David, Will and Lindsay discuss: Rent arrears deductions in Universal Credit; DWP consultation on WCA changes ruled as unlawful; Visiting Officers and DWP home visits; Specified/temporary accommodation and erosion of the UC transitional element; DWP complaints; Knock-on effects of PIP

Benefits Newscast February 2025

David Stickland: [00:00:04] Hello. Thanks for joining us. It’s our February Newscast. And this month it’s myself, Lindsay and Will, to discuss all things changing, developments in benefits news, topical issues, stuff we want to share with you. Let’s get underway straight away. So, Will, perhaps I can ask you what’s first on your list this month?

Will Hadwen: [00:00:31] Well, there was an interesting case the other day, about rent arrears, deductions from Universal Credit. So you might know that when you’re on Universal Credit, they can make deductions for various things. And one of those things is rent arrears. And they can take either 10% or 20% of your standard allowance. And they don’t consult with you if your landlord applies and certain criteria apply, then they’ll probably get the rent arrears deduction. And indeed that is what happened in this case. Okay. I think it was a housing association landlord and they applied for rent arrears deduction and they duly got it. But what the judge said was that it’s the procedure that is unlawful rather than the making of the deductions themselves. And that’s because Universal Credit don’t attempt to ask the claimant, if they definitely owe the arrears and what they think about having deductions made. And in this case, as could happen in other cases, there was a dispute about whether the arrears were in fact payable. So I think it’s very interesting. I think the principle of it could potentially apply to other types of arrears as well. You know is the debt yours? Did you, if you’re liable, did you make the payments? This kind of thing. Have you made other offers to pay the debt? Is it in your interest, there’s things within the claims and payments regulations that can be helpful as well. So, I recommend that people go and have a look at it. It’s not a particularly common query sort of in itself from claimants, but what clients sometimes say is, why is my Universal Credit so low? And often that is because of deductions and other things that are going on.

David Stickland: [00:02:29] Right. Thank you. And in terms of some of the things you mentioned there that people might be looking out for, checking the debt, is the debt yours, etc.? At what point would a claimant have an opportunity to do this?

Will Hadwen: [00:02:46] Well, part of that is debt advice. I don’t particularly want to get into because it’s not my area. But the point here is that Universal Credit should be contacting the claimant and saying, a creditor has applied to take this deduction from your Universal Credit. What do you think about that? Right. And then you can make representations. And they don’t do that, so it’s about the process being unlawful.

David Stickland: [00:03:13] Right. So what you’re saying is the claimant should be given notice of this. In practice they might not be or probably won’t be. So do we think there might be a change in practice as a result of this?

Will Hadwen: [00:03:26] I think ultimately there will have to be because otherwise other people could continue to do the same thing. But it’s a very broad case about procedural fairness in the practice of taking the rent deductions or rent arrears deductions. And although there is a similar case or a related case called Timpson, which is about deductions from the legacy benefits, the judge made this decision just on its own facts and circumstances, didn’t apply Timpson in a straightforward way, decided to to work from first principles to decide that this process is unlawful, because it doesn’t meet minimum standards of procedural fairness. The UC claimant must be told the landlord is requesting this and given an opportunity to respond before it happens.

David Stickland: [00:04:23] Okay. Got it. And in terms of the process that advisers should be following, I’m right in saying this is not about mandatory reconsideration or appeals is it?

Will Hadwen: [00:04:34] Yeah. You’re absolutely right. It’s not about mandatory reconsideration and appeals. In practice you could just you could say, I dispute this debt, and I want you to look at it again. But it’s not it’s not an appealable decision as such. I think some deductions are appealable, in specific circumstances, I don’t want to go too far down the road or I’ll say something that’s wrong. Okay, but but yes, it wasn’t about mandatory reconsideration and appeal. It was decided in the High Court. Right. It’s judicial review.

David Stickland: [00:05:13] Okay. So it won’t necessarily be straightforward. People should perhaps look out for some of these similar cases where, where a deduction is made. Contact us for support if you’re not sure. We’ll be happy to help.

Will Hadwen: [00:05:25] Definitely. Great. Yeah.

David Stickland: [00:05:26] Thanks, Will. Cool, Lindsay, let’s find out about your first issue, if you can.

Lindsay Fletcher: [00:05:34] Thanks, David. Yeah. Another High Court ruling that’s come out recently. They’ve been busy as ever. So we can share the full judgment. And it’s definitely worth a read. But the High Court ruled that the proposed Work Capability Assessment changes that the previous government was consulting on was actually unlawful, so the consultation process was unlawful. So like I said, the full judgment is interesting. Very worth a good read of but mainly they said that it was kind of unfair of the government not to be clear of kind of the, you know, potential main part of the intended changes were to save money and not just to help people get back into work, as predominantly suggested. So I, you know, many advisers have probably had clients contacting them because they’re worried about all the changes they’re reading about. So I still think that they are hoping to make big savings in this area with the new government. It’s kind of a watch this space and reassure people as much as you can but hopefully this will influence future consultations with the with the new the new government.

