u/Alteredchaos

Young disabled people to be fast-tracked to guaranteed jobs 

Thousands of young disabled people and those with long-term health conditions are set to be offered a fast-tracked job under the government's Jobs Guarantee. 

Under the scheme, eligible young people on health benefits will be offered a guaranteed job on a voluntary basis from week 13 after their Work Capability Assessment. 
They will receive mentoring and tailored support with their mental health, finances and housing to prepare them for work, while employers will be supported with onboarding costs. 
The government will also cover 100% of wage costs up to 25 hours a week for six months. 

Dr Sarah Hughes, CEO of Mind, said:

>“Many young people with mental health problems tell us that they’d love to work but can’t find the right support or opportunities in order to do so. If delivered in a genuinely supportive way, this offer could be life changing for a young person struggling with their mental health.
For far too long young people have been let down, with less opportunities and support than previous generations. Focussing on providing genuine opportunity to harness their motivations and ambitions is a really positive step forward, and we look forward to seeing the full detail.”

The move marks an expansion of the Jobs Guarantee, a government scheme launched earlier this year for long-term unemployed young people aged 18 to 24 who have been claiming Universal Credit for 18 months. The expansion to young people on health benefits will start from April 2027.  

Read the press release on gov.uk.

 

 

Boost for small businesses who take on young apprentices 

Smaller businesses backing the next generation will receive £2,000 for every new young apprentice they take on, opening more doors for young people into skilled careers across the country.  

To make it as simple as possible for smaller businesses, they do not need to apply for the payment, and it will instead be passed onto them via their apprenticeship training provider.  

As part of ongoing efforts to improve the apprenticeship system for apprentices and businesses a ‘new and improved’ apprenticeships.gov.uk will serve as a one-stop shop for businesses looking for clear, practical guidance on hiring apprentices, from eligibility criteria through to funding and support.  

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said:  

>“To ensure every young person has the chance to earn and learn, we must support small- and medium-sized businesses to take on young people.
That’s why we’re giving every small business hiring a young apprentice £2,000 – on top of the countless other benefits that young person will bring - and putting all the information a business needs in one place online.
We promised 50,000 more youth apprenticeships, and we’re delivering on that promise, one hire at a time.”

Employers will be able to calculate how much funding support they are eligible for and hear from real businesses on their apprenticeship experiences, while young people can browse a range of opportunities by interest and access a step-by-step journey of how to apply for an apprenticeship.  

Read the press release on gov.uk.

 

 

Check and confirm your claim details for non-digital (phone) UC claims

Previously, only online claims were receiving the 'check and confirm your claim details' to update claimant information.

Phone claims will now also go through this process.

DWP staff will call the claimant to complete the declaration for them over the phone. This will come with a handover and appointment option for claimants who need additional support to come into the Jobcentre if the support is required.

 

 

New report backs government action to help neurodivergent people succeed at work

In 2024/25, only 34% of all disabled people with autism were in work, in comparison to 55% of disabled people overall. This stark gap resulted in the launch of The Expert Academic Panel on Neurodiversity in January 2025 to advise the Government on how to help more neurodivergent people build successful careers.

Their report and recommendations were published this week.

The report calls for:

• Support that responds to individual strengths and challenges, based on need rather than diagnosis
• Strengthening of existing disability employment policy; and awareness of best practice
• Further research to address gaps in the evidence base;
• Practical, evidence-based strategies to help neurodivergent employees succeed
• Wider adoption of Universal Design principles so workplaces are built with everyone in mind from the outset. Neurodivergent people bring valuable skills and perspectives to the workplace, the report notes and that removing barriers to communication, and environment allow people to do their best work.

DWP says it’s already putting this into practice through Connect to Work, the specialist pathway for neurodivergent and learning-disabled people builds support around each person’s individual strengths and needs, helping them find roles where they can excel.

Neurodiversity Panel Chair Professor Amanda Kirby said:

>“Neurodivergent people have enormous talent to offer the economy, yet too often that talent goes untapped because support hasn’t matched their needs.
Our report shows that when neurodivergent people get the support they need, everybody benefits: employees find roles where they can excel, businesses gain from different skills and perspectives, and the wider economy grows stronger as more people contribute.”

The panel also recommended that, where possible, workplace systems and environments are built for everyone from the outset, rather than relying on adjustments being made for individuals reactively. In response, the Government has launched a sixteen-week policy discovery exercise with employers to explore practical, low-cost changes that help neurodivergent employees thrive.

The Expert Academic Panel on Neurodiversity Final Report and Recommendations and the Government Response are on gov.uk. As is the press release.

 

 

State Pension Triple Lock announcement

This week at the Labour Party Conference the Prime Minister confirmed he would end the State Pension Triple Lock and use the savings to fund a national care service in England that would be free at the point of use.

The State Pension increases in April each year, based on a system known as the triple lock. This means the increase will match the highest of these three percentages:

• how much general living costs have risen by (inflation), based on the previous September’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) 
• the average wage increase from May to July of the previous year, or
• 2.5%.

For example, in 2025, the CPI rate was 3.8% and the average wage increase was 4.8%. This means the State Pension increased by 4.8% on 6 April 2026.

The triple lock applies to most State Pension payments, but there are two exceptions that increase in line with CPI instead:

1. Additional State Pension – part of the old State Pension that you might get if you reached pension age before 6 April 2016.
2. Any extra amount you receive if you decided to delay taking your State Pension – known as deferring.

The current Triple Lock will be maintained until the end of this parliament. The changes are proposed from 2030/31, with the adjusted Triple Lock meaning the State Pension will always increase by at least the highest of 2.5%, Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation or a new earnings link – so that the State Pension will never fall below its level as a share of average earnings when we adjust the Triple Lock.  

The adjustment from April 2030 expected to save £15 billion a year by 2039/40.

YouGov has published polling suggesting voters support Burnham’s plan by 48% to 28%.

The press release and the research and analysis of State Pension uprating 2026 are on gov.uk.

In response to the Triple Lock announcement the UK’s leading independent economics research institute, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) considered the effect of the change.

‘How will the new triple lock work and what effects will it have?’ it’s on ifs.org.uk.

 

Reporting a change to UC about a child’s education  

Claimants who are receiving messages to update their child's education course are unsurprisingly reporting the change in the new 'Education and Training' option on the 'Report a Change' page. However, as it is not a new education or training course it should be reported in the 'Children and other people who live with you' option.

In response, the DWP has updated the wording of the description to make it more clear and stop these errors.

 

 

 

Work capability reassessments guidance issued to DWP staff

DWP has issued internal guidance to staff on wording to use when dealing with queries about work capability reassessments.

If a claimant with Limited Capability for Work reports a deterioration or new condition, they are referred for a reassessment.

There is currently limited capacity for reassessments due to recent increases in demand for new WCAs, so unfortunately reassessments which require a face to face, telephone or video consultation are not being done in large numbers.

DWP are actively working to boost capacity for reassessments, in line with the Secretary of State's announcements alongside the 'Pathways to Work' Green Paper.

Whenever possible, the health care professional will make a recommendation on reassessment cases on review of the WCA50 questionnaire and any supporting medical evidence provided. When an individual is reassessed, if the outcome of the assessment means they are entitled to a higher rate of benefit, that rate will be backdated accordingly.

Please try to refrain for directing customers to contact suppliers directly with questions related to reassessment timeframes.

>“The frequency of when claims are reassessed is determined by available capacity. Routine reassessments remain suspended.”

 

 

Personalising support work coach guidance updated

Some internal DWP appointment guidance has been updated for Work Coaches, of relevance (because we see it a lot in this subreddit) is the 'personalising support' for UC claimants with health conditions and disabilities. The guidance reminds work coaches of the importance of taking into account the claimant’s circumstances. 

>“Attendance at a mandatory appointment remains strictly mandatory.
Follow the relevant guidance for the claimant's Labour Market regime and work capability status, then personalise timing, length, frequency and channel where appropriate.
Consider accessibility, treatment, medication and other circumstances that may affect the most suitable time and method for meeting. Record the reason for the personalised approach and review it regularly.”

 And

>“Mandatory work-related activities.
Before setting a mandatory work-related activity:
Check that the activity is work-related and supports progress towards employment. Consider the claimant's circumstances, work capability status, accessibility needs and any reasonable adjustments. Be satisfied that the claimant can reasonably complete the activity.”

 

 

 

Wales – Government announces future direction of employability support in Wales

The Cabinet Minister for Enterprise, Connectivity and Energy, Adam Price, confirmed that the Welsh government will not be proceeding with procurement for the previous government’s Employability Support Programme.

He said:

>“Over recent months, I have considered future arrangements for support, including the proposed Employability Support Programme (ESP), which was intended to replace existing employability provision. This consideration has taken place in a context where the environment in which employability support operates is becoming increasingly complex.” 

He confirmed that the complexities include future changes to DWP provision, opportunities arising from potential further devolution, and wider shifts in the economy, including the implications of AI for labour market participation, workforce demand, and pathways into employment. 

He confirmed that:

>“Instead of progressing the ESP programme, I am today announcing that the Welsh Government will extend the Jobs Growth Wales Plus (JGW+), contract for a further year to 31 March 2028. This will provide stability for participants and delivery partners while ensuring that support remains available to those who need it.  Decisions on the future of the grant funded programmes of Communities for Work+ and ReAct+ will be taken as part of the Welsh Government’s draft budget process this autumn.“

The written statement is on gov.wales.

 

 

Scotland – Insights into the UC Scottish Choices scheme

In Scotland ‘UC Scottish choices’ give recipients of UC in Scotland a choice to have their UC award paid either monthly or twice monthly (More Frequent Payments, MFP) and have the housing costs in their award of UC paid direct to their landlord (DPL). A person can make one or both choices, depending on their circumstances, and choices made can be reversed at any time.

People are given a choice when they first take up UC, but existing clients can also request an offer at any time. Choices are not binding. Claimants may choose to change or revert their choice(s) at any time.

The UC Scottish Choices scheme started in October 2017 and this week the latest data on the scheme was published. It showed that: 

• a total of 424,410 new Universal Credit (UC) clients were offered and took up one or both UC Scottish choices, from a total of 1,459,480 new claims, and 1,345,830 offers made.
• Of these new clients, 87% (370,780 people) have chosen more frequent payments (MFP), and 23% (97,280 people) have chosen direct payment to landlords (DPL). 10% (43,650 people) chose both options.
• The number of open claims for UC increased to 600,000 early in 2026, as more clients are moved from legacy benefits, an increase of around 50% since 2023. This masks the ongoing churn of people taking up and leaving UC.
• Where payments are active (as at March 2026), clients with 187,520 active payments (32% of eligible) have chosen the twice-monthly MFP, and 88,770 (38% of eligible) have chosen DPL.
• The rate of new UC clients who chose at least one of the UC Scottish choices offered was 29% in March 2026. This rate has decreased over the last year, where the rate was over 30% for much of 2025. It compares to an overall rate of 32% since the scheme started.

 Universal Credit Scottish Choices – management information to March 2026 is on gov.scot.

 

 

Northern Ireland - Consultation on the equality impact of ending Housing Benefit for people receiving Domestic Rates help only

The Department for Communities (DfC) has undertaken an Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) of the decision to end Housing Benefit for working-age claimants who receive help with domestic rates only.

DfC is keen to hear the views of individuals and organisations on the equality implications of this decision, the support measures already identified by the Department and any additional measures that could be considered to reduce or alleviate adverse impacts.

Responses received during the consultation period will be carefully considered and will inform the Department's final Equality Impact Assessment, including consideration of potential equality impacts and the effectiveness of proposed support measures.

The Department welcomes comments on any aspect of this document. While the consultation will remain open for the full 12-week period, interested parties are encouraged, where possible, to submit responses within the first four weeks to assist consideration of any issues in advance of implementation.

The outcome of the EQIA will be published on the DfC website following consideration of consultation responses.

The consultation closes at 11:59pm on 17 December 2026.

The open consultation and the full consultation document are both on communities-ni.gov.

 

 

Case law – with thanks to u/ClareTGold

 

Date of effect of decision - Leoni Fielding v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 2026

The DWP made an initial decision, in 2023, awarding universal credit (UC) to the Claimant. In 2024, the DWP made a superseding decision, to include the carer element in the Claimant’s UC award. This Upper Tribunal case was about when the superseding decision took effect.

The Claimant had started caring for her brother in March 2023, but only notified the DWP of this in February 2024. The reason for not notifying the DWP earlier was that it was only in January 2024 that a decision was made to award the Claimant’s brother PIP, but with retrospective effect from March 2023. The PIP award for the Claimant’s brother was necessary for the Claimant to qualify for the carer element of UC.

Applying the rules for the effective date of a superseding decision in respect of UC in the Universal Credit etc (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 2013, the Upper Tribunal agreed with the First-tier Tribunal’s analysis that, because the superseding decision was to the Claimant’s advantage, it would ordinarily take effect from when it was notified i.e. February 2024.

However, the Upper Tribunal held that the First-tier Tribunal erred in finding that the power to extend time for notification (regulation 36) was not engaged in this case. The reason for the First-tier Tribunal’s error was that it mis-identified what had to be notified: it was not that the Claimant had begun to care for her brother, but that all the requirements for the carer element of UC – including that PIP was payable to her brother – had become satisfied. Seen in this light, the Claimant could not have made the relevant notification prior to the decision about the brother’s PIP, in January 2024, and the First-tier Tribunal’s analysis of regulation 36 was flawed in law because it overlooked this.

The Upper Tribunal set the decision aside, and re-made the decision, deciding that the regulation 36 power was engaged, such that time was to be extended for notification of the relevant change in circumstances, and so the superseding decision took effect in 2023, when PIP became payable to the Claimant’s brother i.e. when the relevant change of circumstances occurred.

 

 

ESA to UC migration (SDP) - Steven Ball (deceased) v The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 2026

The Claimant claimed that he had been entitled to the Transitional Severe Disability Premium element of UC because, prior to his entitlement to UC, he had been entitled to the Severe Disability Premium (SDP) of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).

The First-tier Tribunal (FtT) dismissed the appeal because there had been no award of SDP and so he had not been entitled to it. 

During the course of the appeal to the Upper Tribunal, the DWP superseded the ESA award to include SDP up to the date of migration to UC, on the ground that (contrary to the DWPs original position) the Claimant had reported a relevant change of circumstances. 

The Upper Tribunal decided that the FtT erred in law in failing to appreciate that the Claimant had reported a relevant change of circumstances and that the ESA award should have been revised at that time. Although section 12(8)(b) of the Social Security Act 1998 meant that the FtT was unable to amend the UC award, the FtT should have adjourned the appeal to allow the DWP to consider revising the UC award. 

The Upper Tribunal allowed the appeal, set aside the FtT’s decision and directed the DWP to consider revising the award of UC. If the award is revised, the appeal will lapse.

 

 

UC migration transitional element (tax credits) - Ventsislava Petrova v The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

The Claimant moved from Tax Credits (legacy benefit) to UC as part of the managed migration process.

When calculating the amount of any transitional element entitlement the DWP must determine two things:

1.     The amount of legacy benefit entitlement on the day before the UC claim is made, and

2.     The indicative amount of UC the claimant would be entitled to.

This appeal related to the calculation of the ‘Transitional Element’ payment in UC.

The Claimant’s total legacy amount determined under regulation 53 of the Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2014 was £636.01. This exceeded the indicative UC amount of £631.70 (determined under regulation 54). The difference between those amounts was £4.31.

The tax credit information held by HMRC on migration day was provided to DWP which produced daily rates of tax credits that DWP recorded as £19.18 for Child Tax Credit and £1.73 for Working Tax Credit. When converted into representative monthly rates, those figures produced a total legacy amount of £636.01.

DWP carried out a transitional protection calculation, which determined the transitional element amount as £4.31.

HMRC then finalised the tax credit entitlement for the tax year and this revised the daily rate. DWP did not change the transitional element amount.

The Claimant disputed the amount of the transitional element and appealed.

The FtT upheld the DWPs decision.

The Upper Tribunal noted several errors in law and set aside the decision. The UT did a great job of breaking down all the elements of this complex appeal issue and how the legislation should be applied.

However, the UT remade the decision, confirming that when calculating the total legacy amount for the Appellant and her husband, the DWP correctly used the figure for the daily rate of the tax credits award on the migration day of 21 January 2024 provided by HMRC and calculated on the basis of the information about their circumstances held by HMRC on that day.

  

 

DWP - including Jobcentre Plus arrangements for Monday 31 August bank holiday   

On Monday 31 August DWP and JCP offices and phone lines in England, Scotland and Wales will be closed.  

Across the UK, if your expected payment date is Monday 31 August, then your benefits will be on Friday 28 August.  

 

Pension Credit case reviews commence

The DWP has started contacting selected claimants as part of Pension Credit case reviews to help make sure they are receiving the correct amount of Pension Credit. 

As part of the reviews, some claimants may be asked for additional information, such as recent bank statements. As with UC reviews, being selected for a review does not mean the claimant has done anything wrong.  

If a Pension Credit award needs to be changed after review, the DWP will explain the outcome and next steps. The DWP has stated that it “aims to treat customers fairly and sensitively throughout the process”.

This was confirmed in the latest DWP Touchbase newsletter. You can sign up to receive this to your inbox.

 

Disabled people in England to get 24-hour free bus travel

Eligible disabled people across England will get free bus travel all day, every day, after the Prime Minister announced this week that the government will lift time restrictions on concessionary passes from 1^(st) April 2027.

Around the UK, disabled people in Scotland and Wales are already entitled to free bus travel, while in Northern Ireland, blind people and disabled war veterans can travel for free, while it is a half-fare for everyone else who holds a disabled bus pass.

Currently in England, disabled bus passes are only eligible for use between the hours of 09:30 and 23:00 on weekdays, making it difficult for people to get to work or attend later evening events. They can be used at any time of day at the weekend and on bank holidays.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said:

>“Buses are a lifeline for so many people - making it easier to get to work, education and healthcare. It’s simply not right that many disabled people cannot travel using their pass during certain times of the day. So we’re fixing that. Disabled people will now have unlimited free bus travel 24/7.   

>I did it before in Greater Manchester and I’m proud to do it now for the whole country. This is part of our ongoing action to bring back hope and give people some much needed breathing space on the cost of living.”

The £60 million funding comes from existing DWP and Department for Transport (DfT) budgets. It is made up of a £40 million contribution from DWP, and a £20 million contribution from DfT.

