CPAG Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook 2016/2017

Transcription

1 CPAG Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook 2016/2017 Amendments and cut-outs for July 2016 from the June/252 edition of the Welfare Rights Bulletin You should use this to amend your copy of this reference book, making changes to the book as instructed below. Amendments to write in your copy of 2016/17 Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook. Page 172 Page 849 Under the heading Do you share responsibility for a child? Cross out the last sentence You might be able to. And the foot note Under the heading Being looked after by a local authority in the first paragraph insert child in the 4 th line after cannot be treated as a Page 849 Page 849 Under the heading Being looked after by a local authority in the first indent of the first bullet of the Note insert as a child after you cannot be included. Under the heading Being looked after by a local authority in the second indent of the first bullet of the Note insert child after s/he cannot get Page 1 of 6 Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook 2016/2017 Cut-outs July 2016

2 Cut-outs to stick in your copy of 2015/16 Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook. Page 397 Attach the following cut-out to cover the third bullet and first indent on p397 you are under the age of 22 and: - were provided with accommodation by the local authority under specified provisions. For UC only, you must be at least 18 and must have counted as previously looked after by a local authority before you were 18 (see p849). 26 Note: in some cases, you cannot claim HB or get the UC housing cost element if you currently count as previously looked after by a local authority (see p849); or Page 517 Attach the following cut-out underneath the dotted line at the top of p517 your late spouse or civil partner either: - satisfied the national insurance (NI) contribution conditions (see p971); or - was an employed earner and died as the result of an industrial injury or disease (see p522); and you are: - entitled to child benefit for at least one eligible child (see below); or - a widow and you are pregnant by your late husband; or - a widow or a surviving civil partner, you were residing with your late spouse or civil partner immediately before his/her death, and you are pregnant as a result of artificial insemination by a donor or in vitro fertilisation which was carried out before her/his death Note: in a Northern Ireland case, the exclusion of claimants who were not married to, or civil partners of, their late partner has been declared incompatible with human rights law (see Welfare Rights Bulletin 252 (June 2016), p2). This may also apply in in Great Britain. However, a further appeal is likely. See CPAG s online service and Welfare Rights Bulletin for further updates. Page 2 of 6 Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook 2016/2017 Cut-outs July 2016

3 Page 599 Attach the following cut-out under the header Transfers to personal independence payment Following the introduction of personal independence payment (PIP), new claims for disability living allowance (DLA) can now only be made for children under 16. People aged 16 to 64 who have a disability can claim PIP (see Chapter 35). PIP is gradually replacing DLA for all working-age people. You do not need to do anything until you are notified in writing by the DWP. You will be invited to claim PIP and your DLA will end (see p601). If you are claiming DLA for a child, s/he will normally be affected by the transfer to PIP when s/he reaches The transfer to PIP will not affect her/him before then. 192 However, from 29 June 2016, if your child is entitled to DLA as a patient in hospital, s/he is exempt from the transfer to PIP while s/he remains in hospital. Page 599 Attach the following cut-out to cover the ninth paragraph under the header Transfers to personal independence payment (the sentence starting If you are 16 or over.. If you are 16 or over and being transferred from DLA to PIP, the DWP can extend your fixed-term award of DLA if you are a child exempt from the transfer to PIP while in hospital (see above) or it will expire before a decision can be made on your PIP entitlement. 197 If you are about to turn 16 and your award is due to end on the day before your 16 th birthday or within the following six month, it is extended until the day you turn 17 or, if earlier, the day your DLA ends under the rules transferring to PIP. 198 These extensions are to give you time to claim PIP and have a decision made on your entitlement. Always check letters about your DLA carefully to whether you have been asked to claim PIP. You can choose to claim PIP, even if you entitled to DLA and have not been sent a letter telling you to claim PIP. 199 Page 3 of 6 Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook 2016/2017 Cut-outs July 2016