David Stickland: [00:06:53] Right. And so the judgment found that it was unlawful because of the process and specifically that the previous government said it was about, providing support to claimants, when in fact it was just as much or perhaps, if not more, about saving money. And the process didn’t make that clear.

David Stickland: [00:07:17] So it’s not to say that none of these things could happen again, and this government could continue with some of those principles. But if they were to do so, they’d have to be more transparent about the reasons behind it.

Lindsay Fletcher: [00:07:30] Just transparency and the consultation process and how stakeholders can actually view their opinions, making it easy for them to understand what they’re actually giving their opinions and thoughts on. So yeah, hopefully that will influence future consultations.

David Stickland: [00:07:46] And this has been going on for a for a while now hasn’t it. Probably a good couple of years or so since the sort of rumblings of it started. For those people that are wondering where things are up to with the Work Capability Assessment, perhaps I can check in with both of you on this because I lose track of it a little bit. We haven’t seen any of those changes implemented?

Lindsay Fletcher: [00:08:07] I think it’s still we just don’t know. Which isn’t reassuring to tell people, but it’s kind of, you know, don’t worry before you kind of have to. Don’t worry about things that haven’t happened yet. And it’s very easy for us to say that. But it’s easier said than done. But yeah, lots of kind of scare mongering, especially with the recent news about like, fraud and checking bank accounts and things. But it’s still very much a kind of watch this space. Try not to worry. We don’t know what’s going to happen. Give some reassurances, it might be like new changes will apply to new claims rather than existing claims. But yeah, lots of scare mongering kind of putting in. Think it even gives a bad stigma again, to people on benefits. And kind of discourages the genuine people to claim benefits. For fear of all these things that they read, which should be concentrating on kind of take up of the unclaimed benefits rather than, you know, the very small percent who shouldn’t be claiming.

David Stickland: [00:09:14] Right and it is in the news a lot, isn’t it? And I guess it will continue to be, because this government is continuing to consult on changes. But I guess we should emphasize to everybody that might be sort of worrying about what’s actually happening right now. We are in a period of consultation and there are no firm time scales or points.

Lindsay Fletcher: [00:09:39] Just don’t know the minute. I think. There’ll be further consultation in the in the future. But yeah, we just we just don’t know, do we Will?

Will Hadwen: [00:09:47] Okay. Yeah. It’s not even. We don’t even know exactly what changes they’re proposing to make. So in a way, we’re not even at consultation point. We’re at the point where they’ve just announced a review about.

David Stickland: [00:09:58] That’s what I meant.

Will Hadwen: [00:09:59] And long term sickness because I think they’re concerned about two sides of this. At least one is the cost to the benefits bill, and the other one is people not being in the job market.

David Stickland: [00:10:09] Yes. Thank you Will. So yes, not consulting with stakeholders, but reviewing sort of internally.

Will Hadwen: [00:10:15] Well you can respond to the review but it’s led by someone from who used to work for John Lewis, I think so yeah. It has got terms of reference on GOV.UK if you want to look at it.

David Stickland: [00:10:29] Right. Okay. Cool. Thanks. So, Will, I think we’re up to number two on your list.

Will Hadwen: [00:10:36] Yes. So this is a very interesting response to a freedom of information request where somebody made a very wide request for guidance for visiting officers. And it makes an absolutely fascinating read. And there’s lots of useful stuff in there, especially for those of us who are helping claimants who’ve received a migration notice. So it explains that, if necessary, visiting officers can help people make a non-digital claim for UC by doing a home visit and then, allowing them to claim UC using a DWP mobile phone. Okay, they can’t discuss or interpret the questions. They can only relay back the answers that the claimant gives but that that is an option for people. It’s made clear that it’s a last resort, but it is there. It also clarifies that UC service centres have dummy email addresses they can provide to help people to make those claims again, only if absolutely necessary. And then there’s other stuff about ongoing help that could be available to people who, for example, can’t upload evidence to their UC account when they’re going through a UC claim review, which is a problem, which is exactly the sort of problem that I’ve seen my clients have but that has to be after a referral from the claim review team. So I think it’s really interesting and it just reminds us that in the last resort, if there are no other options DWP do have a home visit team, and although you probably will have to push very hard to get a referral to them, it does exist and that guidance is useful reading.