Eligibility for a disabled person’s bus pass is set out in the Transport Act 2000, which defines seven statutory categories of disability. These include people who are:

• blind or partially sighted;
• profoundly or severely deaf;
• without speech;
• unable or virtually unable to walk because of a disability;
• without arms, or unable to use both arms;
• people with a learning disability; and
• people who would be refused a driving licence on medical grounds (other than because of drug or alcohol misuse).

Local authorities are responsible for administering the scheme and for assessing applications against these statutory criteria.

The press release is on gov.uk.

 

What works: Lessons from the frontline of digital support & advice services

Citizens Advice is calling on UK Government to consider long term sustainable funding options to support local digital inclusion services.

Government and essential services have fundamentally changed. More and more services have gone digital, meaning that the problems people face often require digital support. But between 14 and 22 million people in the UK face one or more barriers to digital services. 

In response, Citizens Advice have set up digital support services, both as part of our daily work, and as dedicated outreach and support. This report summarises 5 key things Citizens Advice has learned about providing effective digital support:

1. Help people with the tasks they want to do, instead of offering ‘digital skills’
2. Empower people to do tasks themselves. 
3. Run outreach services to meet people where they are
4. Build trust over time with face-to-face support 
5. Offer digital support side by side with other services, such as advice.

These lessons are drawn from a combination of 4 local service visits, adviser surveys, interviews and focus groups and 800 evidence forms relating to cases where clients faced digital exclusion issues. 

Citizens Advice is one of many organisations offering vital digital inclusion support. Many services have been funded by health bodies or via the UK Government’s Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund. Whilst these have provided valuable support to trial new and innovative approaches to digital inclusion, these funds are often short term in nature, leaving uncertainty around the future of support. 

They say:

>“We welcome the UK Government’s Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund. It has helped local services grow and expand. But, sustainable funding for digital services is needed to support local organisations to continue to help people.”

Read What Works on citizenadvice.org.uk.

 

 

 

Eligibility for UC LCWRA element and severe conditions criteria

As we’ve previously covered in a megathread, from 6 April 2026, Universal Credit split the Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity (LCWRA) element into two tiers:

• higher rate, currently £429.80 per month, and a
• lower rate £217.26 per month.

The higher rate is reserved for:

• pre-2026 claimants
• terminally ill claimants (special rules end of life)
• those meeting the Severe Conditions Criteria (SCC).

New Advice for Decision Making (ADM) guidance has been published setting out the DWPs approach to the lower and higher rates of the LCWRA element and the SCC.

It doesn’t change anything we’ve previously shared, but it may be useful if you’re challenging a decision and want to understand how the decisions are made.

ADM Chapter G4 is on gov.uk.

 

Latest UC sanction data shows failure to attend or participate in a mandatory interview accounted for nearly 90% of all sanctions

The sanctions statistics to May 2026 were published this week and they show that generally not much has changed since the last publication.

24.4% of UC claimants were in conditionality regimes where sanctions may be applied. This has consistently fallen year on year as people have migrated across to UC from benefits with less (or no) conditionality regimes.

5.2% of UC claimants in the conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied, were undergoing a sanction on the count date.

Failure to attend or participate in a mandatory interview accounted for 89.9% of all adverse sanction decisions in the last year.

The ethnicity group relating to sanctions has again shown to be statistically significant.

• Asian/Asian British ethnic group are 26% less likely than White claimants to be sanctioned in May 2026. 
• Mixed/Multiple ethnic Groups claimants were 21% more likely than claimants in the White ethnic group to be sanctioned.
• Other ethnic group claimants were 29% less likely to be sanctioned than claimants in the White ethnic group.

In terms of the duration of sanctions, 86.9% of the completed sanctions were within 13 weeks and under (a combination of the under 4 weeks and over 4 weeks to 13 weeks bands), with those over 26 weeks accounting for 6.1% of all completed sanctions in the latest month, May 2026.

Benefit Sanctions statistics to May 2026 is on gov.uk.

 

Reform UK has set out plans it says will save more than £50bn a year from the welfare bill by 2030 if it gets into government

The party believes it can deliver much of this by stopping foreign nationals from getting most benefits and also reforming disability payments while protecting the most "severely disabled".

Reform UK announced that long-term, work-capable UC claimants would be required to complete 20 hours of work for their local community each week under a Reform government. The measure forms part of their ‘Making Welfare Work policy’. Reform UK would also end access to welfare benefits for foreign nationals, instead “putting British citizens first”.  

Reform UK Shadow Chancellor Robert Jenrick said the policy would restore fairness for the taxpayers who fund the welfare system:

>“If taxpayers must contribute, so must those who are able to work also play their part… If people who are capable of work refuse, then they’ll get nothing. That’s fair.” 

The UK government will spend £353bn on welfare benefits this year - just under half of that goes on the state pension, which Reform has said it will not cut.

That leaves £207bn - so cutting £50bn a year like Reform proposes would represent roughly 25% of total remaining welfare spending, which would be extremely ambitious.

Reform says around £21bn of its planned £50bn savings would come from changes to health and disability benefits. Among their proposals is replacing PIP and part of the universal credit with a single flat-rate “health security allowance” of £429.80 a month. For those with severe needs, an internal government analysis showed this would be at least £10,000 less than they currently get over the course of a year.

Disability Rights UK said Reform’s failure to understand the importance of disability benefits to the lives of disabled people was “utterly breathtaking” while the charity Scope accused it of “pushing disabled people into poverty and calling it compassion”.

Another big element of Reform's planned cuts comes from taking away benefits from foreign nationals. It claims around £20bn could be saved from its £50bn target if they were banned from getting benefits including Universal Credit (UC).

More than a million UC claimants were born overseas including around 700,000 EU citizens who arrived in the UK before Brexit and have the right to live and work in the country. It's important to bear in mind that around half of EU citizens claiming UC are in employment.

But taking away these benefit rights would not be a simple thing to do because it risks putting the UK on a collision course with the EU.

Around 4.5 million EU citizens have long-term settlement rights in the UK which means they are eligible to claim benefits.

An estimated one million UK citizens living in the EU have similar rights. Stripping EU citizens of their rights could lead to member states retaliating against the UK.

Reform says it would renegotiate the post-Brexit deal that underpins these rights but that would mean re-opening a process that was supposed to have been settled in 2020.

Another wrinkle in Reform's plan is that its planned savings could disappear if a large number of EU nationals apply to become UK citizens and were able to keep their entitlement to benefits.

Analysts warn that these savings are by no means guaranteed. The Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank says there is "relatively little detail" about what Reform's plan entails.

The Institute of Fiscal Studies response to the claims and confirmation that “The Reform UK proposals represent a substantially different vision of what the benefit system should be doing.” 

The press release and Making Welfare Work policy are on reformparty.uk.

UC claimants now reach 8.4 million, with childcare elements down and deductions up

The latest Universal Credit (UC) data has been published, and it confirms:

There were 8.4 million people (in 7.2 million households) on UC in May 2026 which is the highest number on record. This is up from 7.7 million people in May 2025, and a small increase from last quarter where, in February 2026, there were 8.3 million people on UC.

The managed migration of legacy benefits to UC made up 73.2% of the increase between May 2025 and May 2026. However, the number of Move to UC claimants peaked in December 2025 at 1.7 million and has remained stable ever since

On average there were 40,000 claims per week in May 2026.

UC households with children accounted for 44% of all households with a payment in May 2026.

For those receiving a payment, the average UC amount was £1,090 in May 2026.

The proportion of people in the ‘no work requirements’ conditionality regime (51%) continues to increase.

There were 3.1 million people on UC in any employment (PAYE employment or self-employment) in April 2026, which was 37.7% of all people on UC. A drop of 100,000 from April 2025.

UC childcare element

164,000 households received the UC childcare element. The number of households receiving the childcare element has decreased by 15% when comparing May 2025 and May 2026.

There has been a steady decline since July 2025 in the number of households receiving the childcare element (except for the usual seasonal peaks in September/October 2025). 

In May 2026, of the 164,000 households receiving childcare element, 134,000 were single households and 30,000 were couple households.

The average amount of childcare element received was £400 in May 2026, a 3% decrease from May 2025. This was higher in London (£680).

UC deductions

Approximately 3.3 million UC households (47% of all UC households) had one or more deductions taken from their UC entitlement in May 2026. This is 200,000 more households than had a deduction in June 2025.

North East England has the largest proportion of UC households with one or more deductions, at 52%. South West England has the lowest proportion, at 42%.

The average amount deducted was £53 in May 2026.

Around 21% of UC households had deductions capped at 15% of their UC standard allowance. A further 2% had deductions taken over the cap to help prevent eviction or disconnection of their energy supply or to ensure child maintenance obligations are met.

Universal Credit quarterly statistics, 29 April 2013 to 14 May 2026 is on gov.uk.

 

Case law – none of note this week.

It’s summer so it will be quiet (ish) on the news front for the next few weeks.

 

 

DWP progression of Carers Allowance issues to be examined by NAO

There have been longstanding concerns about overpayments of Carers Allowance, where claimants receive more than they are entitled to and build up debt. The NAO previously reported on this issue in 2019 in Investigation into overpayments of Carers Allowance, and in 2024, in Carers Allowance.

In December 2024, the DWP commissioned an independent review of Carers Allowance overpayments, led by disability policy expert Liz Sayce. Published in July 2025, the review made 40 recommendations. The DWP accepted 38 of these and is working to implement them, including reassessing cases to identify carers who were affected by inconsistent DWP guidance. The DWP expects to review over 200,000 cases and around 25,000 carers could see their debts reduced or cancelled or receive refunds.

The National Audit Office (NAO) has confirmed that it will be examining the DWP’s progress in addressing these issues of concern. The NAO will look at:

• whether DWP is getting on top of overpayments of Carers Allowance 
• the actions DWP is taking in response to key issues raised in the independent review of Carers Allowance
• whether DWP has learnt wider lessons from its experience with Carers Allowance.

This study will not examine individual cases.

The Carers Allowance update is on nao.org.uk.

 

Thousands of dying people miss out on fast-tracked benefits

Thousands of terminally ill people are missing out on fast-tracked access to vital financial support because of barriers in the benefits system, according to new research funded by end-of-life charity Marie Curie and led by researchers at King’s College London.

The Special Rules for End of Life (SREL) is an important mechanism in the benefits system designed to give people with a terminal illness fast-tracked access to vital financial support. But this qualitative study, the first to interview patients, carers and healthcare professionals about the issue, shows the system is failing too many dying people. It found that uncertainty around prognosis, low awareness of the rules, difficulties discussing finances and practical barriers can all stop eligible people getting the help they need.

The research follows earlier findings that, in England and Wales, more than one in three people (34%) who died from a chronic illness did not receive the non-means-tested disability benefits they were entitled to under the Special Rules for End of Life, which equates to around 120,000 people who die each year missing out.

Amy Bassinder, 30, from Barnsley, whose father Neil was denied PIP while living with terminal prostate cancer and only received support in the final weeks of his life before dying aged 63, said:

>“It was heartbreaking to watch my dad, who was my best friend, continue working as a self-employed plumber through terminal cancer because he felt he had no other choice.

>He was a proud and determined man who was still working as a plumber, gas and heating engineer, while in pain and going through chemotherapy, just to keep money coming in. No one nearing the end of life should have to live like that.

>Families like ours need space to be together, not the fear and stress of fighting for financial help. People with terminal illness deserve essential support they can rely on when they are at their most vulnerable.”

The research found that:

Healthcare professionals said uncertainty around prognosis can make it harder to identify eligible patients and complete SR1 forms, essential documentation which allows people to access fast-tracked benefits under the Special Rules for End of Life.

Clinicians highlighted low awareness of Special Rules, uncertainty about whose responsibility it is to discuss financial support with patients and families, and a lack of confidence discussing money matters.

Patients and carers described how benefits helped cover travel, equipment associated with their illness, and household bills, as well as supporting time spent with loved ones.

Benefit take-up varies by condition, from 44% among people with liver disease, 46% among people with HIV and 52% among people with heart failure, to 75% among people with dementia and 90% among people with neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s.

Marie Curie recommends better awareness and training for healthcare professionals on the Special Rules system and allowing a wider range of clinicians to confirm eligibility, such as paramedics employed by hospices. It also calls on the UK Government to consider removing the current 12-month prognosis requirement and introduce a more flexible definition of terminal illness, following the approach taken in Scotland.

Dr Sam Royston, Marie Curie Executive Director of Research and Policy, said:

>"Nobody should spend their final days worrying about money. Living with a terminal illness can lead to soaring household costs, including higher energy bills, while many people and their loved ones are forced to reduce their hours or leave work altogether.

>Our research shows that more than 280 people died in poverty every day across the UK last year, many of them let down by a benefits system that should be there to support them.

>The Department for Work and Pensions must urgently ensure people at the end of life can quickly access benefits through the Special Rules including by ensuring a wider range of clinicians can confirm eligibility for this, while healthcare professionals also need the training, support and resources required to make conversations about financial support a routine part of care.

>Everyone deserves a good death, spending the time they have left living as well as possible with the people they love, not worrying about money or fighting for the support they are entitled to."

Improving terminally ill people’s access to Special Rules is on mariecurie.org.uk.

 

Government confirms Warm Home Discount for 2026-27
The government has confirmed details of the Warm Home Discount for 2026-27.

Eligible customers will receive a £150 rebate on their bill. Households in receipt of the following benefits are eligible:

• Housing Benefit
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• Pension Credit
• Universal Credit

These are the same eligibility criteria as 2025-26.

Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh said: 

>“Families will be worried about their energy bills this winter and our focus is on giving them breathing space, as we continue to work to bring down bills. 

>Almost a million more families with children received the £150 Warm home Discount last winter, after we expanded scheme.  

>If you know someone who might benefit, please start spreading the word and encourage them to check they are named on their energy bill.” 

Customers who are eligible should ensure that they are named on their household bill by 23 August 2026.

Customers who have recently moved house should ensure that they are named on the bill as soon as possible. Eligible prepayment customers who use a key or card to top up should also ensure their household account is in their name.

The WHD press release is on gov.uk.

UC ‘to do’ will be issued to update a child’s education or training details

From 17th August 2026, UC will begin issuing ‘Update your child’s education or training details’ to-dos to claimants to confirm their child’s education status.

These will be issued in respect of

• All 16 year olds
• 17 and 18 year olds with a course end date recorded as January 2027 or later where there has been no recently declared change of circumstances

If the to do has not been completed, a reminder journal message will be sent 7 days later.

If the to-do is not completed by the end of the assessment period, the child element will stop even where the recorded course and date is in future.

 

Changes to the UC ‘report a change’ function - Students, Education and Training

From 19th August 2026, the 'Report a Change’ page will be updated to include a new 'Education and Training' section.

Claimants reporting a change of circumstances to tell DWP that they are now a student, will see an 'Education and Training' section in. Selecting this will show their previous responses and provide a link to write a journal message confirming they are now a student.

Once completed, the claimant will receive a ‘What happens next' confirmation message, advising them that UC will contact them about the change during working hours.

A Case Manager will action the journal messages.

In the coming weeks, the remaining Education and Training questions will be added, so claimants will no longer need to send a journal message.

Why is it changing? Previously, claimants could not use 'Report a Change' to update their 'Education and Training' information. With the first release of this change, claimants will only be able to report when they start education or training.

 

 

Scotland – Expansion of text message service

Social Security Scotland (SSS) has introduced additional ways to communicate with clients (claimants).

From August 2026, more clients will receive a text message shortly before a scheduled phone call from SSS. The message will let them know that SSS is due to call, making it easier to recognise the contact number and encourage them to answer.

Many people choose not to answer calls from numbers they do not recognise due to increasing scams. SSS carried out research which found that sending a text message before a call makes clients more likely to answer on the first attempt. Reducing missed calls helps improve the experience for clients and enables applications to progress more quickly.

The service is now being expanded across more areas of SSS work including with local teams who support people in their communities across Scotland and arrange appointments with them directly.

As the service develops, text messages may also be used to remind people when information is needed to support an application. Which SSS says could help avoid delays in processing applications as we wait to receive supporting information.

Read the Press Release on socialsecutiry.gov.scot.

 

 

Case law – with thanks to u/ClareTGold

 

Universal Credit (childcare element and use of AI) - Feiner v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 2026

One of the conditions of entitlement to the childcare element of UC is the work condition. Regulation 32(1)(b) of the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 means that, in the case of a joint claim, the non-working parent must not only have regular and substantial caring responsibilities for a severely disabled person but must also be unable to provide childcare due to those responsibilities. 

In this case, the FtT had correctly approached the regulation and decided that work condition was not satisfied where he cared for a severely disabled child who was in childcare during the same periods as the other children for whom childcare costs were incurred.   

The Upper Tribunal also commented on the risks of using AI to draft submissions:

>“In this appeal Mr Feiner’s representative made reference to a number of cases by way of authority and an extract from Hansard which are either irrelevant to this appeal or, as far as I can tell, do not exist… I do not know how the representative found these references but it may well be that he used AI to assist in preparing the written submissions. If so, this should serve as a lesson to him and to other litigants in person and lay representatives as to the dangers of using AI. Any references suggested by AI should always be checked so as to be satisfied that they exist and that they support the proposition contended for. There are ample on-line resources for doing so.”

 

Universal Credit (claimant commitment) - Yitty Friedman v The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions & Anor

The claimant failed to accept their ‘updated’ claimant commitments, which led to their claim for Universal Credit ending as per s.4(1)(e) of the Welfare Reform Act 2012.

The Upper Tribunal confirmed that where a new claimant commitment is offered for acceptance which is not materially different from a previously-accepted claimant commitment, and the previous claimant commitment still accurately captures all of the claimant’s ongoing responsibilities, the previous claimant commitment will still be the “most up-to-date version” within the meaning of that phrase in s.14(5) of the Act. As such, failure to accept the new claimant commitment will not be a breach of the basic condition of entitlement to UC and the claim.

This case provides a really good overview of the legal framework and the interplay between the Welfare Reform Act and the UC Regulations, with a smattering of relevant case law thrown in.

 

A new Prime Minister leads to organisational and people changes

The UK Government has announced changes to the ‘machinery of government’, describing it as a major effort to strengthen the centre of government, speed up decision-making and put economic growth at the heart of public policy

The changes will see departments renamed, responsibilities redistributed, and new organisations created as ministers hope to improve coordination across government while placing greater emphasis on regional growth, technology and public service reform.

The creation of a new Office for the Prime Minister and the Cabinet (OPMC) has been announced, with cabinet secretary Dame Antonia Romeo tasked with leading it.

