. PIP and ESA claimants commonly described the experience of completing the assessment questionnaires in a negative light. They felt that the questionnaires forced them to focus on their worst experiences and lowest points.

Both PIP and ESA claimants felt that they struggled to know what information DWP was looking for, as they felt the basis of how PIP and ESA was awarded was not made clear. This left them feeling anxious about what information to include. PIP claimants felt strongly that there was a lack of transparency from DWP on how the benefit is awarded.PIP and ESA claimants suggested improvements, including: • more routing within the questionnaires or separate

questionnaires for different conditions or disabilities, this would provide greater clarity on which questions they need to answer;

• an option to complete online, which would enable claimants to complete the questionnaire in stages and assist those that struggled with physically writing answers into the open text boxes;

• and extending the deadline to six weeks, to allow more time for gathering evidence and/or accessing support to fill the questionnaire in.

Additional information was shown to PIP claimants during the final stage of the research. They were shown a seven-page document that provided more information on the assessment process, how points are awarded and what is involved in the face-to-face assessment. We now await the report on the outcome of the research. Please click the link to take you to the full report

Post Office Card Accounts expire on 30 November 2021The contract with the post office to provide simple accounts for claimants to have their benefits paid in to, will expire on 30.11.2021. The replacement service goes live on 2nd August 2021.

The DWP have stated that they have been writing to customers from 1st June 2021 to advise them of the change. Claimants will receive 2 letters.

The first letter warns that POCA is closing and asks them to supply new bank details for their benefits to be paid into. After 4 weeks, if there is no reply or if customers say they cannot supply bank details, they will receive the second letter.

The second letter says that if we don’t receive bank details in the next 4 weeks we will move their payments to a voucher based payment service.

The DWP are writing (mainly) benefit by benefit and started with recipients of Jobseekers Allowance, Disability Living Allowance and Income Support. Claimants in receipt of more than one benefit might receive a letter earlier than expected.

The letters for high volume benefits like State Pension, Pension Credit and PIP will go out later in the year.




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Welfare Benefit Officer Case StudyMr D has been a LBHF tenant since 2009. He was given a one bedroom flat. Upon taking up this tenancy, Mr D was in full time employment with the NHS and was paying his full rent. He did not receive any benefits as his income was too high for him to be eligible.Three years later, his wife came from Ethiopia and joined him. In 2013 and 2016 Mr D had 2 sons in the same property.

He was still in employment until 2017 when he fell ill at work. He was rushed to A & E and was treated and later diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. From the date of his diagnosis, he was unable to continue his work. His wife was not in employment as she was looking after their 2 children.

Mr D was unable to afford to pay his rent and council tax bills. He was then referred to the WB team and I met with him.

Advise & Service Provided: I benefit checked Mr D with his current household circumstances. It emerged that he would be entitled to claim Housing Benefit, council tax support along with Personal independence payment (PIP) for his ill health issues. I assisted him to apply for all the above benefits and all were successful. After the claim for PIP, I assisted his wife to claim Carers Allowance (CA) for looking after Mr D. The CA was successful and awarded.

I discussed Mr D’s housing issues with his housing manager. I was advised to assist the family to complete a housing registration form for rehousing due to health reasons. This form was completed and sent to the Housing dept. Mr D was now on the waiting list to be rehoused with his family. Mr D continued to receive all the benefits listed above.

Unfortunately, Mr D passed away in November 2020. His wife and 2 children are now re-housed from their 1 bedroom flat to a 2 bedroom accommodation.

Thank you to Uyi Abosede for her case study.

COVID support to endThe DWP has confirmed that the £20 per week uplift in universal credit (UC) will be removed in early October 2021. The uplift was introduced in April 2020 as an emergency measure to help claimants cope with the economic effects of COVID-19. Estimates suggest it helped 700,000 people stay above the poverty line during the pandemic. The uplift was originally due to be removed at the end of the financial year (April 2021), but was then extended to early October 2021. Claimants will experience the effects of the loss of the uplift on different days depending on their UC assessment period.

UC standard allowance

Currently From October 2021

single UC claimant aged 25+

£411.51 per month

£324.84 per month

couple where one or both are aged 25

£596.58 per month

£509.91 per month

The DWP has stated that they will start communicating before October 2021 with claimants in receipt of the £20 uplift, to make them aware of the adjustment to their awards. The Self Employment Income Support Scheme and the COVID job retention scheme (which subsidises employers who are paying the wages of workers on furlough) will also close after 30 September 2021.

Advice line opening times Day Morning Afternoon

Monday 9.30am–2.30pm 13.30pm–16.30pm

Wednesday 9.30am–12.30pm 13.30pm–16.30pm

Friday 9.30am–12.30pm 13.30pm–16.30pm

Welfare benefits team:• 020 8753 5566 • [email protected]



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