David Stickland: [00:12:21] Thank you. So three things I think I picked out there in terms of sort of practical things, use of a DWP phone to sort of, that officers could use during a home visit if it was absolutely, if it was, as you say, as a last resort. So it is possible for a non-digital telephone claim to be made in that way. Use of a of a dummy email address for those people that perhaps haven’t been able to access their own email addresses. But I think, like you said, we should be doing all we can to help people get their email addresses sorted out in good time, if that’s at all possible. This would be a last resort, but it can be done, in those circumstances. And I think you mentioned uploading evidence as well. So if people are having difficulties doing that on their online account.

Will Hadwen: [00:13:14] Yeah. So that’s for digital claimants who need support later on. Which is something that, as the advice sector has been worried about for, well, ever since UC came in, it’s all very well supporting someone to make a claim. But what happens after that?

David Stickland: [00:13:28] Sure. And what’s the process for people to go through when they’re trying to request that sort of support? If we were someone was asked about that, how would you explain that?

Will Hadwen: [00:13:39] I don’t think that’s entirely clear, because I don’t think it’s intended that claimants and advisors should be making these requests. But just to give you examples, if you were having a claim review and you were asked for evidence that you knew you couldn’t upload, it would be for you to explain that you couldn’t do that. But then it would be for the claim review team to eventually decide that they. With you and would contact the visiting officers for you. Similarly, if you need help to make a claim during managed migration, that would be after they’ve tried to contact you with the enhanced support process. If they ring you three times and can’t get hold of you, that’s when they’re supposed to do a home visit.

David Stickland: [00:14:19] Okay, so really important stuff for people to be aware of and for us to pass on in those cases where it is absolutely necessary. Great. Thanks, Will. Lindsay, I think we’ve got a bit of time left. Another five or so, ten minutes maybe. So I think we’ve got time for number two of yours. Yep.

Lindsay Fletcher: [00:14:36] So Will we’ll mention this recently in the webinar we did a few weeks ago. Oh, yeah. Well, for those who didn’t attend. Just another reminder. And so they might have seen some recent legislation passed regarding the the usual changes that happen to the transitional element if someone migrated over to Universal Credit, usually it erodes if you add any new element onto your UC award, including if you start renting for the first time. But they have made an exception to that usual rule, which is going to come in place from the 1st June, that if someone has been on Universal Credit with a transitional element and they are on Housing Benefit because they’re in exempt accommodation, so supported or temporary accommodation, when they move into mainstream accommodation, and they add the element to the housing element onto the UC Award, as long as that happens within a month of the Housing Benefit ending that shouldn’t erode the transitional element. And so that does just confirm some recent case law called JA, that we’ll put in the sources that establish that this kind of cliff edge erosion, you know, was not the intention. It’s meant to be a gradual erosion. And so I think if it happens, if that happens to anyone prior to the 1st June, they can still potentially rely on that case law test case argument from the 1st June is confirmed into legislation. So really, really important one to kind of again quite niche, not that common but you know does happen and a good one to look out for. People have got these new rental costs that they’re not having to find that out of the existing money. They’re actually getting extra help to, to pay that rent.

David Stickland: [00:16:34] Okay. Great. Thanks. And so I’m thinking that we want to be to be really clear about who this affects and we’re talking about specified and temporary accommodation. Right. So it’s not perhaps, you know, other types of rental situations that you might come across.

Lindsay Fletcher: [00:16:54] Other situations where it does happen, like say you’ve got someone living rent free with their parents with a transitional element and then they start their own tenancy, the first tenancy, thinking they’re going to get help with the rent, and they add the housing element onto the UC and it just erodes the transitional element. It’s not going to help people like that still. So there’s still potential further test cases in the future. But this is purely for people who are on Housing Benefit because of the type of accommodation they were in and Universal Credit.

David Stickland: [00:17:27] So those people living in and getting Housing Benefit to help with the cost of temporary accommodation and specified accommodation, like you say, which is more often where there is support provided as part of the tenancy. I think lots of people that work in that sector understand what that is and will recognise it. Perhaps lots of other people who don’t work in that sector perhaps are not so familiar with it. It’s a question of I guess they’re trying to sort of you know, the case of JA is attempting to address the question of fairness, isn’t it? I mean, there’s a question of fairness to be discussed in the other case that you mentioned, or the other type of situation where, you know, because you could argue that it’s not fair to lose your transitional protection in all of those other situations as well perhaps. But where you’ve got people moving from specified or temporary accommodation, sort of by virtue of the type of accommodation that they live in, they’re going to find that they get a new housing element when they when they move. And so it would be very unfair to have that erode the transitional element. So check for those.