Leader of the House of Lords Angela Smith announced the plans in a written ministerial statement on behalf of the PM Andy Burnham, setting out the series of changes being made.

Baroness Smith said the creation of the OPMC, which will house No.10, the new No.10 North and teams within the Cabinet Office directly serving the PM and cabinet, will ensure the “centre of government is focused on our top strategic priorities”.

As part of the plans, the new OPMC will oversee a new OneGov Delivery Agency which will manage operational services at arm’s length, including the Government Recruitment Service, pensions, shared services strategy, and security vetting.

The Public Sector Fraud Authority will become part of the Department for Work and Pensions, while continuing to receive sponsorship from HM Treasury. 

Despite many MPs being moved to new roles, there were no changes to DWP MPs. Pat McFadden was confirmed as remaining in post as the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Timms remains as the DWP disability minister.

The written ministerial statement is on parliament.uk. and all ministerial appointments are on gov.uk.

 

AdviceUK tells new Prime Minister investment needed for independent advice services

AdviceUK has written to the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham MP, to congratulate him on his appointment and to set out why free and independent advice services must be recognised as a critical part of delivering the Government's ambitions.

In the letter, AdviceUK highlights the vital role advice services play in helping people understand their rights, access the support they are entitled to and resolve problems before they escalate into crisis. It also draws on findings from our recent State of the Advice Sector 2026 survey, which shows growing demand, funding pressures and increasing strain on advice services across the country.

As the Prime Minister begins his listening tour across the country, AdviceUK is also inviting him to visit free and independent advice services to hear directly from advisers and the people they support about the everyday impact of the cost-of-living crisis and the challenges facing communities.

AdviceUK is calling on the Government to invest in free and independent advice services and to develop a cross-government National Advice Sector Workforce Strategy to ensure communities can continue to access timely, high-quality advice.

The letter to the Prime Minister is on adviceuk.org.uk.

DWP to restart DLA transfers to PIP for 153,000 people from September

Soon after PIP began to be rolled out nationally from June 2013, the DWP commenced the process of inviting DLA claimants who were aged 16 to 64 on 8 April 2013, and those who reached age 16 after that date, to transfer to PIP.

The DWP began inviting adult DLA claimants of the benefit to move over to the newer benefit in the same year, but this lengthy process was paused in 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, transfer invitations have only been issued if a change of circumstances was reported or a fixed-term DLA award expired.

The DWP confirmed in a July 2026 Operational Stakeholder Engagement Forum that around 153,000 adult DLA claimants still remain, all of whom will be invited to move to PIP following a smaller-scale trial of the changes. DWP said the trial will comprise of 3,000 randomly chosen cases across England and Wales from September before the wider rollout.

Anyone who receives an invitation to apply for PIP should do so or their DLA will simply end.

If you receive such a letter, guidance is available online at citizensadvice.org.uk.

 

Correction to transitional element erosion when LCWRA element replaces carer element

Following the Upper Tribunal's decision in Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v MJ (the Jones ruling), the DWP has been eroding UC transitional element (TE) incorrectly in cases where a claimant with transitional protection moves from the carer's element (CE) to the limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA) element. The DWP has been eroding the TE by the full LCWRA amount, but the Upper Tribunal determined this to be discriminatory.

Where LCWRA replaces a CE, TE erosion must instead be based on the net difference between the CE and LCWRA amounts.

We have been advised that from 29 July 2026, a DWP internal ‘fix’ will apply the Jones ruling correctly. 

From that date claimants receiving carer's element (CE) and transitional element (TE) whose CE stops due to being awarded LCWRA will only have their TE eroded by the difference between the CE and the LCWRA element. 

Retrospective corrections will also begin for assessment periods from 30 December 2024, covering the ruling's effective date of 29 January 2025. Earlier assessment periods are not covered.

A specialist team will action the corrections, mainly underpayments, in batches for case managers to clear.

Further work is being considered to prevent rate changes to carer's element, LCWRA and LCW causing similar issues.

 

Boost youth jobs by cutting employers' national insurance, MPs urge

In a new report, the Work and Pensions Committee welcomes the early steps taken to prioritise work and training opportunities for 18 to 24-year-olds, but says the government must “go further and faster” to tackle the “travesty” of so many young people being NEET.

The committee heard “overwhelming evidence” from businesses that rising employment costs, partly driven by NI increases, were reducing training and job opportunities with young people “disproportionately” affected. This was particularly the case in retail and hospitality, traditionally big employers of young people.

It identified a gap between the government’s efforts to boost youth employment and its approach to employer national insurance.

The report calls for the higher NI contribution threshold to be extended to all workers under 25, arguing this would boost vacancies, particularly entry-level roles, and better align the government’s policy with its strategic aims.

Debbie Abrahams, chair of the work and pensions committee, said:

>“During our inquiry, we heard from young people demoralised by the experience of unemployment. We heard how they want to work but end up feeling like leeches on their family. This situation is not only unfair to them, it is also harmful.

>Even a short spell as Neet in one’s formative years can damage mental health, impact future career opportunities and reduce lifetime earnings. Young people face an uphill struggle in current conditions to get that critical work experience.”

The committee warned that the government’s Youth Guarantee must not become a “here-today-gone-tomorrow scheme” given the UK’s history of time-limited, crisis-bound past offerings to tackle youth employment. To end this, it recommended the government announce funding for it for the next decade at least. Funding has currently only been allocated until 2029.

It said the temporary nature of past policies has damaged confidence and has caused long-term uncertainty for employers and potential young employees alike, sometimes discouraging both from engaging.

The youth guarantee aims to ensure young people claiming UC, who have been out of work for 18 months, are offered a six-month work placement. However, MPs said the government should develop options for people outside those claiming benefits after they heard that 44% of NEETs are not UC claimants.

The committee also recommended that a Youth Employment Strategy be developed.

Abrahams commented:

>“While the Youth Guarantee is a good start, the contradictions between the Government’s strategic aims and the rules of various schemes mean we desperately need a Youth Employment Strategy. It’ll improve policy coherence so no policy unintentionally pulls against attempts to help more young people into work.

>But, efforts to give young people the best chance to live independently will be in vain if there are too few jobs to go to. In a challenging environment, businesses need help to meet rising employment costs. Reducing employers’ national insurance contributions for under-25s will enable them to take a chance on talented young people.”

The report also estimated that NEETs cost the UK around £125bn a year from a combination of benefit payments and lost economic output.

The Youth employment, education and training report is on parliament.uk.

 

Additional Flexible Support Funding to support Vocational Training for 18-year-olds

Currently, eligibility for the Adult Skills Fund begins at age 19, which means that 18-year-olds are unable to access vocational training opportunities through this programme. Ministers have acknowledged this issue and, in response, have approved a £5 million uplift to the Flexible Support Fund budget for 2026-27.

We’ve been updated this week (you know who you are and thank you) that this additional funding is specifically intended to help 18-year-olds on Universal Credit gain access to short vocational training opportunities, such as obtaining licences and enrolling in sector-specific courses. By providing these resources, this will better equip young people with the skills they need to enter the workforce and secure meaningful employment.

The uplift may be delivered through:

• Low Value Provision (LVP), to fund short vocational or occupational training where a customer's needs cannot be met through other available provision
• LVP to support access to Sector-based Work Academy Programme (SWAP) opportunities, or the Wales Skills and Employment Pathway (WSEP), where funding is not otherwise available to support the required pre-employment training
• Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) provision under Employability Journey Category Code 5 - Skills for Work or Category 6 - Vocational Skills, which can support the procurement of broader packages combining vocational training and employability support

DWP staff have been advised that they must be mindful of their financial responsibilities when utilising FSF to support customers.

 

New Prime Minister cuts VAT on household electricity bills

Currently VAT is charged at 5%. However, from 1^(st) October VAT on electricity bills will be removed temporarily for 6 months in a move announced as part of the new Prime Minister Andy Burnham's plans to tackle the cost of living.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said:

>“Westminster has not been working for people for too long, with families struggling with the cost of living. That needs to change. I said I wanted to give people breathing space, and that’s what I’m announcing on my second day as Prime Minister.  

>We’re taking immediate action to cut taxes on energy bills, put more money in people’s pockets and bring back hope.”

The government has cancelled the Digital ID programme and is repurposing the money to cut VAT.

The Northern Ireland Executive will receive comparable funding to enable it to support NI Households with the cost of living to ensure households across the UK benefit.  

Dame Clare Moriarty, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice responded to the news, saying:

>“It’s very positive to see the immediate focus from the new government on the cost of living and in particular the huge strain that energy bills are putting on household budgets. Cutting VAT on domestic electricity bills will provide welcome breathing space, softening the impact of rising energy prices this autumn.

>Further action will be needed to tackle the root causes of unaffordable bills and deliver lasting security.

>To permanently cut bills the Government should move more of the policy costs that are currently added onto to our electricity bills into general taxation. Combined with targeted bill support and a dedicated debt relief scheme, this will tackle the impact of painful energy bills and give struggling households the protection they desperately need."

The government expects all suppliers to pass the VAT reduction on to all customers, including those on fixed tariffs, as they did with the £150 of costs taken off energy bills announced at the last Budget. 

Since the VAT news was shared by the Prime Minister, updated predictions for the Energy Price Cap between 1^(st) October and 31^(st) December 2026 have been published. These predictions indicate that the expected £45 a year VAT saving will now be swallowed up for most by the Price Cap rise.

MoneySavingExpert.com has contacted 19 major UK energy suppliers to ask if they'll pass on the reduction to all customers from 1 October, including those on fixes. So far, ten firms have told them they will:

• 100 Green
• British Gas
• EDF
• E.on Next
• Fuse
• Good Energy
• Octopus
• So Energy
• Utilita
• Utility Warehouse

The government’s press release is on gov.uk.

 

Record numbers cannot afford the essentials says Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Four years into the cost-of-living crisis, almost two-thirds of low-income families say they struggle to buy essentials such as clothes, heating and food, according to anti-poverty charity the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF).

A record 62% of those families were unable to afford at least one essential item in the past six months, the charity found. And almost half of those surveyed had skipped a meal or cut portion sizes to save money.

The cost-of-living crisis is becoming more widespread, with 7.4 million low-income families unable to afford essential items in the last 6 months — the highest number since JRF began running their cost of living tracker survey in 2021.

The data shows that households on UC are most likely to be unable to afford essentials. However, the increase in the number of households that are going without essentials has mainly been driven by those who are typically less likely to suffer from material deprivation. The number of households going without essentials has increased fastest over the last 2 years for those not on means-tested benefits, those who own their property outright without a mortgage, families without any disabilities or health conditions, childless households, and households that are headed up by someone over the age of 65.

JRF has begun to set out a range of policy options with the power to make a material difference to households’ living standards, reform our economic systems, and build the resilience required for the turbulence of the twenty-first century. It includes:

• Introducing  an Affordable Energy Guarantee that provides a portion of cheaper energy to all households designed to cover a typical household’s basic energy use, with larger amounts for families based on need and means. This will help 2.4 million low-income families who continue to be unable to afford to keep their home warm.
• Controlling the growth of private rents and re-linking Local Housing Allowance (LHA) to the 30^(th) percentile, helping nearly 80% of low-income families in private rented accommodation that have been unable to afford essentials in the last 6 months.
• Moving towards a protected minimum amount of support in UC that at least covers essential costs, providing vital support for the 84% of low-income households on UC that are unable to afford essential items.
• Improving the in-work safety net against life shocks, for example through stronger pay protections against parenthood and sickness. In our latest survey, around 84% of low-income families who saw their income fall over the last 6 months due to changes in employment or pay were forced to go without essential items.

JRF’s cost of living tracker, summer 2026 is on jrf.org.uk.

Case law – with thanks to u/ClareTGold

 

PIP – TM v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 2026

In this case the First-tier Tribunal (FtT) erred in law by failing to provide adequate reasons for its decision, in part because of an inappropriate use of “copy and paste”. The Tribunal failed adequately to explain why it had rejected the claimant’s evidence or why it had reached the conclusions it did in relation to each of the activities.

The Tribunal also committed a number of other errors, including:

1. determining the appeal on the papers without giving the claimant a further opportunity to attend a hearing, or providing adequate reasons for proceeding on the papers, in circumstances where it rejected the claimant’s evidence in relation to most activities,
2. in relation to daily living activity 9 (engaging with other people face to face), focusing on the claimant’s ability to interact in a work setting and failing to assess her ability to engage socially and failing to take account that the appellant’s work involved interaction with vulnerable children rather than adults,
3. in relation to mobility activity 1 (planning and following journeys), treating the appellant’s ability to drive as determinative and failing to undertake a holistic assessment including her ability to use public transport.

I suspect that some of the above elements will resonate with a lot of the r/DWPHelp community. This decision summarises all the relevant case law and is worth a read.

 

Universal Credit (LCW and work related activity - Restart) - GB v The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 2026

In this case the claimant was assessed as having a limited capability for work (LCW) and as such had to undertake work-related activity. He was on Restart and required to attend fortnightly appointments in person at the office of the Restart programme provider and completion of an IT course.

The claimant appealed the LCW decision and the FtT was tasked with determining if they had a limited capability for work and work related activity (LCWRA). Specifically in this case, the provisions under schedule 9, paragraph 4 of the UC Regulations 2013:

“The claimant is suffering from a specific illness, disease or disablement by reason of which there would be a substantial risk to the physical or mental health of any person were the claimant found not to have limited capability for work and work-related activity.”

The Upper Tribunal found that the FtT erred in law, stating:

It is quite clear that the FtT were under the impression that the most demanding work related activity that the appellant could be required to undertake was home based and in his own time. [para 15]

It is also clear that the FtT’s belief that the most demanding activity was home based and in his own time underpinned its finding that that activity did not pose a substantial risk to his mental health. Given its findings as to his ability (or rather inability) to go to unfamiliar places and engage with unfamiliar people there is at least a live issue as to whether being required to undertake work related activity outside the home would put his physical or mental health at substantial risk. [para 17]

The UT Judge was also unimpressed with the DWP submissions to the FtT, and set out the correct approach to be followed:

In any event the need to state clearly what are the least and most demanding work related activities that will actually be required of a specific claimant seems to me to be clear from KC and MC –v- SSWP (ESA) [2017] UKUT 0094 (AAC) paragraph 90-91. It is not enough to provide a list which includes some activities a claimant could safely undertake (and some they could not) and then leave it to a job coach or activity provider to apply schedule 9 paragraph 4 and make the selection. The Secretary of State must nail his colours to the mast in advance, take off the table any activities that he agrees could not be imposed, and then the FtT must apply the schedule and make a finding as to whether or not the claimant has limited capacity for the remaining work related activities. [para 24]

The decision was set aside with a new hearing to be scheduled.  

 

And lastly…

A r/DWPHelp member would like your input on a UC checker that they’ve been building

The idea is that you are worried you have not been paid the right amount, you can use it to check.

If you are in receipt of UC then u/Mountain_Victory_634 would really appreciate if you could use/test it and provide helpful feedback and suggestions.

Here it is: https://www.uccalculator.uk/ and I’ll create a comment thread (below) for your thoughts.

 

 

 

What has changed?

From 2 June 2026 new regulations came into force enabling the DWP to extend the length of a fixed-term PIP award where it is “considered necessary to do so to safeguard the efficient administration” of PIP.

Before this, when your fixed-term award reached its end date, the DWP would normally start a planned review (sometimes called an award review or a reassessment). This new power lets the DWP instead push the end date back and keep your current award running, without needing that review.

The regulations only allow the DWP to make awards longer. They do not give the DWP any power to shorten an existing award, and they do not allow it to change the rate you are paid.

Why the change?

The number of planned PIP reviews has grown faster than the DWP can carry them out, and a huge backlog has built up. Reviewing every award on its original timetable means increasingly long delays and claimants' left waiting in limbo.

Extending awards is a way of managing that backlog. By lengthening some existing awards, it reduces the number of reviews needing to be processed at once.

Who is affected?

This award extension change applies to claimants aged 25 and over in England and Wales. It does not apply to under 25s as evidence suggests there are more frequent changes in functional ability in that age group.

Approximately 1.7 million claims are in scope for an award extension with the DWP aiming to complete approximately 50,000 extensions daily (including weekends) over a period of 4-6 weeks.

The regulations give the DWP a discretionary power rather than creating an automatic extension for everyone. Extensions will be applied where the DWP considers it appropriate for the efficient administration of the benefit.

The DWP has not confirmed how they are deciding which claimants will receive an extension or how they calculate the length of the extension in each case.

How long will the extension be for?

It seems likely that the extensions are being decided by an algorithm.

From posts and comments to the r/DWPhelp subreddit, it looks like most of the extensions are being given to claimants whose awards were due to end in 2026, 2027 or early to mid-2028.

Extensions mostly range from one year to four years, although there have been some extremely short ones of just a matter of days and at least one longer one.

What do I need to do?

Claimants don’t need to do anything, if your claim is extended you will receive a letter – an example of what this looks like was shared in this post.

However, if your difficulties have worsened you may wish to challenge the new extended decision or ask for a change of circumstances reassessment.

The legislation

The Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance (Decisions and Appeals) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 

More info

A Freedom of Information Request has been submitted to DWP requesting a copy of the training, operational instructions and internal process guidance held by DWP in relation to fixed-term extensions and we eagerly await their response.

PIP is no longer fit for purposes says interim report

This week saw an update from the co-chairs of the PIP Timms Review and the publication of the Review’s Interim Report.

In initial findings published this week, Sir Stephen's review found PIP was not working for millions of disabled people and needs fundamental change. Declaring PIP was "not fit for purpose", the interim report said people applying for the benefit had described the process as "dehumanising" and a barrier to work.

Drawing on findings from more than 38,000 responses to the Review’s Call for Evidence, alongside workshops and engagement with disabled people, their organisations and experts, it is one of the largest co-produced reviews delivered by the government.

The interim report says the needs of disabled people and their extra costs "vary significantly, and the current system does not always recognise these differences or offer appropriate support".

Speaking in the House of Commons on Thursday, Sir Stephen said the review "is clear that the provision of cash to meet the additional costs of disability is vital".

He added:

>“We will not be moving away from the importance of that, but I think there is a question about whether the process can also point people towards help that may be valuable to them in addition to, or in some cases perhaps instead of, a cash payment.

>There is help and support that people need, and I think the process could help to point people to that."

He said the system "may be able to point people to the right place in the health service", adding the review was "looking at all those issues and we will come back with recommendations in our final report".

