Roundup of recent DWP announcements
More parents to benefit from extra work coach support
Parents of children aged one and two on Universal Credit will start to benefit from meeting more frequently with work coaches to help them prepare for work.
The appointments include exploring steps to improve their skills, identifying support needs, learning about childcare provision, and boosting their confidence.
The meetings increase the opportunity to engage and encourage claimants to think about a job in the future, consider the steps they can take to improve their prospects and secure jobs when their child is older.
This change impacts parents who are lead carers, and other lead carers such as grandparents, kinship carers, adoptive parents or guardians. Those with a one-year-old will start to have a work-focused meeting with their work coach every three months instead of every six months, as is currently the case. Parents with a two-year-old meanwhile will start meeting their work coach every month instead of every three months.
Claimants will be told of the change at their next scheduled appointment with their work coach.
Bereaved parents reminded to check eligibility for financial support
Bereaved parents who lost their partner between 9 April 2001 and 8 February 2023 may be eligible for backdated government payments.
In February the Government extended eligibility for Bereavement Support Payment and Widowed Parent’s Allowance to cohabiting parents with dependent children – benefits designed to help with the financial impact of losing a partner.
Previously these benefits were only available to eligible bereaved parents who were married or in a civil partnership, but the law was changed to make it fairer to children.
When DWP extended eligibility in February, it opened a 12-month window for cohabiting parents to backdate their claims. This means parents whose partner died before 9 February 2023 have until 8 February 2024 to claim. After this, it will not be possible to claim Widowed Parent’s Allowance and parents will not get their full entitlement to a backdated payment of Bereavement Support Payment.
Personal Independence Payment update
When Personal Independence Payment (PIP) was introduced, we intended that people with ongoing awards would have a light-touch review, appropriate to their needs, 10 years into their award.
Ongoing awards are primarily for those with the highest level of support or whose needs will not change or will only deteriorate. Since 2019, this also includes most people who have reached State Pension age.
The first light-touch reviews start in August and will involve a short form to check whether anything has changed, so we can adjust the award if needed and confirm we hold up to date information. In most cases an assessment with a health professional will not be required
For more information see the Personal Independence Payment toolkit
Move to Universal Credit update
In July DWP continued with the Move to Universal Credit expansion, moving into Kent, North London, Durham & Tees Valley, and East Anglia. In August we expand into West Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, West Scotland and South London followed by Cumbria, Lancashire, Essex, Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire & the Isle of Wight, Southwest Wales, East Scotland, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland in September.
We are continuing with our small-scale discovery phase with tax credit couples, learning and adapting to ensure couples can make a claim to Universal Credit effectively, before we increase numbers later this year. From September we are planning to include other legacy benefit combinations in our discovery work to support our preparation for moving households on different legacy combinations at scale in 2024/25.
Building on the positive reception of January’s publication Learning from the Discovery Phase which outlined our learnings from the ‘Earliest Testable Service’ cohort (the first 500 Migration Notices issued in Bolton and Medway), we have been working with Ministers on the content and timing of future publications. We will be publishing data on our progress on Move to Universal Credit in August.
This week, the Department also launched a new advertising campaign which aims to raise awareness that tax credits are ending and help claimants prepare for a move to Universal Credit. Channels include paid search, social media, digital advertising and online video signposting to dedicated information pages on the Understanding Universal Credit website:
Tax credits are ending – Understanding Universal Credit
Pension Credit trial
Two thousand people in Great Britain will receive letters inviting them to apply for Pension Credit as part of an innovative new trial launched this week.
The letters and leaflets will be targeted at households in 10 local authorities that are already in receipt of Housing Benefit, but not claiming Pension Credit.
Pension Credit can be worth over £3,500 per year on average for people over State Pension age and on a low income – and it can lead to further support including extra Cost of Living payments being made later this year.
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DWP and Jobcentre Plus bank holiday arrangements
DWP and Jobcentre Plus opening times are different for August bank holiday.
On Monday 28 August offices and phone lines are closed.
To make sure people get their payment on a day when Jobcentre Plus offices are open, some payments will be paid early.
If the expected payment date is Monday 28 August, benefits will be paid on Friday 25 August.
If the expected payment date is not shown, customers will get their money on their usual payment date.
To align with the bank holiday in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, DWP offices and phone lines in Scotland will also be closed on Monday 28 August.
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