Very pleased that the Work and Pensions Select Committee has recommended that the DWP assess my proposed model of assessment of Universal Credit, which could sort out irregular assessment of earnings and remove the need for a 5 week wait for the first payment. You can read the report at https://committees.parliament.uk/work/135/universal-credit-the-wait-for-a-first-payment/publications/ . It’s pretty wide […]
PensionBee are a company which “combines and transfers your old pensions into a brand new online plan, managed by some of the world’s largest money managers.” It doesn’t offer advice but points to where that can be found. It emphasises that it offers a simple online service. It has a lot of useful information on […]
A brief update to my post on Surplus Earnings of May 24th. The team at legislation.gov.uk have corrected the current version of the Universal Credit regulations and pulled the incorrect consolidated versions , that they said had been provided by the DWP. I have put up a Youtube video trying to explain the serious flaws […]
Even by Universal Credit (UC) standards that might seem a little bit excessive, but it appears to be happening. It’s also a real, and urgent, problem for a rapidly increasing number of people. Once again, it illustrates how the complexity of rules within Universal Credit seems to work against the stated aim of simple, understandable […]
I’m not going to write much about what benefit changes have taken place recently, and there are lots of them, but a little bit about how they might affect people. This is because I’ve just finished the first baseline run of Ferret’s Future Benefits Model for 2020 to 2024. This is our big five-year rolling […]
(I’m posting this in the hope that it will generate some interest. I’d be grateful for comments, whether pointing out flaws or errors, or suggestions. Given the current situation, this could be implemented rapidly if workable. By all means, point and laugh but, please, do think about what could be done) I looked in […]
(Charts and tables amended 18/2/2020 to correct misalignment and 23/2/20 to simplify UC Calculation) The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee has launched an enquiry into the economics of Universal Credit. It’s calling for written contributions to be submitted by February 29th. Whatever your views on the House of Lords as a second chamber, its […]
(With a lot of very, very boring but quite important numbers) This government loves sound bites and bullet points. They can look very impressive. UK minimum wage to rise by four times rate of inflation Employees over 25 will receive a 6.2% pay rise equating to £930 a year for full-time worker National Living Wage […]
Greggs, the well-known bakers, have been in the news this week because they are giving their staff a bonus because of good financial results. It’s always good seeing employers rewarding staff, and Greggs already have a generous profit-sharing scheme. They’ve basically just handed £7m back to the govt. I have two questions about this. The […]
The National Living Wage (NLW) is what used to be called the minimum wage for those over 25. It’s the hourly pay rate that employers must pay as a minimum. It tends to be the actual rate that’s paid to many, many people. When it goes up, as it will in April, the gross pay […]