Citizens Advice responded to the interim report, Dame Clare Moriarty, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, said:

>“The Interim Report from the Timms Review confirms what we see daily: a system that is not fit for purpose. Our advisers helped nearly 900 people a day with issues claiming Personal Independence Payment (PIP) last year.

>PIP is a lifeline for many, covering extra costs that come with being disabled or having a long-term health condition - like care, disability aids, or accessible travel. But too often people struggle to get the support they’re entitled to. Last year alone, we had to help more than 50,000 people challenge or appeal their PIP decision.

>That’s why the Review must now bring forward bold recommendations. Fundamental reform is needed to make PIP fair and straightforward to access for those who depend on it.”

The Interim Report provides a fuller update on the steering group’s work to date and includes a summary of the Call for Evidence findings.

The Timms Review of Personal Independence Payment: interim report and The Timms Review: Co-chair update, July 2026 are on gov.uk.

 

Consultation opens on review of Carers Allowance 

Unpaid carers, their organisations, and anyone with experience of caring are being invited to share their views on how to improve Carers Allowance (CA), as part of the first major review of the benefit since it was first introduced 50 years ago. 

The call for evidence covers modern patterns of care that were not in place when Carer’s Allowance was introduced in 1976. The evidence gathered will inform future changes the government makes to CA.

The six-week call for evidence is gathering views on:

• modernising the earnings limit to reduce the impact of the current cliff edge,
• improving predictability for carers with varying incomes, and
• better supporting those with work and caring responsibilities.

 

Emily Holzhausen CBE, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at Carers UK, said:

>“We need to see further reform to Carer’s Allowance because the current system is outdated and no longer reflects the realities of caring today. This includes inflexible rules around the earnings limit which are hard to navigate for carers with fluctuating earnings and can dissuade some from claiming what they are entitled to altogether.

>We welcome the government’s call to gather further evidence around this and its acknowledgement that Carer’s Allowance, which was first introduced 50 years ago, should be a priority for change to better support those who contribute so much to society. Caring is not a one-size-fits-all experience, and so it’s important that the government hears from as many people as possible on this topic in the next six weeks.”

The call for evidence is open to everyone and is available in a range of accessible formats. It will close at 11:59pm on 18 August 2026. 

The Carer's Allowance: call for evidence and the Press Release are on gov.uk.

 

Universal Credit and domestic abuse: A spotlight report

Citizens Advice has published a spotlight report highlighting 6 common problems people face with UC when they are experiencing domestic abuse. The research seeks to inform the DWP and other policymakers so that UC can better support victim-survivors towards financial independence.

The government’s 2025 Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy promises a safer society for women and girls. As part of its support for victims and survivors, it pledges “to work across the public and private sectors to prevent economic abuse and support survivors regain financial independence”. The strategy recognises that financial insecurity can lead victim-survivors back to an abusive partner. Research shows that a lack of access to money and financial independence can be a significant barrier for some seeking to escape domestic abuse.   

While UC is a key source of social security support for low-income households, Citizens Advice says it’s not working as well as it should for victim-survivors. Evidence from their frontline advisers shows that the design and administration of UC - specifically its rigid payment structure and the way it accounts for individual circumstances - can undermine some victim-survivors’ ability to achieve financial independence.

The 6 key problems are:

1. Joint claims
2. Claiming UC
3. Barriers to tailored support
4. Housing costs
5. Inaccessible assets
6. Deductions

Citizens Advice says that to address the challenges identified in this report, the DWP should: 

• Expedite the completion of the impact assessment on split payments requested by the Scottish Government, to work towards introducing split payments by default.
• Launch campaigns to raise public awareness (including among victim-survivors) of benefit entitlements.  
• Simplify the benefits application process for victim-survivors of domestic abuse. 
• Incorporate routine, supportive questions into UC applications and claim management, to more proactively identify victim-survivors and ensure they’re receiving the correct support and easements.
• To improve the consistency of UC domestic abuse policy provisions ensure all staff have enhanced training on domestic abuse and related UC policies, with claimants also supported by dedicated specialists. 
• Record victim-survivor status in UC claims, so that any additional needs can be considered in all contact between the DWP and the claimant.
• Extend the grace period that automatically covers rent for both a victim-survivor’s former home and their new safe space, regardless of their intention to return. 
• Introduce greater flexibility into capital disregard policies to ensure rigid timeframes do not deny survivors essential support, and to recognise that disposing of assets may require re-engaging with abusers. 
• Automatically write off benefit overpayment debts resulting from coercion, or DWP errors.

They note that to  ensure meaningful impact, it is essential that any subsequent policy changes are co-produced in direct consultation with domestic abuse experts and victim-survivors.

Universal Credit and domestic abuse: A spotlight report is on citizensadvice.org.uk.

 

Benefit support for people waiting to reach State Pension age under review

The Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) has launched an independent inquiry to examine whether the benefits system is providing enough support for people in their 60s as the State Pension age continues to rise from 66 to 67.

In announcing the inquiry, the SSAC said the "flipside" of increasing the State Pension age is that people remain classed as being of working age for longer.

The committee will examine whether the detailed rules of the benefits system, together with employment support available to older people, are meeting the needs of people in their 60s as they wait to reach State Pension age.

It is expected to explore how people approaching retirement are supported if they lose their job, develop a health condition or disability, or have caring responsibilities that make it difficult to remain in work.

The inquiry will also consider whether the current benefits system reflects the realities of longer working lives as the State Pension age continues to increase.

In a blog post announcing the review, SSAC chair Professor Sir Stephen Brien said the committee wants to understand whether the system is "serving people in their 60s as well as it should" and whether any changes are needed to ensure support remains fit for purpose.

Brien said:

>“As well as benefit rules, we wish to examine Jobcentre practice. What offer is made to older claimants? What support is available to older non-claimants who are seeking employment?   How much tolerance is there or isn’t there for individuals to work part-time or with variable hours, potentially a good way for claimants to stay employed despite the barriers that they face?

>As well as working closely with officials and Jobcentre staff, we are, through a series of roundtable discussions, gauging the views of employers, charities, unions, academics and others in civil society about what does and doesn’t work in the existing system. These discussions are proving to be valuable not only in elucidating the current system, but also in sourcing answers to the one question that matters most. Namely, how might things be improved?”

The committee is inviting evidence from charities, employers, academics, local authorities, organisations representing older people and members of the public with experience of claiming benefits before reaching State Pension age.

The findings will help inform future recommendations on how the benefits system can better support people during the years leading up to retirement.

We’ll share more details when they are available.

The blog post is on ssac.blog.gov.uk.

 

Public Accounts Committee launches new inquiry into DWP

The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has launched a new programme of twelve inquiries covering major areas of public expenditure, one of which will be to examine the DWP.

The inquiry will examine issues highlighted by forthcoming National Audit Office reports on the DWPs 2025–26 accounts and its approach to innovation. The Committee has already expressed concern about persistently high levels of fraud and error in benefit expenditure, underpayments of benefits, which reached £4.9 billion in 2024–25, and the quality of services received by benefit claimants.

The PAC has a longstanding interest in scrutinising the work of the DWP. Its 2026 report into how DWP tackles fraud and error in benefit expenditure warned the Department over its extensive new bank account checking powers, while also highlighting the unacceptable finding that levels of fraud and error have now rendered its financial accounts qualified for almost four decades. 

A report from the PAC into the DWP in the same year warned that people risked being pushed into poverty by the Department’s continuing unacceptably poor service, with unacceptable waits faced by those awaiting their Personal Independent Payments to be processed. 

Commenting on the launch of the inquiries, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said: 

>“I would like to once again thank my fellow Committee members for their input, as the PAC continues its programme of scrutiny work. Across a broad range of policy areas, our Committee will continue to hold officials to account for securing best value for money for the taxpayer, and seek further action from government where the implementation of our previous recommendations has not been satisfactory.”

The PAC will take evidence from senior DWP officials on likely topics including DWP’s ongoing efforts to reduce fraud and error, including the extent of official error as well as claimant error and fraud, the Department’s organisational culture, and its vision for the role of innovation in its work.

Details of the inquiry are on parliament.uk.

 

Rising demand has pushed tribunal backlogs to record levels

Tribunals, the part of the justice system where individuals can challenge decisions made by the state (for example, on benefits, support for children with special educational needs, and migration), are facing record-level backlogs. In the first quarter of 2026, nearly 330,000 administrative appeals were open and awaiting resolution, double the level before the COVID-19 pandemic. This increase began in 2021–22 and has been steep and persistent.

These backlogs have built up as the number of new appeals has outpaced the number of cases resolved. Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and asylum/immigration tribunals, in particular, now receive around two to four times as many appeals as they did only five years ago. This reflects, in large part, more people requesting services or decisions from the state, such as Education, Health and Care Plan assessments from local authorities and asylum decisions from the Home Office, some of which then lead to appeals. In asylum tribunals, the rise in appeals has also been driven by the Home Office working through its own backlog more quickly than in the past, therefore generating more decisions that can be appealed against.

These are among the findings of new research from the IFS, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, which looks at trends and drivers in tribunal backlogs over the past 15 years as part of a new programme of work on the economics of the justice system.

Turning to the detail on tribunals, the IFS finds: 

• A simple proxy of tribunal productivity – the number of cases resolved per sitting day – has remained broadly stable during this recent period of pressure. But it remains far lower than in the early 2010s. This suggests that the rise in backlogs since 2021–22 has been mainly driven by a spike in demand, not tribunals becoming less productive. 
• Rising pressure on the tribunal system could have been met through investment in greater capacity. IFS analysis indicates that in social security and SEND tribunals, increases in sitting days over the past four years of around 13% and 21% respectively, could have offset the observed rise in appeals. In asylum and immigration, the increase in demand would have required a much larger expansion, of around 35%.

Rob Street, Director of Justice at the Nuffield Foundation, said:

>“Tribunals were designed to be faster, more accessible and less formal than the civil courts. This analysis shows parts of the system are now under such pressure that this is no longer the case. Beneath the ballooning caseloads and delays are people left in limbo: children out of school for years, disabled people unable to work or access the support they are entitled to, and families seeking safe refuge left uncertain about their future here. With demand unlikely to fall in the short term, active intervention to increase capacity is needed to bring backlogs down and stop the system overheating.”

The report What is driving increases in tribunal backlogs? is on ifs.org.uk.

 

Government sets baseline to measure progress on child poverty pledge

The government has set out how it will measure progress towards lifting 550,000 children out of poverty by the end of this Parliament, as latest figures show four million children remain in relative poverty.

Latest data for 2024/25 show that four million children (27%) were living in relative low-income households after housing costs, the government's main measure of poverty, which counts children living in households with incomes below 60% of the UK median after housing costs.

This figure is unchanged from the previous year but represents 700,000 more children than in 2010/11.

Its ‘Our Children, Our Future: Tackling Child Poverty: Monitoring and Evaluation – Baseline Report’, establishes the starting point against which ministers will assess the impact of measures announced in the government's Child Poverty Strategy last year. It also sets out the indicators that will be used in annual progress reports.

Scrapping the two-child limit, expanding free school meals from September 2026 and launching the Crisis and Resilience Fund are some of the early actions already implemented.

Work and Pensions Secretary, Pat McFadden, said: 

>“Tackling child poverty is one of the most important things this Government can do, giving the next generation their best chance of secure jobs and healthier lives.  

>We’ve already made a start, scrapping the two-child limit and launching our £1bn Crisis and Resilience Fund are making a real difference. 

>This baseline report shows we are taking a serious, evidence-led approach to tackling child poverty, driving forward the change that gives every child the security and opportunity to thrive.”

Progress will be measured against two headline metrics, relative low income after housing costs, and deep material poverty with the report setting out a broad programme of research and analysis to track progress. 

This includes a new study of parents and carers in or near poverty, over four years, which will look at how families’ circumstances, incomes and sources of support change, and how the Strategy is experienced in practice, lived experience research, cross-government policy evaluation, and contextual indicators covering the key drivers of child poverty.

The Press Release and the Our Children, Our Future documents are on gov.uk.

 

No home to go to: how frozen Local Housing Allowance rates are causing homelessness

Local Housing Allowance (LHA) was designed to make the cheapest 30% of properties in an area affordable to those on low incomes. However, it's has been subject to freezes and cuts since 2012.

Since 2024 - despite the cost of living crisis - LHA has been frozen solid.
The result - fewer than 2% of rental homes are covered by housing benefits. Families are being forced into homelessness by the very system that should be protecting them.

Crisis has teamed up with Citizens Advice, Shelter, Just Life, Shared Health Foundation, Centrepoint, St Mungo's, Independent Age and National Residential Landlords Association - NRLA to report on the devastating impact of freezing LHA.

They’re calling on government to consider the evidence, then prevent homelessness and support struggling families by restoring LHA to cover the lowest third of rents.

‘No home to go to’ is a powerful report that demonstrates the government's freeze on LHA is locking struggling families out of the rental market and driving people into homelessness. The freeze is forcing households to cut back and go without essentials, trapping people in temporary accommodation and harming children. The freeze is a false economy.

Restoring the link between LHA and local rents would strengthen one of the most effective tools available to prevent homelessness, support households to sustain tenancies, and improve access to private rented homes for people moving on from homelessness and supported housing.

No home to go to: How frozen local housing allowance rates are causing homelessness is on crisis.org.uk.

 

Supported housing residents to keep more of what they earn under new rules

More than 300,000 residents in supported housing and temporary accommodation will no longer face a drop in income when increasing their working hours, under new legislation due to come into force on 5^(th) October.

The Housing Benefit (Earned Income Disregards) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 aim to address a long-standing “cliff edge” problem, in which people in supported housing are cut off from rent payments through Housing Benefit if they take more than a small amount of paid work. This is particularly problematic as rents for supported housing are usually higher than market value, meaning any extra income earned through employment is quickly outweighed by the extra costs of rent.

Five new earned income disregards have been introduced in the regulations focused on improving the rights of people living in “specified or temporary accommodation”. This will mean that people will be able to earn more before their Universal Credit and Housing Benefit payments start to be tapered down.

Rick Henderson, CEO of Homeless Link responded to the news:

>“This is a welcome change that make it considerably easier for people living in supported accommodation to get into work and build their careers. For years, the efforts of our members to support people trying to take their next steps and move on from homelessness were being undermined by this unfair and ineffective policy.

>The changes announced today prove positive social security reform can be part of the solution to ending homelessness. We hope moving forwards that the Government recognises the wider potential for utilising the social security system to start turning the tide on rising homelessness, including by adjusting Local Housing Allowance rates.”

The Press Release is on gov.uk.

 

DWP estimates 436,780 households get increased UC following end of 2-child limit

The latest and final 2-child limit data was published by the DWP this week.

The data shows that in April 2026, 495,990 households were affected by the 2-child limit policy, an increase of 15,700 (3%) in the total number of households affected on either Universal Credit or Child Tax Credit since April 2025.

Of the affected households, 96% (478,120) were not receiving the child element for at least one child in their household and 6% (29,460) of households had an exception to the policy.

However, not everyone is a winner.

• 5,930 households not receiving child element for at least one child in their household aren’t expected to see an increase in their UC because the household receives a transitional protection element per month in excess of £303.94 per child not receiving a child element due to the policy. There are 21,790 children in total living in these households.
• 35,530 households aren’t expected to see an increase in their UC payment because the household was already affected by the benefit cap. There are 129,160 children in total living in these households.

The policy - which had restricted child tax credit and UC to the first two children in most households - was officially axed on April 6.

The Universal Credit claimants statistics on the two child limit policy, April 2026 is on gov.uk.

 

Wales - Can the Welsh Government actually introduce a child payment?

Wales has the highest child poverty rates of any UK nation – a staggering one in three children in Wales are growing up in poverty and missing out on opportunities to flourish and thrive. The impact on children is huge. As part of Save the Children Cymru’s Power of Voice research work, children and young people said that ‘all kids should be on the same level; some kids don’t get the childhood they should have’ and ‘if you have a lack of money then you can get bullied and get stressed because your parents can’t afford things.’ 

A Welsh Child Payment would be a powerful lever to help address this, ensuring all children have a decent start in life and investing in a better future for Wales. Modelling by the Bevan Foundation shows that this would be “the most powerful and effective” way of lifting the highest proportion of households above the poverty line. 

Plaid Cymru have promised to pilot a Welsh Child Payment – Cynnal – and in so doing “build the case for devolving the powers we need to roll the payment out in full, Wales-wide.” 

But what legal powers do they have to implement a pilot? And what avenues exist to roll out a Welsh Child Payment in full? These are questions that Bevan Foundation and Save the Children Cymru commissioned legal expert Prof. Emyr Lewis to answer, 

Key findings:

• Legally, a Welsh Child Payment is possible
• The cooperation of the UK Government is necessary for the pilot to work as effectively as possible
• The Welsh Government will need to find the funding for the pilot and any broader rollout
• Longer term, more devolution is necessary to place a Welsh Child Payment on stronger footing.

The Bevan Foundation, Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) and Save the Children, confirm that legally, practically and politically a Welsh Child Payment is possible. Introducing it could significantly impact the lives of children in Wales in a similar way to what we’re seeing the Scottish Child Payment achieve. They say the Welsh Government need to boldly press on with designing and implementing the Cynnal pilot, while beginning the negotiations with the UK government to ascertain the constitutional powers to bring a full Welsh Child Payment into law.  

The briefing Exploring the constitutional basis for delivering a child payment in Wales is on bevanfoundation.org.uk.

 

 

Case law – with thanks to u/ClareTGold

UC & the SDP gateway - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v JNX

Under benefit rules, people receiving a Severe Disability Premium (SDP) in their legacy benefits were historically protected from being forced to move onto Universal Credit (a rule called the SDP gateway condition).

In this case the tribunal addressed what happens when someone receives a retrospective (backdated) award of PIP after having already migrated to UC.

The Upper Tribunal determined that the SDP gateway rule was meant to act as a barrier to moving onto UC. If a claimant has already transitioned, they could not then use the gateway condition to undo migration to UC and return to legacy benefits, even if they later receive a backdated PIP award that would have previously protected them.

 

LCWRA Substantial Risk - GB v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

If someone does not meet the standard points-based test for LCWRA, the law says they must still be treated as having LCRWA if preparing for work – i.e. undertaking ‘work related activity’ - would pose a "substantial risk" to their physical or mental health (or someone else’s).

