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This Workshop is available for for in-house training purposes for individual organisations.
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The new Welfare Reform Act 2012 was certainly a piece of legislation that was far from easy to become law, but it will now reform the Social Security system in a variety of ways:
· Means-tested benefits available to working-age claimants will be consolidated into a single scheme known as Universal Credit which will be phased in over several years from 2013 onwards;
· Pension Credit will continue as a separate benefit, but it will include a housing element to cover all housing costs, including rent, also from 2013;
· Disability Living Allowance will be replaced by a new benefit called ‘Personal Independence Payment’;
· There will be a cap on the total amount of most benefits that can be awarded to any one working age household without a full-time worker, again from 2013;
· Other changes affect existing benefits, including HB and CTB, and could be brought into force sooner than Universal Credit. These include:
o Prosecution and sanctions in fraud cases;
o Enhanced data sharing between local authorities and DWP;
o Discretionary social fund payments scrapped and replaced by a local scheme, administered by local authorities;
o Amendments to the primary legislation governing eligible rent in HB.
The Workshop will take a look at recent changes introduced in 2012 that affect Housing Benefit, but the day is primarily concerned with the Welfare Reform Act 2012 and Universal Credit. The Workshop is to encourage discussion and debate on the roles that current HB/CTB practitioners might take in the Social Security system of the future!
The day is divided into the following sections:
Morning session: The social security system before and after the Welfare Reform Act 2012. A look at recent changes affecting Housing Benefit, followed by an overview of the different benefits available to different claimant groups, both as they are now and as they will be after the 2012 Act is fully in force. We also look at the reforms, other than Universal Credit, that will affect HB/CTB before Universal Credit has been fully phased in.
Afternoon session - Universal Credit and associated reforms. A look at the detailed rules of the Universal Credit scheme, based on the primary legislation in the Act and the announcements that have been made about the likely content of the Universal Credit Regulations.
This Workshop will mainly be of interest to people with a reasonably good knowledge of HB and CTB, and the focus during the second morning session will be very much on how the Act affects HB and CTB. However, anyone with an interest in wider welfare reform issues, and even those from a non-HB background, should find the day to be informative and thought-provoking. By means of presentations, discussions and exercises our presenter, Peter Barker (the “HB Anorak”), will provide a fact-filled day covering the most up-to-date information available.
