Instead of an hours-based exclusion from the benefits cap, as will be the case for the Housing Benefit based cap being introduced in April 2013. there will be a simple earnings threshold. If net earnings are higher than this figure, for single people or couples, then they will not be subject to the cap. The […]

Couples where one is aged below the qualifying age for Pension Credit will have to claim UC until the younger person reaches that age. Support for people with disabilities in UC is given subject to tests of work capability that follow those in Employment and Support Allowance. I’ve been trying to understand how that would […]

The government have published the first detailed draft regulations for Universal Credit and is formally consulting the SSAC about them. I’ve started building the detail into our Future Benefits Model (FFBM) and there are substantial changes to previous announcements. Some of them are simplifications, such as the earnings disregard rules now discarding the formula for […]

Benefit rates are normally increased – uprated – every year in April. Some are frozen at the moment but, we hope, only for a short time. Until this year they’ve normally been increased by the Retail Prices Index (RPI) using the annual change in the previous September. The idea is that this should allow people […]

My apologies for the silence here. I’m in the middle of a round of Welfare Reform training around the country (I just got home from Newcastle, via the Durham blizzard). I’m also updating my papers, merging the two into one combined document and updating the Future Benefits Model (FFBM) to a 2012 / 2013 baseline […]

I see that the suggestion is that in todays’ budget there will be, at some point, an increase in the personal tax allowance to £9,205. That’s worth an extra £305 in net income – £5.86 a week. The problem is, as I’ve said before, that is worth £5.86 to those not on benefits, earning perhaps […]

A little more detail on what I’m trying to do. As the real detail starts to appear about the new system(s) I want to add to our existing range of assessments in the FFBM some more human examples. As well as the existing scenarios, which use a range of incomes at standard intervals and averaged […]

The Parliament website shows Royal Assent for the Welfare Reform Bill is expected tomorrow, the 8th of March.

I’m soon going to have to change the subhead of the blog, when Royal Assent is given, but it means that I’m now going to start the really detailed work. As the draft and final regulations appear, I’ll be building them into our Future Benefits Model (FFBM) and assessing the impact that they will have […]

Apologies for the advert but I’m running some courses looking at Welfare Reform impacts around the country next month and in the autumn. There are two courses initially, Welfare Reform and Means-Tested Benefits and Welfare Reform and Older People. They’re being held in Cardiff, Chester, Leeds, Newcastle, Birmingham and London (or in-house) and you can […]