In this case the First-tier Tribunal (FtT) were under the impression that the most demanding work-related activity that the claimant could be required to undertake was home based and in his own time. They said this in the decision notice:

“6. Whilst the Tribunal accepts that Mr GB has ADHD, autism, anxiety and a shoulder problem, the Tribunal does not find that there would be a substantial risk to his health if he were required to undertake the most demanding work related activities set out in the DWP's mandatory reconsideration letter dated 16/05/2024. Specifically, the most demanding activities Mr GB would be required to undertake include researching a potential career path and skills requirements and finding out about opportunities available through local employers to discuss with his work coach. This activity can be done via telephone, using the internet and newspapers and can be done at home and in Mr GB's own time.

7. The Tribunal accepted Mr GB's evidence regarding difficulties attending the Job Centre and Restart and also accepted that the current activities prescribed by Restart were unsuitable and not facilitating Mr GB's return to work.”

And they said this in the Statement of Reasons:

“7k. The most onerous work-related activities Mr GB would be required by the Job Centre to undertake are researching a potential career path and skills requirements and finding out about opportunities available through local employers to discuss with his work coach. These work-related activities could be undertaken at home via the telephone, online and newspapers.

7l. There would not be a substantial risk to Mr GB’s mental or physical health if he were required to undertake those work-related activities”

The Upper Tribunal unsurprisingly found the FtT erred in law.

The task of an FtT is to consider what risks arise from work related activity a claimant might be asked to do. That includes work related activity that might be inappropriately imposed.

And the test is whether the claimant might be at substantial risk from work related activity which might be imposed. It cannot be assumed that the work coach will in fact only choose to impose work related activity that a claimant is able to complete. If that were the case no claimant would ever be at risk from work related activity.

The risk must be considered in that real-world context.

 

Health assessments to be recorded as standard  

All face-to-face and telephone health assessments for disability and sickness benefits will be audio recorded as standard from 29 June to improve transparency in the benefit system. 

The change means that claimants undergoing assessments for Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Work Capability Assessments (WCA) in Universal Credit and Employment and Support Allowance, and Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) will have their assessment automatically recorded, unless they choose to opt out. 

The move marks a significant shift from the previous opt-in system, under which claimants had to request a recording themselves. Despite being offered the option through invitation letters and assessment supplier websites, fewer than 3% of claimants took up the offer. 

The new policy aims to improve public trust in the health assessment process through greater transparency. Recordings will also be used as a learning tool to identify potential improvements to assessment quality and will be made available to claimants who wish to appeal their initial benefit award. 

Minister for Social Security and Disability Sir Stephen Timms said:

>“Improving transparency and trust in the benefits system is one of this government’s key aims, which is why we’re making this important change.

>Audio recording health assessments as standard will mean we are available to make improvements and increase assessment quality, resulting in a better experience for claimants.”

Read the press release on gov.uk.

 

Further reforms to the Motability scheme came into force

Reforms to the Motability Scheme were introduced this week - on 1^(st) July - they were first announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the Autumn Budget last year in a bid to streamline the service.

Under the new rules, vehicles leased through the Motability Scheme, or equivalent qualifying schemes, will be subject to 20 per cent VAT on top-up payments.

This will be in addition to the transfer of enhanced mobility PIP or high rate mobility DLA and applies to the more expensive vehicles included in the Scheme. In total, 20 vehicles are available through the scheme with no Advance Payment, including the best-selling Ford Puma, electric Hyundai Inster, and the UK's cheapest car, the Dacia Spring.

Drivers will also face Insurance Premium Tax, which is levied at the standard rate of 12%, and will apply to most new leases from 1^(st) July 2026.

The reforms to the scheme are expected to save £1 billion by 2030 and affect new Motability leases from 1^(st) July.

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden MP said:

>“Today’s changes are driven by the fairness that underpins this Government - fairness for the taxpayer, fairness for disabled people, and fairness for the country.

>We’re saving £1 billion of taxpayer money by removing VAT relief from some new Motability leases, whilst ensuring the scheme still supports disabled people’s mobility and independence.

>We’re building a fair welfare system and an economy that works for everyone.”

Read the full press release on gov.uk.  

 

Interim update Jobcentre Plus and Careers Service integration

The Rt Hon Dame Diana Johnson DBE MP, Minister for Employment has shared an update on the Jobs and Careers Service (JCS), explaining that:

>“The new Jobs and Careers Service will better match people to the right roles, support employers to access the skills they need, and build a more productive and prosperous country.  

>This report sets out how we are turning that ambition into action. Creating a more proactive system designed to unlock people’s potential, by always asking that fundamental question: “How can we help you find a job?””

The JCS will focus on improving sustained employment and career progression, digital where possible, and human where needed.

People receiving benefits and able to work will be referred to contracted employment provision, delivered by external providers in England and Wales. Currently, support (Restart) is available for those who have been unemployed for six months. From early 2028, support will be targeted based on need. Those with the greatest barriers to work will be able to access support immediately, with young people referred after six months of unemployment, and a further intervention point for people unemployed for 12 months.

JCS will extend beyond Jobcentres and into communities so people can access services when and where they need them. This will range from universal digital support to more in-depth, in-person appointments from work coaches and, in England, from qualified careers advisers, when needed. Services will be embedded in local communities such as leisure centres, shopping centres and GP surgeries. They will also expand mobile delivery and flexible provision that is available to everyone and responds to local needs.

So far, they have launched early versions of new digital tools, known as the Work Hub, available for everyone to access now. Which is described as a ‘Jobcentre in your pocket’. The Work Hub will work alongside improved digital tools on the renamed National Careers Service website to support customers’ careers needs. For example, using AI to make it easier for customers to search for courses, apprenticeships and training.

They will be running two large randomised controlled trials for people claiming UC and they have set up three Pathfinders to quickly test smaller changes to the service, build qualitative insights and work with local government to explore new ways of joining up. Innovation Hubs are testing changes to the Jobcentre environment to make them welcoming and accessible, with clearer welcome points, greater privacy and digital jobs boards. 

Following recommendations from the Work and Pensions Select Committee the DWP has undertaken a literature review and they’re beginning research with external partners and providers to deepen their understanding of employment support best practice.

By the end of this Parliament, careers, skills and employment support will form a coherent, integrated service. To deliver the merger by 1 October 2026 they will:

• ensure physical estates are ready for careers advisers to work in
• develop induction materials for NCS employees who will be moving over, and for DWP employees on how to work together after the merger
• continue to test and iterate digital services
• work with the Prime Contractors to move relevant data across to DWP as part of the contract exit plans
• ensure consistent access to careers support by updating the current NCS website
• deliver public communications to ensure customers know how to access the service – online, over the telephone and in person in a Jobcentre or in the community

Further evidence and detail on the service’s design and implementation is due to be published in the coming months

Get Britain Working: an update on the Jobs and Careers Service is on gov.uk.

 

Youth Jobs Grant launched, paying £3k for every eligible young person an employer hires

The DWP has confirmed the launch of the new Youth Jobs Grant scheme which enables employers to receive a £3,000 payment when they hire 18–24-year-olds who have been on UC and looking for work for at least 6 months – creating new job opportunities for young people. Note: employers have to apply to the scheme.

The scheme is expected to help up to 60,000 young people over the next three years.

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said:

>“Young people want the chance to work, earn, learn and build a better future.

>That’s why the Government is backing employers large and small with a £3,000 grant to take a chance on young people who are ready to work and need that first step on the ladder, and subsidised work for those who face more challenges.

>Working with employers, we can turn young people’s lives around and that’s why I’m delighted to see Merlin’s commitment to create 300 roles, and I urge others to join our Youth Guarantee.”

Young people with health conditions and disabilities can join the scheme, and all participants receive pre-employment support and training, both for the specific role and in soft skills such as confident speaking and time management.

Additionally, from 29 June 2026 across Great Britain, jobcentres began delivering expanded support to provide young people with a structured path into sustained employment from their first visit, through access to jobs, apprenticeships, work experience, vocational training and further education opportunities.

As part of this support, over the next three years, nearly one million young people who are not earning or learning by week 13 of their Universal Credit claim will get an in-depth meeting from a dedicated work coach.

Read the press release on gov.uk.

 

Out of reach: Real unemployment and the people missed by benefits based employment support

Official figures state that there are 1.7 million unemployed people but an analysis by The Salvation Army argues that the ‘real unemployment’ figure is closer to 3.9 million.

A new report by The Salvation Army has found that a staggering 1.3 million people who want to work are not receiving Government Employment support. As such they don’t appear in the official unemployment statistics.

To be classed as unemployed you must have actively sought work within the last four weeks and are available to start work within the next two weeks. However, that classification does not include people who want to work but cannot actively search for a job for reasons usually beyond their control such as lack of affordable childcare or adult social care, lack up-to-date skills and homelessness. 

The Salvation Army make a number of recommendations to reach the right people with the right support:

1. Adopt a human capital approach to employment support
2. Scale back sanctions and introduce safeguards
3. Invest in local, specialist support
4. Strengthen employer-side action and job creation
5. Take a cross-government approach to poverty.

Out of Reach is on salvationarmy.org.uk.

 

New asylum bill requiring refugees to repay around £10,000 has first reading

The Government's Immigration and Asylum Bill, first announced last month in the King's Speech, was introduced in Parliament this week. The 82-page bill can be downloaded here, with the 60-page explanatory notes available here.

The Bill aims at recovering costs from all adults with sufficient funds.

Adults who have received asylum support and who have sufficient financial means will be required to make a flat-rate monthly contribution above a specified income threshold. Payments will generally be made directly to the Home Office, although other collection methods, including through the tax or benefits system, are also being considered.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said:

>"Once people can contribute and repay the generosity of the British people, we expect them to do so."

The plans will mean migrants working and earning a specific amount will be required to pay back a flat-rate sum, which is expected to be set at £10,000. But the Home Office has not yet determined how much people would need to earn before making monthly instalments.

The Home Secretary would have the power to adjust the charge and the repayment thresholds in the future to ensure "they are both fair to the taxpayer and will not force any migrant into destitution".

Around £4bn of taxpayers' money was spent on supporting asylum seekers last year, according to the Home Office.

However, Dr Madeleine Sumption, director of the University of Oxford's Migration Observatory, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the measures would move the immigration system "in a more restrictive direction".

"The government goal appears to be to tighten up that system as much as they can while still remaining compliant with international refugee law and human rights law."

The Migration Observatory questioned how much money the government would actually be able to recoup through the system, pointing to the low rates of employment and earning among refugees.

Sumption said:

>"In 2023, for example, an estimated 13% of people granted refugee status five years earlier were earning at least £20,000, with the rest either not working or on lower earnings.

>The data suggests that unless thresholds were significantly below the minimum wage, a relatively small share of people granted asylum would earn enough to make contributions to the scheme."

Refugee Action described it as “yet another cruel and divisive asylum law”. They said:

>“…Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is introducing another package of hostile and unworkable policies that scapegoat refugees and will fail to stop the UK’s descent into migrant hate and racist violence. Her bill completely ignores the real causes of failure: years of gimmick-driven, performative legislation, billions handed to profiteering accommodation companies, and a pointless ban preventing people seeking asylum from working.

>Let's be clear. These announcements will do nothing to prevent deaths in the Channel or heal divided communities.

>This bill should be scrapped and the new Prime Minister must:

>Give people seeking asylum the right to work instead of forcing them into debt.

>Give money to councils and local leaders to house all people in need of a home, rather than to profiteering companies.

>Create meaningful, safe routes for people to safely seek asylum in the UK, alongside valuable but exclusive resettlement schemes.

>Stand up for human rights, which belong to all of us and are not there to be tampered with for political whims.

>Use humanising language to talk about people seeking safety, instead of brandishing the word “illegal” and demonising people fleeing their homes

>Everybody has the right to safety. Britain deserves better than another last-minute attempt to divide people for political gain.”

The Immigration and Asylum Bill would also see a new immigration appeals authority introduced with the aim of speeding up removals of failed asylum seekers.

Read the press release on gov.uk.

 

29% increase of DWP complaints in one year

The DWP received 8,590 complaints up to the quarter ending March 2026. This represents a 12% increase from the previous quarter (ending December 2025) and an increase of 29% from the same quarter in 2025.

There were 3,985 complaints about universal credit (UC), a 41% increase on the quarter ending March 2025, despite there only being a 12% increase in claimants.

And there were 1,595 complaints about disability services in the latest quarter, a 62% increase on the March 2025 quarter.

Complaints to the Independent Case Examiner (ICE) – which deals with cases where someone is unhappy with DWP’s final response to a complaint – rose by 36% to 2,835, compared with March 2025.

4 out of 10 closed complaints were upheld or partly upheld by DWP. UC and Disability Services had the lowest rates of complaints being upheld, with around 3 out of 10 closed complaints upheld or partly upheld. Pension/Retirement Services had the highest rate of complaints being upheld, with around 7 out of 10 closed complaints upheld or partly upheld.

It should be noted that the number of complaints about DWP services represent less than 1% of claimants.

DWP Complaints Statistics to March 2026 is on gov.uk.

 

Case law – with thanks to u/ClareTGold

 

Court of Appeal 2-child limit - LMN & Anor, R (on the application of) v The Secretary of State for Work and Pension [2026]

The Court of Appeal has rejected a human rights challenge brought by two women to the operation of an exception to the 2-child benefit cap.

By the 2-child benefit policy, child tax credit or Universal Credit could not be obtained in respect of more than two children. (That policy, introduced in 2017, was scrapped in April 2026 by the current Government but still affected those who were not paid the benefit before this time).

An outright challenge was brought to the 2-child benefit policy several years ago and was ultimately rejected by the Supreme Court in R (SC) v SSWP [2021] UKSC 26. But the 2-child benefit policy always contained exceptions. One of these was where the third child in a family was conceived non-consensually. The Appellants in the present case had been the victims of serious domestic violence and had conceived multiple children non-consensually, but their third children had not qualified for the exception as they had been conceived consensually. The claimants argued that this rule breached their Article 8, 14 and A1P1 ECHR rights. The High Court rejected the claim in July 2025 ([2025] EWHC 1849) and the Appellants appealed.

The Court of Appeal has now dismissed the Appellants’ appeal, finding that:

Applying the guidance of the Supreme Court in Shvidler v SSFCDA [2025] UKSC 30, this was a case where the Court of Appeal ought to carry out the proportionality assessment afresh and for itself. This was because: it was a challenge to secondary legislation and its ruling was likely to have a wide significance; and, the subject-matter of the appeal was of high importance for society given its impact on a particularly vulnerable group – i.e. women who have suffered extreme forms of domestic and sexual abuse.

The measure was justified. Those in the comparator groups relied upon (non-parental carers and adoptive parents, and those whose 3rd child was conceived non-consensually) were not in a materially analogous position to the Appellants and a wide margin of discretion ought to be conferred on Government in making these sorts of decisions.

 

Northern Ireland - SMcC v Department for Communities (II) [2026]

This case confirms that a direction given by an earlier tribunal should either be complied with, amended or set aside by a later tribunal, it should not be ignored.

 

And lastly... a reminder that information on PIP extensions can be found in last week's news - https://www.reddit.com/r/DWPhelp/comments/1uhq8vn/weekly_news_round_up_280626/

New DWP debt recovery powers code of practice

The Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Act 2025 brought in new powers for DWP to seek recovery of benefit debt. The powers are intended to encourage people to contact the department at the earliest opportunity to discuss affordable payment terms without the powers being required.

The DWP is writing to thousands of people with outstanding DWP debts, warning them to get in touch and set up repayment plans before the enforcement of the powers will be gradually rolled out from October 2026.

This week a Code of Practice was published explaining how DWP will use these new powers to recover money owed from an individual’s bank account and, in the most serious cases, DWP can apply to the court to temporarily disqualify them from holding a driving licence.

The DWP can only recover certain social security debts from those no longer on DWP benefits and:

• not in suitable Pay As You Earn (PAYE) employment using a Direct Deduction Order (DDO), or if this is not reasonably possible
• through applying to the court for a suspended (or subsequently, an immediate) disqualification from driving order, where an individual has failed to pay without reasonable excuse, is no longer entitled to, or in receipt of DWP benefits.

The Code confirms that these powers will be used as a last resort where reasonable attempts to agree an affordable and sustainable payment plan have failed. Individuals can avoid the use of these powers and any associated costs by contacting DWP, agreeing to and maintaining a payment plan.

DWP will also conduct affordability, and vulnerability checks prior to making a direct deduction order or applying for a disqualification from driving order. The Code confirms that all debt recovery staff will undergo mandatory, debt specific vulnerability training which includes advice on how they may be able to spot and identify indicators of vulnerability.

Where it is identified that an individual is in a vulnerable circumstance or has a support need, DWP will consider if suitable adjustments can be reasonably made when applying the powers.

Where DWP is aware someone is experiencing, or is at risk of, domestic and economic abuse, it will consider whether it is appropriate to take actions under the DDO and disqualification from driving powers, particularly with regards to whether a deduction or disqualification may put an individual at greater risk of harm.

Possible adjustments are detailed in section 8.14 of the Code.

The DWP Direct Deduction and Disqualification from Driving Orders: Code of Practice and Press Release are on gov.uk.

 

Several thousand staff affected by DWP mass office closure announcement

The DWP has announced that Service and Support Centres (SSC) will close in Motherwell, Glasgow, Derby, Hyde, Halifax, Torquay, Liverpool, Sunderland and Blackpool impacting thousands of staff, by September 2027

The DWP says that these office closures will assist in:

• Modernising the estate – they say that many DWP sites are old buildings that are not energy efficient or equipped for the way we want to operate in the future.  
• Using their space better – hybrid working allows more staff to work from home, meaning many of their sites are “under-utilised."

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union DWP Group Executive Committee has condemned the announcement saying it will fight office closures:

>“DWP office closures can have a devastating impact on the staff who work in them and on the communities where they are based. The GEC has pledged to use every tool at its disposal to fight any office closure that could result in DWP job losses in local communities. PCS fundamentally opposes these office closures, and any further closures of service centres or jobcentres that would remove jobs from communities.”

The Press Release is on pcs.org.uk.

 

Access to Work ‘journey’ varies substantially

New Access to Work (AtW) research has been published. It sought to:

• understand better the triggers and trajectories of the applicant’s journey into an AtW claim and approval
• get a better understanding of employers’ use of reasonable adjustments and how this interacts with AtW claims and approvals

Undertaken through 90 qualitative interviews with AtW applicants and 26 interviews with employers of different sizes and sectors, the hope is that the research will help to refine the scope for any future AtW evaluation.  

