30.11.21

Here at Renaissance Legal, Amy and I have been busy helping clients untangle their benefits problems and make the best long-term financial decisions for their loved ones. We want to bring you up to date with what we have been doing, and our views on the current trends within the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

The DWP have also been busy: after all, there are now just under 6 million people on Universal Credit, compared to about 2.5 million before the pandemic.

The need to move staff to the administration of Universal Credit has unfortunately had a knock-on effect elsewhere, and we are now seeing eye-watering delays in dealing with claims for Personal Independence Payment (PIP). It is not unusual for assessments and decisions to take six months or more, which is both frustrating and indefensible.

But please don’t let this put you off! Remember that we can help you put together PIP claims with the maximum chances of success, or challenge a decision you are not happy with. As always, our advice is that the more detailed and well-supported your initial claim can be, the higher your chances of achieving a good result without the stress and delay of a face-to-face assessment.

These types of assessments, for both PIP and Work Capability, are now the norm, rather than phone assessments, and so it is very important that you are prepared properly for what to expect.

We have heard of several cases where the Assessment Service providers have cited Covid restrictions as a reason for not allowing claimants to have a helping person with them, such as a carer or family member. The claim has then been turned down, on the grounds that the claimant coped well with the assessment! Utterly unacceptable. So,  our advice is to make it crystal clear on the PIP or other forms that you need to be accompanied during your assessment, and that the Assessment Provider needs to find a suitable venue which will accommodate you, your helper, and the assessor. You can then refer to this request if the Assessment Provider tries to make the disabled person attend the appointment alone and cite the Equality Act 2010 if they try to insist.

This tactic is of course one that is used by the Assessment Provider, not the DWP, but they are under contract to the DWP.

The DWP has made headlines in its own right recently, and we would like to tell you about some positive changes in the world of Universal Credit.

As you may have read, the DWP resisted all pleas to keep the £86.67 a month temporary ‘uplift’ to Universal Credit which was introduced in April 2020. This lifeline amount is now removed from the standard allowance.

What the DWP have done however, is increase the amount of earnings which people can keep before their Universal Credit is affected.

You may have seen references to the ‘work allowance’ and the ‘taper rate’.

The work allowance is an amount of earnings disregard, which some people can keep before their earnings impact on their Universal Credit. The work allowance, for those who are entitled to one (these are people with children or people who have been found to have Limited Capability for Work), has gone up by £42 a month (to either £335 or £557, depending on whether or not the person is a tenant).

The ‘taper’ is the amount that people can keep for every pound they earn above the level of their work allowance. The net result is that people in work will keep more of their earnings before their Universal Credit is reduced, which is good news: the taper has gone down from 63% to 55%, which means that people keep 45p per pound, rather than 37p. The bad news, of course, is that there will be no improvement in income for anyone on Universal Credit who is not working, which we feel is a shame.

If you are a disabled person in work, or you care for someone who is, just make sure that their earnings are being treated correctly by the benefits system, as this can be an area of confusion and error.

On the upside, overall benefit rates will increase next April, we have just been told, so that’s positive news at least. We will return to the Renaissance Legal blog again next year with a follow up post which will tell you about the new rates.

How can we help?

Our team can offer you help with all aspects of benefits.

We can meet you over Zoom or on the phone to discuss your benefit situation. Please get in touch if you would like us to help you and discuss our fees.