Roundup of recent DWP announcements
Increases to Universal Credit childcare payments
The amount low-earning parents on Universal Credit can claim for childcare costs has increased by almost 50%. Parents can now claim up to £951 per month for one child or £1,630 for two or more children. There is also further support available to help parents who are moving into work or increasing their hours cover the costs of the first month of childcare. Eligible parents are now entitled to receive up to 85% of childcare costs back before their next month’s bills are due, meaning they should have money to pay one month in advance going forward.
These changes are designed to support low earning parents to progress in their careers and boost their finances.
One month left to renew for more than 300,000 tax credits customers
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has advised that tax credits customers have a month to renew their claim or risk having their payments stopped.
The annual deadline is 31 July and more than 300,000 customers who received a renewal pack with a red line across the first page and the words ‘reply now’ still need to confirm their circumstances for the current tax year to continue receiving payments.
Erroneous claims for Income Support
New claims to Income Support (IS) on the grounds of incapacity were closed from 31 January 2011. However, some claimants continued to erroneously claim IS after this date, when they should have made new claims to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA(IR)).
Depending on differences in IS paid and potential entitlement to ESA(IR), some claimants may have therefore been underpaid, so DWP is undertaking an exercise to address this.
Details of how potential claimants can apply, eligibility criteria and evidence needed to make a claim can be found on GOV.UK.
People given even more time to pay National Insurance contributions towards their State Pension
The Government has extended the voluntary National Insurance (NI) contributions deadline to 5 April 2025, to give people even more time to fill gaps in their NI record and help increase the amount they receive in State Pension when they retire. The deadline was previously July 2023.
Extending the voluntary NI contributions deadline for another two years also means people have more time to properly consider whether paying voluntary contributions is right for them.
As part of the transition to the new State Pension, people have been able to pay these contributions to make up any incomplete years between April 2006 and April 2016. Some of the people likely to be affected include those who may have been unemployed during this period, off work because of caring responsibilities or living abroad.
Further information and guidance are available on GOV.UK.
Future Support Offer 2024
DWP has published the Future Support Offer 2024 grant competition, offering funding for an organisation to provide people with tailored practical support across England, Scotland and Wales to:
- make a new claim for Universal Credit; and
- maintain their new Universal Credit claim up until their first full correct payment
The support is to be provided through telephony and digital channels, including webchat.
Find out more about the grant funding and application process.
The competition closes on Friday 28 July 2023.
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