Applicants with cognitive and neurodevelopmental conditions, a recent onset condition or new diagnosis found the AtW application form more difficult. Several barriers were raised, including the:

• terminology used - examples included technical or bureaucratic terms such as ‘eligibility checker’, ‘Case Manager’, ‘UTR number’ (Unique Taxpayer Reference number),
• format of questions - applicants struggled with the open format of some questions which included long free-text boxes (up to 1,000 characters). This was particularly difficult for people with cognitive and neurodevelopmental conditions who can find it hard to concentrate for extended periods or write in a structured way. It was also challenging for those who were newly disabled or who had recently received a diagnosis and therefore still working out what support they needed,
• amount of administration required.

Applicants’ experiences of AtW were (unsurprisingly) influenced by multiple intersecting factors: their health condition(s), how long they had lived with the condition, whether they had help completing the application, their understanding of support needs, prior experience with disability benefits, the type of AtW support sought, motivation for applying, employment status, and how essential support was for them to stay in work. The research suggests that these factors combined in different ways to produce six common journeys to claiming AtW.

Employers described that unclear definitions and limited guidance of ‘reasonable adjustments’ made it challenging to determine what support they were responsible for providing. With employers reporting three broad barriers to implementing reasonable adjustments: cost, constraints on nature of the role and staffing resources, lack of understanding or awareness of reasonable adjustments.

The report concludes with a number of suggested improvements to the AtW process.

Journeys to Access to Work is on gov.uk.

 

6% increase of benefit capped households

New statistics show that at February 2026 there were 115,000 households who had their benefit reduced due to the Benefit Cap. Almost all of were UC claimants, with only 160 households capped on Housing Benefit.

The number of capped households has increased by 6,900 (6%) compared with November 2025 and increased by 7,800 (7%) compared with February 2025.

The majority (79%) of households subject to the benefit cap are families with children, with the majority of these being single parent households (66%), with over half of them (58%) containing a child under 5.

Of the households including children, capped at February 2026:

• 93% (84,000) had between 1 and 4 children
• 7% (6,400) had 5 or more children

However, the proportion of capped households that are single person households with no children has been gradually increasing from a low of 9% in May 2023 to 21% in February 2026. 

The financial impact of being capped:

• 57% (65,000) of households that had their UC capped were capped by £200 or less for the assessment period
• 24% (28,000) were capped by £200.01 to £400
• 11% (13,000) were capped by £400.01 to £600
• 5% (5,200) were capped by £600.01 to £800
• 3% (3,900) were capped by more than £800, including 1% (610) capped by more than £1,300 for the assessment period

Benefit cap: number of households capped to February 2026 is on gov.uk.

 

Consultation opens on proposed new employment rights for unpaid carers

Currently, around three million unpaid carers balance work with caring responsibilities, yet many are forced to reduce their hours, delay returning to employment, or leave the workforce entirely.  

In the Plan to Make Work Pay, the government committed to review the implementation of the Carer’s Leave Act 2023, and to assess whether further support is needed to help unpaid carers balance work with their caring responsibilities. When the Employment Rights Act 2025 was passed, they also made a commitment to review the employment rights available to parents who have a seriously ill child.

The proposals under consideration include introducing paid carer’s leave for the first time, a new “right to return” to work after a period of intensive caring - similar to protections currently enjoyed by those on maternity leave – and new guidance to help workers and employers better understand carers’ workplace protections. 

Real experiences will be crucial for informing this process, which is why it is so important that carers and parents respond.

The consultation is open until 11:59pm on 1^(st) September 2026

The open consultation is on gov.uk.

 

Statistics rebuke for Conservatives over ‘inaccuracy’ of welfare claim

Leader of the Conservative party, Kemi Badenoch has been challenged by the UK statistics watchdog over a “not wholly accurate” claim about Government spending on benefits.

The Tory Party released a document that said that “for the first time ever, the total welfare bill is now higher than total receipts from income tax” last month.

This isn’t true.

The interim chair of the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA), Penny Young, has written to Badenoch, saying that:

>“Overall, we are concerned that the inaccuracy of the ‘first time ever’ element of the claim, combined with the absence of this contextual explanation, could lead to misunderstanding among members of the public about welfare spending.”

Figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) suggest this has been the case since at least 2011 and the gap has narrowed in recent years, with the positions forecast to reverse in 2026/27, the watchdog said,

>“We have reviewed the published statistics and assessed that this claim is not wholly accurate,” 

She added:

>“Given the prominence of this claim, and the evidence that it is not accurate, we hope that you might consider how best to clarify it so that it fully supports public understanding of trends in taxation and welfare spending.”

The UKSA also said it was worried that the Conservatives were giving the impression that “welfare” was mainly about sickness and out-of-work benefits, when “approximately 55% of social security expenditure is spent on pensioners”.

A Conservative spokesman acknowledged the claim was inaccurate and said the party would make a correction.

The letter to Badenoch is on uksa.statisticsauthority.gov.uk.

PIP fixed-term award extensions commence

As we previously shared, from 2 June 2026 new regulations came into force enabling the DWP to extend the length of a fixed-term PIP award where it is “considered necessary to do so to safeguard the efficient administration” of PIP.

Before this, when your fixed-term award reached its end date, the DWP would normally start a planned review (sometimes called an award review or a reassessment). The new power lets the DWP instead push the end date back and keep your current award running, without that immediate review.

Crucially, the regulations only allow the DWP to make awards longer. They do not give it any power to shorten an existing award, and they do not allow it to change the rate you are paid.

But why? The number of planned PIP reviews has grown faster than the DWP can carry them out, and a large backlog has built up. Reviewing every award on its original timetable means increasingly long delays and a claimant’s left waiting in limbo.

Extending awards is a way of managing that backlog. By lengthening some existing awards, it reduces the number of reviews needing to be processed at once. Note: this sits alongside a separate change announced on 28 April 2026: most new PIP awards are now reviewed no sooner than every three years, and if nothing has changed at that point, the review period is then extended to five years. 

This award extension change applies to claimants aged 25 and over in England and Wales. It does not apply to under 25s as evidence suggests there are more frequent changes in functional ability in that age group.

Approximately 1.7 million claims are in scope for an award extension with the DWP aiming to complete approximately 50,000 extensions daily (including weekends) over a period of 4-6 weeks.

Claimants don’t need to do anything, if your claim is extended you will receive a letter – an example of what this looks like was shared in this post.

One thing worth being clear about: the regulations give the DWP a discretionary power rather than creating an automatic extension for everyone. Extensions will be applied where the DWP considers it appropriate for the efficient administration of the benefit.

The Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance (Decisions and Appeals) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 are on legislation.gov.uk.

 

DWP publishes state pension age communications ‘action plan’ to develop strategy with ‘timely’ and ‘modern’ communications

The action plan outlines how the DWP will learn lessons from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s (PHSO) investigation into communications about the state pension age for women. Following the investigation.

The plan sets out a new strategy for providing clearer, more timely and personalised communications on the state pension, with a particular focus on future changes to the age at which people receive this benefit. It also recommends improvements to complaints handling.

The publication comes as the Government prepares for the next independent review of the state pension age, with debate continuing over the long-term affordability of the state pension amid demographic pressures and the ongoing commitment to the triple lock.

The Action Plan is on gov.uk.

Understanding of, and attitudes towards Universal Credit – 2025 survey

A large-scale survey to explore Universal Credit (UC) customers’ characteristics, as well as their knowledge and understanding of UC, was undertaken by Ipsos on behalf of DWP. The survey also investigated aspirations towards work and progression, barriers, and support needs to better understand customer experiences.

Customers with a health condition generally reported lower levels of knowledge and understanding of UC and its features compared to those without a health condition. They had lower general understanding of UC, such as of the claimant commitment, the UC statement, and payment deductions.

Parents showed consistently better understanding of UC compared to those without children. They were more likely to agree that they understood their claimant commitment, their UC statement, and UC payments and deductions. They were also more knowledgeable about the rules for working on UC, including correctly identifying that not being able to work more than 16 hours per week on UC was false, understanding the Minimum Income Floor (self-employed customers), and knowing that their payments would be impacted by the taper rate.

Non-working UC customers tended to have less knowledge and understanding of UC work incentives, and the rules around working on UC, than working customers. 

The challenges faced by working UC customers depended on whether they were employed or self-employed, and on their working hours. 

Employed customers were more likely to cite childcare as a barrier to increasing their earnings compared to self-employed customers. They were also more likely to agree that childcare is too expensive to make working worthwhile and to agree that if they worked more hours, their home lives would suffer. 

In contrast, self-employed customers were more likely to report other barriers to increasing their earnings compared with those employed, including: having a physical or mental health condition or learning disability, lack of jobs in the local area, and their age. 

The findings will contribute to DWP’s broader evidence base on how UC is working in practice. This includes contributing evidence to the department’s ongoing review of UC. In particular, the survey provides up to date claimant perspectives on incentives, understanding of the system, and barriers to work, which will help inform ongoing policy development across UC.

The Universal Credit Survey 2025 is on gov.uk.

 

Voluntary National Insurance contributions: call for evidence

The government has launched a call for evidence to gather views from the public, representative organisations and experts on how the voluntary National Insurance contributions (NICs) system is working and how it can be improved.

Voluntary NICs allow individuals to make voluntary payments to fill gaps in their National Insurance record, helping to secure entitlement to the State Pension and certain working-age contributory benefits.

The government is considering the operation and future direction of voluntary NICs to ‘ensure the system is fair and fit for purpose’. The consultation Responses will inform the development of future options.

The call for evidence will end on 15 September 2026.

Call for evidence on voluntary National Insurance contributions is on gov.uk.

 

Watchdog urges HMRC to learn lessons from Child Benefit data-matching rollout

HMRC has been urged to strengthen governance and risk management after a data-matching exercise aimed at tackling Child Benefit (CB) fraud and error led to thousands of eligible claimants having payments stopped without warning.

A National Audit Office (NAO) report examined HMRC’s use of Home Office travel data to identify claimants who may have been incorrectly receiving CB while living outside the UK.

The watchdog said the first rollout generated estimated fraud and error savings of £60m, but more than 8,000 genuine claimants had payments suspended. By April 2026, HMRC information showed 59% of the initially suspended claims had been confirmed as eligible.

HMRC began developing the approach after identifying in 2021 that CB records could be matched with airline data to flag people absent from the UK for more than 12 weeks. A 2024 pilot prevented an estimated £15m in incorrect payments, prompting a wider rollout in August 2025.

However, the NAO found that HMRC changed the process between pilot and rollout, including removing an early Pay As You Earn (PAYE) check. This led to a much higher number of eligible claimants being caught up in the exercise. HMRC also sent longer and more complex letters and questionnaires asking claimants to prove eligibility.

By October 2025, HMRC had suspended payments for 23,794 claimants. Some reported financial and emotional impacts from the sudden loss of income, as well as stress and difficulty proving their entitlement. Between August 2025 and February 2026, HMRC handled more than 22,500 calls linked to the rollout.

HMRC took corrective action once problems emerged in mid-October, including reintroducing a PAYE check, automatically reinstating some payments and allowing claimants to confirm eligibility by telephone. It also apologised to affected claimants and, by April 2026, had paid £3,200 compensation to 51 people.

The NAO said HMRC accepted there were weaknesses in the transition from pilot to rollout, including shortcomings in risk assessment and decision-making. Key decisions were made without sufficient scrutiny, and the department did not adequately assess the impact on claimants whose payments were wrongly stopped.

HMRC relaunched the initiative in March 2026 with changes, including giving claimants one month to prove eligibility before payments are suspended and enabling evidence to be submitted online. It has also commissioned an internal audit and is taking what the NAO described as a more controlled approach.

The department projected gross savings of £366m over the five years to 2029-30, based on the pilot, and plans to update its cost and benefit estimates for the Autumn Budget 2026.

Gareth Davies, head of the NAO said:

>“It’s right that HMRC seeks new ways to tackle fraud and error. HMRC’s initial work on using travel data to investigate potential Child Benefit overpayments suggested it could secure significant savings for the taxpayer.

>However, missteps in implementing the first rollout meant HMRC did not strike the right balance between detecting fraud and error and managing the impacts on Child Benefit claimants. While HMRC should not be discouraged from pursuing innovative ways to reduce fraud and error, it must learn and apply the lessons for future initiatives.”

The NAO recommended that HMRC clarify its risk appetite for future decisions, improve performance data so it can monitor claimant experience alongside compliance outcomes, and share lessons across government fraud and error teams.

The Press Release and HMRC’s use of travel data to tackle fraud and error in Child Benefit payments report are on nao.org.uk.

 

Independent evaluations of several DWP employment support programmes – minimal evidence of efficacy

This week saw the publication of three different evaluation reports, looking at the effectiveness of employment support programmes:

1. Additional work coach support (AWCS),
2. Intensive personalised employment support (IPES), and
3. Individual placement and support in primary care (IPSPC).
4. AWCS gives UC health journey and ESA customers additional appointment time with a work coach. It gives work coaches more time to understand health related barriers to work, provide relevant signposting to address barriers, and ultimately move customers towards or into work.

There was ‘no significant evidence’ to suggest that AWCS had an impact on employment outcomes - around a fifth (18%) of AWCS and non AWCS customers were in paid work at the time of the follow-up survey – or whether AWCS customers felt ‘ready for work’. Similarly, there was little evidence of wellbeing improvements or an impact on the type of benefit(s) claimed.

2. The IPES programme was delivered from December 2019, with a final intake onto the programme in December 2023. It offered targeted support for people with complex support needs related to health conditions and disabilities, with the aim of helping them to move closer to the labour market (work).

The programme had a positive impact on individuals’ confidence and motivation regarding health-related employment challenges. 15% of participants were in paid work after completing the programme. Of those, 47 out of 59 cases felt their confidence had improved, they felt physically safe (46 out of 59 cases) and they felt sufficiently comfortable to express any concerns (44 out of 59 cases). 

For participants who were not in work after leaving or completing the IPES programme, almost 1 in 3 (30%) had taken up volunteering work. Around 1 in 5 (21%) had either gained or were planning to gain a qualification or certificate that would improve their job prospects.

IPES implementation and delivery highlighted how the way in which support is delivered can have a direct impact on participant experiences and outcomes – personalised/tailored support was crucial in delivering positive outcomes.

3. The IPSPC programme is a supported employment initiative that helps adults with mild to moderate physical or mental health conditions to find and maintain competitive employment. Participants are referred from primary care and they include people who are out of work and at risk of losing work their job.

The evaluation found evidence that the IPSPC programme led to positive outcomes for programme participants, including increases in employment and high levels of satisfaction overall. Participants reported particularly high satisfaction with the interpersonal aspects of the programme, including the support provided by Employment Specialists. Despite this there was no tangible difference in increased employment compared to participants who disengaged from the programme, meaning changes cannot necessarily be attributed solely to IPSPC participation. 

All reports are on gov.uk.

Evaluation of Additional Work Coach Support

Intensive Personalised Employment Support (IPES) Programme Evaluation

Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPSPC) Evaluation report

 

Government rolls out Support Conversations across 27 more Jobcentres 

More disabled people and those with health conditions on out of work benefits are being offered a one-to-one, voluntary, hour-long conversation to discuss their support needs and identify extra help.

Unlike standard Jobcentre appointments, Support Conversations take a holistic approach, covering not just employment, but housing, debt, skills, and drug and alcohol rehabilitation services. Support Conversations are delivered by Healthcare Professionals, Pathways to Work Advisers, and Disability Employment Advisers, and are available face to face, by video, or by telephone.

This support is personalised and could link people to help with their health, debt, skills, employment and housing.

Support Conversations are open to those who are awaiting a Work Capability Assessment and people furthest away from the labour market - assessed as having Limited Capability for Work and Work-Related Activity (LCWRA). 

The government will continue to test the success of Support Conversations through healthcare professionals and disability employment advisors as part of this expansion, with Pathways to Work Advisers also carrying out these Support Conversations for the first time. 27 sites have been confirmed so far, with a further six sites to be confirmed shortly.

The Press Release is on gov.uk.

 

OBR’s 2026 Welfare trends report explores recent trends in welfare fraud and error

New analysis from the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) shows that welfare benefit fraud and error rates rose sharply from 3.1 per cent of spending in 2019-20 to 4.3 per cent of spending during the Covid years of 2020-21 and 2021-22 - a period which also coincided with the rollout of universal credit (UC).

The OBRs ‘Welfare trends report’ investigates the drivers of these trends, with a particular focus on the pandemic and the move to UC, and they consider how the analysis should be reflected in the fraud and error forecasts.

The initial rise in UC fraud and error in 2020-21 and the subsequent decline were primarily concentrated among the cohort of claimants joining UC in the first year of the pandemic. This was likely due to operational easements introduced by the DWP at the start of the pandemic, which aimed to reduce restrictions and speed processes at a time of acute need. This included relaxing ID and verification checks normally in place to process a benefit claim, and the suspension of the minimum income floor and gainfully self-employed checks for self-employed claimants. The nature of the Covid shock to the economy also led to a significant rise in self-employed cases on UC, which have substantially higher rates of fraud and error than the rest of the caseload.

Rates have now fallen back to pre-pandemic levels, very likely to be largely driven by the removal of these measures in the following years along with additional DWP activity to combat fraud. While uncertain, the OBR expects this downward trend to continue in the coming years. The report confirms:

>“Based on the findings in this report, we plan to change our forecast methodology for fraud and error at the next forecast. Previously we assumed that the underlying propensity for fraud and error in UC would rise in each year of the forecast. This was based on increased fraud and error rates and some evidence that fraud has risen more widely across society in recent years. However, as the analysis in this report suggests that the rise was concentrated 5 Welfare trends report Executive summary in the Covid cohort, and that fraud and error rates have now returned close to pre pandemic levels, we will now remove this rising underlying propensity assumption.”

In relation to the move to UC, ahead of the transition to UC, OBR modelling suggested that its design would reduce fraud and error relative to the legacy system. However, it appears that – disregarding the Covid blip – fraud and error within UC is higher than in the legacy benefit system. Why?

It’s hard to be definitive but the OBR says the design features in UC appear to have increased the prevalence of capital, housing, and self-employed income-related fraud and error.

The Welfare trends report – June 2026 (which is a fascinating read) is on obr.uk.

 

Committee backs Connect to Work, warns patchy rollout could undermine scheme

The Work and Pensions Committee has welcomed the Government’s Connect to Work programme as a “positive evolution” in helping disabled people and those with health conditions into employment but warned that inconsistent delivery across the country could limit its success.