Lindsay Fletcher: [00:18:30] Nice they’ve recognised this situation, but still lots more potential, other unfair situations to kind of keep an eye on.

David Stickland: [00:18:35] Yeah, exactly. And the date you mentioned is 1st June this year, 2025 which is when the regulations sort of take effect. Is that right?

Lindsay Fletcher: [00:18:46] Yeah, right, not sure why they’ve done that, really, but maybe just time to get it kind of admin wise, because it probably will be quite a complex thing, and we might not have 100% trust that this is going to go smoothly. So do keep an eye out for any incorrect erosion. That’s quite common.

David Stickland: [00:19:05] And you said also it could include cases where someone moves before that date and the case of JA can be relied upon in in that instance even though the regulations haven’t taken effect.

Lindsay Fletcher: [00:19:18] Definitely. Yeah. So if it is, if they do erode the transitional element, definitely ask for an MR.

David Stickland: [00:19:25] Lovely. Thanks, Lindsay. So just to summarize, people working with people renting in specified and temporary accommodation, getting transitional element under the managed migration really need to look out for these and check them carefully. If they’re not sure they can contact us will help. Great. Okay, just a little bit of time left, I think, for for each of you to introduce your final items. Will, let’s come back to you.

Will Hadwen: [00:19:49] So mine can be very quick. It’s about complaining and the recent report from the Independent Case Examiner, which has got lots of case studies that make interesting reading. But what is very clear is that complaint system, if you pursue it to that level, you can get more out of it, especially if somebody has been overpaid through no fault of their own and they end up in debt to the DWP. The DWP hasn’t explained it properly. Especially if they were in a vulnerable situation at the time. And even if you’ve already had a sort of token consolatory payment from the DWP, £50, for example, in a few cases, the Independent Case Examiner said, well, I agree that that’s not enough for what you’ve been through and the level of maladministration that you’ve been subject to. So they were ultimately awarded more. So just encouraging for the number of times that I help people complain or advise that people should complain that it is often worth it.

David Stickland: [00:20:56] Yeah, okay. That’s the message. Then you can succeed. We can include some links for how people start that process, and we want to encourage people to stick in there can take a while, but it can bear fruit eventually. Thanks, Will and, Lindsay, your final item. What’s that?

Lindsay Fletcher: [00:21:17] Yeah. I just finally wanted to remind people again, because it’s easily forgotten when someone’s awarded things like PIP, a disability benefit, so don’t forget to check for those kind of knock on effects. Some of the more common ones we’re used to is things like, severe disability premiums in ESA and things but there’s also the less common ones that sometimes we forget about. So things like if you are working and you earned over £793 a month, unless you’re on PIP, you can’t actually be referred for a Work Capability Assessment. So now you get PIP, it can open that door. Other things, like you become entitled to the one bedroom rate of the local housing allowance rather than the shared room rate. Things like if you’ve got a non-dependant deduction from your housing element because you’ve got a non-dependant living with you, that should stop. But then also say I was on Universal Credit with the housing element and my non-dependant was awarded PIP, that’s also relevant for me to report to my Universal Credit, because them getting PIP again means a non-dependant deduction should stop. And then also other things which I’ve seen only this week, client on Universal Credit awarded PIP, can’t get a severe disability premium for the first time, doesn’t exist anymore. But if someone they live with is on ESA or Pension Credit, it means they can now get a severe disability premium if everyone in the household is now on PIP. Whereas before they might not have been able to because their own PIP wasn’t enough and now everyone gets PIP. So it’s just all that kind of bigger picture and knock on effects for the, the household to to look at rather than the obvious things.

David Stickland: [00:23:14] Yeah. Thanks. I mean, it’s a really significant change of circumstances, isn’t it? I mean, we often sort of talk about changes of circumstances and what they mean in terms of underpayments, overpayments, etc., etc. but it’s almost like a full review of someone’s situation needs to be to be done where? Where there’s been a PIP award, and I guess if you’ve been doing this for a long time, those things are kind of you can sort of think them through in your head, can’t you? But if you’re fairly new to advice, then it’s really complicated and really easy to miss stuff. So I suppose if you’re in that situation, if you’re working with someone who’s been successful in getting PIP and you’re not sure you want to check, you can contact us and we’ll be happy to sort of run you through things. Check that there’s nothing that can’t be claimed as well. Cool. Thanks. Both. I think that’s our time. We’ve covered all six items, so. That’s good. We have; I haven’t missed. I haven’t missed anything from you, Will? No, just checking. Great. Thanks. Both. Thanks, everyone, for tuning in. And we’ll see you next month. Cheers. Bye bye.