4 Page 620 Attach the following cut-out to cover the second bullet under the heading Making a claim (on p619) in writing by completing the approved claim form. A form can be downloaded from The DWP intends to introduce online claim forms at some point. Send the completed form to your local Jobcentre Plus office. If the DWP has arranged for a local authority to receive claims for ESA, you can also send it to the local authority housing benefit office. Page 674 Attach this cut-out to below replace the 2 nd paragraph under the heading Making a claim The DWP intends to introduce telephone and online claims at some point. You must provide any information or evidence required (see p674). In certain circumstances, the DWP may accept a written application not on the approved form. 116 You can amend or withdraw your claim before a decisionis made (see p1133). If there is a delay in making a claim, you may be able to get a short-term advance of benefit (see p1160). Note: you do not have to make a claim for retirement allowance. 117 Page 685 Attach the following cut-out to the top of p685 Often than this, or for a longer period, you may be able to claim JSA during an extended period of sickness (see below). Otherwise, you must claim ESA or PC (or UC) instead of JSA for the time you are unable to work. You must make a written declaration that you will be unfit for work from a specific date or for a specific period on a form available at the Jobcentre Plus office. 18 Otherwise, however, from 23 May 2016 the maximum of two two-week periods you are allowed does not include any two-week period where you went on to an extended period of sickness under the rules below. Page 4 of 6 Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook 2016/2017 Cut-outs July 2016

5 Page 849 Under the heading Being looked after by a local authority attach the following cut-out to cover the second bullet point in the Note In England and Wales, if you are currently being looked after by a local authority and have been looked after for at least 13 weeks starting after your 14 th birthday, you cannot qualify for IS, income-based JSA or HB unless any of the exceptions on p850 apply. Similar rules apply to UC, including in Scotland, but if you cannot qualify there are no exceptions. Page 850 Attach the following cut-out under the dotted line at the top of page 850 When you count as being previously looked after You count as previously looked after by a local authority if you are 16 or 17 and: 7 You were looked after by a local authority (and, in Scotland, were provided with accommodation) for at least 13 weeks. The 13-week period must have started after your 14 th birthday and ended after you turn 16. (for UC, in Scotland, the rules refer to a three-month period rather than a 13-week period). The local authority must be obliged to provide you with aftercare services; 8 or In England or Wales, you are not subject to a care order, but you were in hospital, or detained in a remand centre or a young offenders or similar institution when you became 16 and, immediately before you were in hospital or detained, you were looked after by a local authority (in Wales, accommodated) for at least 13 weeks since your 14 th birthday. 9 The 13 weeks do not have to be continuous. Some pre planned short-term placements, after which you return to the care of your parent, or person acting as your parent, do not count towards the 13 weeks. 10 For UC, in Scotland, any period where you have been placed with a member of your family does not count towards the three months. Note: in England and Wales, you are not excluded from IS, income-based JSA or HB or UC if you have been in a family placement (ie, living with your parent, someone with parental responsibility for you or someone who had a child arrangements order for you before you were looked after) for at least six months (unless the placement has broken down). 11 Page 5 of 6 Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook 2016/2017 Cut-outs July 2016

6 Page 904 Attach the following cut-out underneath the dotted line on the top of p904 Parents (or someone similar), the suspension of DLA after 84 days may consitute a violation of her/his human rights, in which case payment should continue. The government has amended the rules from 29 June From that date there is no 28- or 84- day limit on the payment of DLA or PIP for any person who is a patient and was under the age of 18 when they entered hospital, whether or not they were entitled to DLA or PIP when they entered hospital. Page 1089 Attach the following cut-out to cover point 2 under the heading What information should you be given about a scheme 2. You may be able to argue that before a notice requiring you to participate is given, you should be provided with enough information about the scheme and the criteria for being placed on it to enable you to make informed and meaningful representations on why you should not be required to participate. 57 However, in the context of the Work Programme, it has now been held that you should be able to make such representations about any activity you are required to undertake, rather than about being placed on the scheme in the first place. Further decisions may follow: see CPAG s online service and Welfare Rights Bulletin for updates. Page 1559 Under the heading Exceptions to the past presence test attach the following cut-out to cover the Note Note: The Upper Tribunal has held that a refugee child and a child joining refugee parent should be exempt from the past presence test. At the time of writing, it was not known if the government would appeal. See CPAG s online service and Welfare Rights Bulletin for updates. Page 6 of 6 Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook 2016/2017 Cut-outs July 2016