In a new report, the cross-party group of MPs praised the decision to deliver the programme through local authorities rather than through a centrally run model, describing the approach as a strength that allows support to reflect local labour markets, skills needs and services.

Connect to Work was designed to support people facing the most significant barriers to employment, with the Government forecasting that it will help 300,000 people into work over the life of the scheme.

However, the Committee said variations in support from the DWP and differences in local delivery risk creating inconsistent experiences for both participants and providers.

The report said witnesses described widely differing levels of engagement from the DWP, ranging from positive support to experiences that created “uncertainty and administrative burden”, resulting in delays to implementation.

The Committee concluded that the DWP should have taken a more proactive approach to managing a programme of this scale and called on the Government to explain how it intends to address inconsistencies in delivery.

Debbie Abrahams, chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, said:

>“We need to recognise that 1 in 4 people are disabled or have a health condition that can affect them at work. Disability is not a niche issue.

>Connect to Work has the potential to be a gamechanger helping people often seen as too far from the labour market into safe and sustainable work. Its local delivery is a strength, allowing support to reflect the needs of local businesses, skills, and services often overlooked when run centrally. Its voluntary nature is a trust-builder.

>But we cannot allow trust to be undermined. Without consistent delivery Connect to Work’s strength could become a weakness leading to patchy post code lottery. The level of support to local authorities across the country will make or break programme.”

The Committee also welcomed the programme’s multi-year funding arrangements, saying they provide greater confidence and support longer-term planning. However, it raised concerns that current funding commitments do not extend across the full lifespan of the scheme. The Government has said further funding decisions will be taken during the 2029 spending review, citing uncertainty about future conditions.

The report argues that a programme of this scale requires greater long-term funding certainty to maintain confidence among providers and support staff retention.

Abrahams added:

>“The government has set out its ambition, but the money has not yet been committed to fulfill it. We disagree with the Government’s view that the funds should not be committed this early.

>Our own research suggests that every £1 investment in supporting people into work will bear even more in improved lives and consequent health and benefit savings down the line.

>Connect to Work will only be as good as the support it gets and the people who deliver it. But we’ve heard that without long-term funding certainty for businesses and service providers’ to offer assistance to people they will be reluctant to put their necks on the line. A decision on funding for the entirety of it will provide reassurances and improve trust and resilience in the programme.”

The report is the second of three planned publications arising from the Committee’s inquiry into employment support for disabled people. The first, Disability at Work, called for a two-week deadline for employers to respond to reasonable adjustment requests, while a third report examining the Access to Work scheme is expected at a later date.

The Press Release and Report are on parliament.uk.

 

Indefinite disregard for Sayce Review carer’s allowance arrears

New legislation has been laid which amends the capital disregard rules for means-tested benefits to ensure that lump sum payments made by the DWP following a recalculation of Carer's Allowance are excluded from capital assessments.

The rules apply to individuals receiving State Pension Credit, Housing Benefit, or Universal Credit who receive such payments as a result of the Independent (Sayce) Review of Carer's Allowance Overpayments.

By directing that these sums be disregarded as capital, these specific payments will not affect a claimant’s eligibility for or the amount of their means-tested benefits.

The Regulations come into force on 16th July 2026.

The Universal Credit, Housing Benefit and State Pension Credit (Carer’s Allowance Reassessment Capital Disregard) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 are on legislation.gov.uk.

Due to the RED weather warning and to ensure the safety of claimants, Jobcentres will be closed on Wednesday 24 June and Thursday 25 June.
 
Posters will be displayed at Jobcentres advising the following information:
- If you had an appointment scheduled, please check your online account.
- You will receive a telephone call at your original appointment time.
- In some cases, your appointment may have been rescheduled to a different day.
 
If you have an urgent enquiry, please contact 0800 328 5644.

If you’re in an amber or yellow area, attend your appointments as usual.

DWP urged to publish transition plan for new Jobs & Careers Service

The Chair of the Work & Pensions Select Committee has written to DWP Minister Dame Diana Johnson expressing her deep concern by the lack of detailed information about the transition to the new Jobs & Careers Service (JCS).

The JCS is due to commence on 1^(st) October, replacing the current National Careers Service, however with less than four months to go until launch day the Committee has not seen the transition plan, despite the DWP previously confirming that:

>“a detailed transition plan will be published within the next six months, setting out how NCS and Jobcentre Plus will be brought together to deliver a unified service.”

The six-month deadline passed in mid-May.

In her letter, Abrahams said:

>“I am not aware of DWP having published the transition plan, beyond confirming that the NCS contracts will not be renewed and the careers service will be brought in-house. These plans should include:

• details of any change to how service users engage;
• the delivery model for careers advice within the new service;
• details on workforce integration, including management arrangements;
• arrangements for IT transition and data migrations;
• the new performance framework for careers advice;
• training and induction plans for migrating staff; and
• details of DWP’s risk management arrangements.

>I urge you to publish these plans as soon as possible. This is an especially fraught time for NCS contractors for whom the new service represents an entirely new business model and new contract arrangements.

>Please provide the Committee with the date the transition plan will be published and further detail on how you are communicating the plans to contractors.”

Abrahams also called on DWP to confirm their plans for training and developing careers advisers within the new service, including whether they’ll support training up to a level 6 qualification.

Debbie Abrahams’ letter is on parliament.uk.

 

Universal Credit and temporary absences abroad
The Citizens Advice Expert Advice Team has published a new article providing advice on entitlement to Universal Credit when traveling abroad.

The article goes into detail about the rules and deals with recent guidance and case law on this issue, and it’s available for the general public. 19 June, 2026

You can The article is on their Adviser Online resources page on medium.com.

Latest PIP statistics show 28% decisions are changed on mandatory reconsideration

Let’s break down the stats…

Claim decisions

Award rates (excluding withdrawn cases) over the period May 2021 to April 2026 (last 5 years) show that:

• 43% receive an award for normal rules new claims
• 72% receive an award for normal rules DLA reassessment claims
• 99% of Special Rules End of Life (SREL) claimants are awarded PIP

For normal rules new claims in the quarter ending April 2026:

• 58% of claims awarded were short term (0 to 2 years)
• 34% were longer term (over 2 years)
• 7% were ongoing

For normal rules DLA reassessment claims, patterns in award types reflect the fact that overall numbers of DLA reassessment clearance are low at this time and reassessment activity is not taking place for all types of claim. In the quarter ending April 2026:

• 23% of claims awarded were short term (0 to 2 years)
• 65% were longer term (over 2 years)
• 12% were ongoing

37% of all claims with entitlement to PIP as at 30 April 2026 receive the highest level of award, with both daily living and mobility components received at the enhanced rate, the same proportion as January 2025.

The level of award varies depending on the primary disabling condition – April 2026.

Disability category	Daily Living & Mobility enhanced rate	Daily Living enhanced rate	Mobility enhanced rate
Psychiatric disorder	42%	70%	47%
Musculoskeletal disease (general)	26%	34%	46%
Neurological disease	50%	58%	72%
Musculoskeletal disease (regional)	21%	27%	46%
Respiratory disease	31%	37%	57%
Other	41%	50%	58%

 

In terms of how long claims are taking, for PIP normal rules are currently (April 2026) 18 weeks “end to end” (from registration to a decision being made) and 13 weeks from the Assessment Provider (AP) referral to the decision. DLA normal rules are 22 weeks “end to end” and 15 weeks from the AP referral to the decision. Clearance times for SREL claims are 4 working days from registration to decision for new claims.

Reviews (reassessment of existing claims)

• 78% (1.8m of the 2.3m) planned award reviews resulted in an increase or no change to the level of award received by the claimant
• 88% (570,000 changes of circumstances resulted in an increase or no change to the level of award received by the claimant

Review outcomes from May 2021 to April 2026 (last five years)

	Planned Award Review	Change of Circumstance
Award Increased	15%	44%
Award Maintained	64%	44%
Award Decreased	6%	3%
Award Disallowed	16%	6%
Withdrawn or voluntarily relinquished	n/a	2%

 

Mandatory reconsiderations

By the end of April 2026, 3.0 million MRs had been registered against normal rules claims since PIP began, and almost all of these (99%) had been cleared. Of all MR registrations:

• 2.2 million (73%) related to new claims
• 830,000 (27%) related to reassessed DLA claims
• 220,000 (7%) were withdrawn or cancelled

Over the last 5 years (May 2021 to April 2026), 28% of the 1.4 million MRs cleared (excluding withdrawn) have led to a change in award. However, rates fluctuate over time and in the quarter ending April 2026 the rate was 26% of MRs resulted in a change to the award.

In April 2026, the median MR clearance time was 43 and 44 calendar days for new claims and DLA reassessments, a decrease of 36 and 35 days respectively in relation to the last quarter. Note: MR clearance times refer to the median time taken to process an MR from the time it is registered by the claimant to a decision being made.

PIP statistics to April 2026 are on gov.uk.

Prove it again: The cost of unnecessary PIP reassessments

A new report by anti-poverty charity Z2K has found that hundreds of thousands of disabled people are put through unnecessary PIP reassessments, despite their conditions being lifelong or progressive and unlikely to improve.

Z2K highlight that in 2025, 74% of planned award reviews resulted in no change to entitlement. Among the conditions examined, 62% of claimants with cerebral palsy, 73% with learning disabilities, 86% of people who had an amputation, 61% with Parkinson’s disease and 89% with multiple sclerosis were given fixed-term rather than ongoing awards – meaning they are required to undergo regular reassessments.

They say that the current reassessment system is not only distressing for disabled people, but also poor value for money. PIP assessment contracts cost the DWP over £350 million/year, despite evidence of poor quality, while recent reductions in reassessment frequency are projected to save £110 million/year.

The report sets out a package of reforms for the government’s Timms Review, including ongoing award for people with lifelong or progressive primary conditions, a simpler review process focused on changes to disabled people’s circumstances, and broader reforms like the introduction of an alternative eligibility route based on clinical evidence.

Roxie, a disabled person and campaigner with Z2K said:

>“[Undergoing an award review] made me feel like I was in a court of law, like I was being charged with crimes against being a disabled person or impersonating a disabled person. […] It leaves me feeling like less of a person. Another reminder of everything I can’t do. Instead of being allowed dignity to live my life as I know how, I’m put through an ordeal.”

Samuel Thomas, Senior Policy Advisor at Z2K, said:

>“Disabled people should not have to keep proving the same thing over and over again when their condition is not going to improve. Routine PIP reassessments are causing needless anxiety, hardship and bureaucracy, with little evidence that they are saving money. The Timms Review steering group members have a clear opportunity to combat waste, while giving disabled people a more efficient and fairer benefits system. It’s time for a new approach.”

The latest (2026) PIP data on reviews detailed in the previous news item, add even more weight to Z2K’s suggestions.

Prove it again is on Z2K.org.uk.

 

Private Members Bill introduced seeking to make substantial changes to PIP

Conservative Peer, Baroness Maclean of Redditch has presented a Private Members' Bill (PMB) to reform the assessment process for health-related and disability benefits in England and Wales, including the minimum age at which applicants can be assessed and the nature of assessment appointments; and for connected purposes.

A PMB is a proposed piece of legislation introduced in Parliament by an individual Member of Parliament (MP) or in this case, a member of the House of Lords who is not a government minister. Few become law.

The Bill proposes that –

• An assessment of whether a person has limited or severely limited ability to carry out daily living or mobility activities for PIP purposes is to be determined on the basis of an assessment “which is carried out in person”.
• Where it has been determined that a person has limited ability to carry out daily living or mobility activities as a result of a primary condition of anxiety, depression or ADHD, the DWP “must determine afresh whether the condition has deteriorated to a point at which they are now eligible for enhanced rate of PIP or whether they are eligible for a different condition that was not recorded as a main condition within one year of the passing of the Health and Disability Reform Act 2026.
• Where it has been determined that the person is not eligible for 'enhanced PIP' and is not eligible for PIP by virtue of a different condition, the DWP must determine that the claimant is no longer eligible to receive PIP within six months of the passing of the Health and Disability Reform Act 2026.
• No person when they are assessed for the receipt of any health or disability related benefit (PIP, ESA, or the UC health element) may qualify for that benefit unless they are a British citizen, unless the DWP provides otherwise.
• Any non-British citizen who is in receipt of health or disability related benefits on the day on which this Act is passed must be re-assessed.
• The DWP may by regulations specify circumstances in which a non-British citizen may receive, or continue to receive, health and disability related benefits.
• The universal credit calculation to take into account the fact that a claimant has limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA), should only apply where they are aged 22 or over.

This stage is a formality that signals the start of the bill's journey through the House of Lords. I’ll say it again - few PMBs become law.

The Second reading - the general debate on all aspects of the bill - is yet to be scheduled.

The Health and Disability Benefits Reform Bill is on parliament.uk.

 

Almost 180 new Youth Hub locations confirmed and government joins forces with LinkedIn to ‘bolster careers advice’

Youth Hubs are a key part of the £2.5 billion investment in the Youth Guarantee and this week nearly 180 new Youth Hubs were confirmed, including Inverclyde, St Albans and Cardiff. 

Over the next three years, the Government is expanding its network of Youth Hubs to over 360 local areas across Great Britain. This will connect every 16-to-24-year-old across the country and provide them real opportunities in their local area, ensuring each person has access to ‘high-quality, wide-ranging support to move towards learning or earning’.

Confirmation of the next wave of Youth Hubs came shortly after Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden visited a youth point – the Dutch equivalent of Youth Hubs – during a fact-finding trip to the Netherlands, which has one of the world’s lowest NEET rates.

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said:

>“We want to make sure young people are getting real, personalised support, that’s not one size fits all. I’ve seen how it can change lives.

>Our Youth Hubs have over the past two years pioneered this approach - bringing job centre services together with mental health support, housing advice and more.

>I want to turbocharge this rollout so that every young person has this support within reach that can help them move into learning or earning.”

In linked news, the government has partnered with LinkedIn, who will share anonymised data on jobs, skills, hiring and workforce movement with Skills England from LinkedIn’s network of 40 million UK accounts, giving the government a new way of viewing the labour market. 

The partnership with LinkedIn recognises the days of a job for life are increasingly rare, with the average worker having seven jobs in their lifetime, and younger people more likely to change roles.

The DWP and Skills England believe the data will provide an improved understanding of where there is a skills mismatch between local job adverts and the skills of the local population, which will ‘inform new skills options and drive economic growth’. 

DWP says that young people in particular will benefit from this partnership as the government will gain a more detailed insight of the local workforce and how it is evolving.  

Phil Smith, Chair of Skills England, said:  

>“I’m really excited about this partnership. LinkedIn has become such a hub for businesses that are recruiting and people on the look-out for jobs.  

>The resulting insights from their anonymised data will be incredibly valuable to Skills England and the new Jobs and Careers Service - particularly when it comes to identifying local skills gaps and helping young people to fill them.  

>We’re looking forward to joining forces to make a major difference.”

You can read the Youth Hub press release and see the locations on gov.uk.

 

Missing out on millions: The council tax reduction pensioners in England are missing out on and why change is needed

Independent Age has undertaken detailed research. They wanted to know if CTR is reaching older people on a low income, what impact improved access to CTR have, what works to improve CTR take-up, and what wider reforms are needed to improve CTR take-up. we explored this by:

• gathering insights into older people's knowledge and experiences of CTR through a survey sent to our campaigns network
• commissioning research from Policy in Practice who reviewed the currently available data to estimate CTR take-up rates at a national, regional and local authority level
• commissioning research from Public First who modelled the impact that improving CTR take-up to 100% could have on lifting older people out of poverty
• conducting semi structured interviews with professionals with experience in welfare and social security at six local authorities across England. We did this to understand the work they do to improve take-up of CTR and wider benefits, and barriers they have experienced while doing this work.

Independent Age established that in England there are 1.37 million older people missing out on Council Tax Reduction despite being eligible.

This is only 50% of those eligible receiving what they are entitled to. And when we looked at take-up rates for the different routes there was a clear difference – 2 in 3 (64%) of those eligible via Pension Credit were receiving the benefit, compared to under 1 in 3 (28%) via the standard route.

Highlighted that increasing CTR take-up to 100% among those over State Pension age would reduce the number of older households in relative poverty by 74,000 (4.6% of pensioner households in relative poverty), Independent Age is calling on the government to change the current status quo, including:

• continue to embed CTR into the wider social security system
• develop an all-entitlements take-up strategy for the UK, and take action to increase awareness and take-up of CTR
• work with local authorities to review data-sharing agreements and make reforms to allow for greater automation and data sharing.

Missing out on millions is on independentage.org.

Scotland – Child Poverty target review

The Scottish Government – whilst providing their annual progress report on their ‘Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan - has announced a review of the targets used to measure the impact of its actions on child poverty.

Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville confirmed the review, citing that current income-based targets fail to capture the broader impacts of anti-poverty policies like public service delivery and cost reductions.

The Scottish Government will begin the review this summer in consultation with children and families, charities and public bodies.

Ms Somerville said:  

>“Our defining mission is to eradicate child poverty and we are unwavering in that commitment. The review will help to make sure the targets set in our legislation are accounting for all efforts across government in ending child poverty.”

>However, Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) say that "Struggling families need a stronger child poverty plan not a review of targets".

John Dickie, Director of the CPAG in Scotland, said:

>"Very real progress has been made on child poverty in Scotland recently, but the Cabinet Secretary's focus today on reviewing targets rather than strengthening her child poverty plan is hugely concerning.  Struggling families need a stronger plan, not a review of targets. 

>It is vital that Ministers come forward with a revised child poverty plan. The current plan rightly focusses on boosting income from employment and social security and cutting the costs families face, but the scale and detail of action falls far short of what's needed. A revised plan must demonstrably set out how further year-on-year progress will be made. For the one in five of Scotland's children still locked in poverty there is no time to lose."

Mr. Dickie continued;

>"Plans to increase the Scottish child payment for babies under one are a positive step but they won't kick in for over a year and will still leave the vast majority of children without any additional financial support. The promise of more breakfast clubs, after school and holiday activities and further childcare expansion will all be welcomed by families, but don't yet add up to the scale of intervention needed to make serious further progress."

The Progress Report and press release are on gov.scot.

 

Northern Ireland – Monitoring ‘Right to Try’ before bringing it to NI

The Department for Communities has confirmed it will monitor the DWP’s implementation of Right to Try regulations in Great Britain before bringing forward equivalent legislation for

Speaking in the NI Assembly this week Minister for Communities, Gordon Lyons confirmed that:

>“After considering the risks identified by the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC), I have decided to monitor DWP's implementation of the scheme before bringing forward equivalent legislation for Northern Ireland. That does not result in any material change to the delivery of benefits to people with disabilities in Northern Ireland and preserves the flexibility to legislate later if DWP implementation proves effective and the response to the scheme is positive.”

The SSAC scrutiny highlighted that although work itself would not trigger a reassessment, work activities could still be interpreted as evidence of improved functional capability, which could impact on future work capability assessments or PIP decisions. They also raised concerns that claimants returning to UC may face stricter conditionality requirements and be exposed to a greater threat of sanctions.

Lyons said:

>“We need to ensure that we have in place the support that allows people to break free from the benefits system. We know how difficult that can be, as one of the barriers is that people are concerned about the loss of support. That is why the disability and work strategy is in place. That work has to intersect with the welfare system to make sure that it serves people's needs and does not keep them bound to benefits. The transformation project that was announced recently will be so important in helping us to tackle economic inactivity, because it brings together the different sections — including Health, importantly — to make sure that there is integrated support that makes a difference to people here.”

The Official Report is on niassembly.gov.

 

Case law – with thanks to u/ClareTGold

 

PIP and caring - LG v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 2026

The claimant had arthritis and breathlessness. He was claiming Carers Allowance (CA) as her was providing over 35 hours of care a week for his wife. This care was primarily limited to emotional and mental health support, rather than physical care. The claimant was also able to drive an automatic car.

The Upper Tribunal determined that the FtT erred in law in its decision by failing to provide an adequate explanation for why the claimant’s receipt of Carer’s Allowance for caring for his wife and his ability to drive an automatic car were inconsistent with him being awarded PIP. UT Judge Wright described it as “a perverse finding on a material matter”.

The UT said:

>“If, as the FTT accepted… the appellant’s caring for his wife was primarily limited to emotional and mental health support over 35 hours per week, rather than physical care, it was not made clear by the FTT why the appellant’s claimed needs were inconsistent with him providing the care he did to his wife. Nor, at least without more by way of rational explanation, is an ability to drive an automatic car with power steering necessarily inconsistent with an ability to grip cutlery so as to cut up food.”

Decision set-aside and remitted for a new FtT hearing.

We have been made aware of potential payment issues affecting some DWP claimants, resulting in duplicate payments showing in their bank accounts.

These payments have not been issued by DWP and are therefore not visible on DWP payment systems.

This appears to be a banking issue, not related to DWP.

DWP (including Jobcentre Plus) arrangements for 25 May bank holiday  

The DWP (including Jobcentre Plus) arrangements are different for 25^(th) May bank holiday:  

• On Monday 25 May offices and phone lines are closed

 

To make sure people get their payment on a day when their offices are open, arrangements have been made to make some payments early. 

If the expected payment date is Monday 25 May, then benefits will be on Friday 22 May. 

If the expected payment date is not shown, claimants will get their money on their usual payment date. 

 

 

New compensation scheme for people who moved to UC and were worse off due to an incorrect decision to end old 'legacy' benefit

In 2020, a Court of Appeal decision concluded that people who had an incorrect decision to end their legacy benefits later reversed, for example on appeal, could not be reinstated onto their legacy benefit if they had already claimed UC. However, where these same people had a lower level of benefit entitlement on UC, the court recognised that they had suffered a financial loss.  

A new scheme aims to compensate those who are part of this group and meet the eligibility requirements.

The scheme provides a lump sum payment similar to what a court might have given the individual for their loss. The lump sum is worked out by taking the biggest monthly loss and multiplying it by 12.

You may be eligible for compensation if all the following apply: 

• you have proof that you were receiving one or more means-tested legacy benefits, including Housing Benefit, tax credits (Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit), income-related Employment and Support Allowance, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, or Income Support 
• a decision was made to end one of your legacy benefits, ending your entitlement 
• because of that decision, you successfully claimed Universal Credit within one month of your legacy benefit ending 
• the amount of Universal Credit you were entitled to was less than what you received from your legacy benefit before the move 
• you challenged the decision that stopped your benefit, and won, meaning you should have continued receiving your legacy benefit rather than claiming Universal Credit when you did

Only people who meet all these conditions are eligible under the scheme.

You can apply by phone or by post.

For more information visit gov.uk.

 

 

Over 1,100 people still going through the ‘Move to UC’ process and 360,030 never made a UC claim

The latest Managed Migration caseload figures have been published by the DWP, providing the move to UC picture up to the end pf March.

The DWP planned to move all legacy benefit claimants to UC by March 2026, completing the UC rollout and closing all legacy benefits by this date. However, this was an accelerated timeframe, and it has been controversial. With DWP figures showing that of the 800,000 claimants, just over 22,600 failed to act upon their managed migration notices and as a result saw their legacy benefit income end.

The latest statistics show that between July 2022 and the end of March 2026:

• 2,353,319 individuals (in 1,822,374 households) have been sent migration notices.
• A total of 1,992,161 of these individuals (living in 1,580,239 households) who were sent migration notices have made a claim to UC.
• Of those who have claimed UC, 814,703 households (53%) were awarded transitional protection.
• A total of 1,131 individuals who were sent migration notices are still going through the Move to UC process.
• A total of 360,030 individuals who were sent migration notices did not claim UC and have had their legacy benefit claims closed.
• Amongst households sent a migration notice 87% had made a claim to Universal Credit and 13% had not made a claim and their legacy benefit was ended.

Completing the move to UC statistics to end March 2026 is on gov.uk.

 

 

Turn2us needs your help

As part of their ‘Stop the stigma. Fix the system.’ Campaign, Turn2us are calling for Jobcentres to lead with trust, not suspicion. This means giving people time and support to prepare for work, instead of tick-box exercises and threatening sanctions that just don’t work.

Next month, they are holding an event in parliament where MPs will have the opportunity to get a glimpse of what it’s like for millions of people who use the Jobcentre. Actors will take MPs through a positive and negative Jobcentre experience, to help them understand why it’s so important for work coaches to understand people’s ambitions and challenges, build relationships and provide personalised support.

The idea came about thanks to their fantastic Campaign Group, which brings together Turn2us staff and Co-Production Partners. And they are excited to bring it to life. But they need your help to get MPs there to try the experience and learn how they can be part of the change.

They are asking everyone to… grab a cuppa and take 5 minutes to invite your MP today. It’s super quick and easy.

Victoria, Campaigns Manager at Turn2us said:

>“Our social security system is the glue that holds our society together. It’s a promise that if life takes an unexpected turn, we won’t be left to struggle through hard times alone. Thank you for joining us to show MPs the pivotal role Jobcentres can play in that system.”

You can invite your MP on turn2us.org.

 

 

DWP confirms longer six-year award review periods

During a Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) meeting the DWP confirmed that some people could face reviews only every four or six years under updated award guidance.

The minutes of the March meeting were published this week and discuss new regulations that enable DWP to extend the length of an existing fixed term award of PIP, where that is considered necessary to “safeguard the efficient administration of PIP”. The power is confined to extending PIP awards. It does not allow for awards to be shortened or terminated, nor for entitlement levels to be changed.

The DWP modelled different review patterns and concluded that a first review after three years and subsequent reviews after five years (operationalised as four‑ and six‑year awards) struck an appropriate balance between administrative efficiency and maintaining accurate entitlement. 

These longer review intervals are intended as minimum periods rather than rigid standards, with Healthcare Professionals (HCPs) and Decision Makers retaining discretion to recommend shorter or longer awards, where justified, including ten‑year “light touch” arrangements for those with the most severe or stable conditions.

The DWP did confirm if an HCP recommended a review period shorter than the new minimum for a given category of case, their guidance and IT systems will require case managers to apply at least the minimum standard period unless a specific, documented exception applied. 

The SSAC expressed concerns about claimants who do not ask for a reassessment when their condition deteriorates and who “may be some of the most vulnerable”. Under the new system they may miss out on an increased award for even longer.  The DWP’s said they would “strengthen communications” but also admitted that “some savings will arise from cases where claimants with worsening conditions do not receive an earlier tailored assessment.”

Notably, the policy will not apply to claimants under 25 and the SSAC queried the rationale for this, asking:

>“What is the basis for linking age to likely patterns of condition and assessment method, and does the emphasis on 16–24-year-olds reflect a shift towards aligning PIP more closely with employment outcomes, notwithstanding that PIP is not itself an employment-related benefit?”

DWP said there were two reasons for this:

>“First, internal data indicates that with the younger age group there is a greater likelihood of improvement in health and functional ability over time. If reviews for this group are further apart, some individuals could remain on benefit longer than necessary. Secondly, more frequent engagement with 16–24-year-olds provides opportunities to identify and offer appropriate employment support at an earlier stage, in light of rising economic inactivity due to health reasons among young people.” 

The Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance (Decisions and Appeals) (Amendment) Regulations 2026 will come into force on 2 June 2026. 

The minutes of the SSAC meeting of 4 March are on gov.uk.

 

 

Reminder to share your views to improve PIP

There is still time for disabled people and those with long-term health conditions to share their views on how Personal Independence Payment (PIP) should be reformed.  

Anyone can respond to the Timms Review and those with lived or learned experience of PIP, including disabled people, the organisations that represent them, carers, clinicians, experts, MPs, and other elected officials across the UK, are particularly encouraged to do so. 

The Timms Review of Personal Independence Payment: call for evidence is open until 28 May.  

 

 

Overpayments due to fraud stand at 2.2%, claimant error 0.6%, official error 0.4%

The DWP has released the latest statistics revealing that billions of pounds were incorrectly distributed across the benefits system last year. The latest Fraud and Error in the Benefit System report estimates 3.2% of benefit expenditure was overpaid in the financial year ending 2026 (down from 3.3% in 2025), equivalent to £9.9 billion.

The DWP confirmed that overpayments arise due to fraud, claimant error and official error: The net loss from overpayments, following recoveries, stood at £8.6bn. The DWP confirmed that £0.6bn of Universal Credit (UC), £0.2bn of other DWP benefits and £0.4bn of Housing Benefit was recovered throughout the year.

A further 0.4% was underpaid, worth £1.2bn. The DWP stated that underpayments featured in the report occur because of official error, including mistakes or delays by the department, a local authority or HMRC.

The report is founded upon a sample of benefit claims scrutinised for accuracy by a specialist team. The claims were sampled between September 2024 and October 2025.

The DWP provides benefits to approximately 24.3 million people and total benefit expenditure reached £308.6bn in the financial year ending 2026, up from £286.6bn the previous year.

The data reveals problems across various benefits. UC remains the largest source of overpayments in monetary terms, Pension Credit carries the highest overpayment rate relative to expenditure, while PIP recorded a statistically significant increase in overpayments.

The State Pension continues to register the lowest overpayment rate, yet underpayments remain considerable owing to the scale of spending and persistent National Insurance record complications.

UC overpayments have now dropped to the lowest level since the pandemic, at 8.5%. This is below both pre-pandemic levels and the OBR forecast of 9.1% for this year. It is also a significant drop of 42% from the record level of 14.7% in FYE 2022. Despite this UC remained the biggest contributor to overpayments in cash terms. The DWP estimated 8.5 per cent of UC spending was overpaid in the financial year ending 2026, worth £6.72bn.

UC spending rose from £65.3bn to £79.2bn, due in no small part to the managed migration of legacy benefits, meaning monetary figures cannot be directly compared across the two years.

The report revealed that 24 in every 100 UC claims were either overpaid or underpaid, while 21 in every 100 were overpaid. Fraud represented £5.42bn of UC overpayments, with claimant error accounting for £690m and official error totalling £610m.

The principal drivers of UC fraud overpayments were earnings and employment, living together rules and capital, which collectively represented more than £6 in every £10 overpaid owing to fraud.

The report stated that earnings and employment fraud, including under declaration of income from work, dropped from 2.2 per cent to 1.5 per cent.

UC underpayments were estimated at 0.4 per cent, totalling £350m.

Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year ending (FYE) 2026 estimates is on gov.uk. A Written Statement from Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Andrew Western is on parliament.uk.

 

 

Estimated £3.7 billion benefits unfulfilled

The DWP published their ‘Unfulfilled Eligibility’ statistics this week.

Unfulfilled Eligibility measures how much a claimant could have been eligible for had they updated the DWP with their correct circumstances.

The total unfulfilled eligibility rate in the financial year March 2025 to April 2026 was 1.2% (£3.7bn) compared with 1.3% (£3.7bn) the previous year.

Here are the headlines:

• Universal Credit, the Unfulfilled Eligibility rate was measured at 1.6% (£1,290 million) - around 10 in every 100 claims, similar to the previous year
• Personal Independence Payment, the Unfulfilled Eligibility rate in FYE 2026 was 3.3% (£950 million) - around 10 in every 100 claims, similar to the previous year
• Disability Living Allowance Unfulfilled Eligibility rate was 8.5% (£710 million) – around 20 in every 100 claims, a decrease from 25 in 100 in 2024
• Pension Credit Unfulfilled Eligibility rate was 2.0% (£130 million) - 13 in 100 claims, an increase from 10 in 100 last year
• State Pension, the Unfulfilled Eligibility rate remained at 0.0% (£50 million)

Note: the Unfulfilled Eligibility estimates are based on information that was previously included in the ‘Fraud and error in the benefit system’ statistics as ‘Claimant Error underpayments’. They were removed and reclassified and are now published separately.

Unfulfilled eligibility in the benefit system: Financial Year Ending (FYE) 2026 is on gov.uk.

 

 

DWP updates guidance on what banks can check under new benefit fraud powers

The DWP has published new guidance explaining what banks and financial institutions may be asked to check under new benefit Eligibility Verification powers.

Under the Eligibility Verification Measure (EVM), banks may be required to examine accounts receiving certain DWP benefits and identify cases where accounts meet specific “eligibility indicators” linked to benefit rules.

The DWP said the checks are designed to help identify incorrect payments caused by fraud, claimant error or official error, while also preventing people from building up large overpayments that later need to be repaid.

According to the new Code of Practice on Eligibility Verification Notices (EVN), banks could be asked to flag accounts where savings exceed benefit thresholds. For UC, this could include accounts holding more than £16,000, which is the upper capital limit for the benefit.

The guidance also states the DWP may request information linked to signs a claimant has spent more time abroad than benefit rules normally allow. However, the DWP said there are strict legal limits on what banks can share.

The Code states financial institutions are prohibited from sharing transaction information, meaning the DWP cannot see what people are buying, where they shop or individual spending habits.

Banks are also banned from sharing “special category data”, including information relating to political opinions, religious beliefs, ethnicity or health information.

The guidance states:

>“DWP is prohibited by law from sharing personal data with financial institutions under this power, and from requesting transaction information and special category data.”

The document also makes clear the DWP cannot ask banks to search for named benefit claimants. The code also repeatedly stresses strict limits apply to the information banks can provide. Financial institutions are prohibited by law from sharing:

• transaction histories
• spending information
• financial statements
• special category data such as political opinions, religion or ethnicity

Instead, financial institutions would apply eligibility criteria across their own systems and only return limited information where accounts match the indicators set out in an EVN.

The information that may be shared with the DWP includes account details, names and dates of birth linked to accounts, and details showing how an account met the eligibility indicator. Examples could include confirmation that savings exceeded a certain amount or evidence an account had been consistently used outside the UK.

The DWP stressed information returned by banks does not automatically mean somebody has done anything wrong. The Code states:

>“No decisions about benefit entitlement will be made automatically on this information alone.”

DWP must instead review the information alongside other evidence already held on a claim before deciding whether further checks are needed.

The guidance also confirms there will be a “Test and Learn” rollout phase involving a small number of financial institutions before wider expansion. During this period, the DWP said it will assess how well the system works, how accurate the data is and whether safeguards are operating effectively before broader implementation.

The new system forms part of the Government’s wider measures on fraud and error in the benefit system and will initially apply to people claiming UC, Pension Credit and ESA.

The Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Act is estimated to deliver benefits of £2.1 billion by 2030/31.

The Code of Practice on Eligibility Verification Notices is on gov.uk.

 

 

Winter Fuel Payment reminder  

From winter 2025/26 the Winter Fuel Payment will be paid to all pensioners unless they have opted out of getting the payment. HMRC will recover the Winter Fuel Payment from pensioners with a total individual income above £35,000 by either automatically changing their tax code from April 2026 or including it in their Self-Assessment tax return.  

Those with total individual incomes, from private/ state pensions and any other sources, exceeding £35,000, can act now to opt out of future Winter Fuel Payments rather than have HMRC recover them through taxation.  

Pensioners in England, Wales and Northern Ireland can opt out of receiving future Winter Fuel Payments via an online form available on GOV.UK. A telephone option is available for those unable to use this online route. 

Pensioners can opt back in should their circumstances change in the future.  

HMRC have provided a calculator on GOV.UK to help pensioners work out if their total income will be over £35,000.  

 

 

Wales – More than 2,000 young people attended Wales’ first ever Youth Jobs Fair

Thousands of young people from across Wales were brought face to face with some of the region’s best-known employers in Cardiff this week in the biggest ever jobs fair of its kind.  

The event was Wales’ first ever jobs fair to be hosted as part of the Youth Guarantee hosted at the Principality Stadium, the event welcomed thousands of young jobseekers from across Cardiff, Newport, the Valleys and the Vale of Glamorgan. 

Over 40 employers and providers from across Wales attended the jobs fair. Defence, hospitality and construction were just some of the career pathways open to attendees at the event. 

Employers and training providers provided jobseekers with details of the hundreds of open vacancies and apprenticeships opportunities being recruited with more than 600 job offers already made.  

Pat McFadden, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, said: 

>“The Jobs Fair in Cardiff has shown what’s possible when government and employers work together.    

>Young jobseekers have been shown what the next step in their career journey could be – and in some cases will have left with a job offer.  

>I’m delighted so many local employers are choosing to back our Youth Guarantee, and we will keep going further so we can ensure every young person has the chance to earn or learn.”

Before the event, young jobseekers received specialised group information sessions to help them get the most out of meeting employers face-to-face. They also received hands-on advice covering everything from filling in applications to preparing for interviews – giving them the skills and confidence they need to take their first step into the world of work. 

The press release is on gov.uk.

 

Case law – with thanks to u/ClareTGold

 

Universal Credit (fit note) - RM v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2026]

This case concerns the duty under regulation 2 of the Social Security (Medical Evidence) Regulations 1976 to provide evidence of Limited Capability for Work (LCW) for Universal Credit (UC) i.e. to trigger a work capability assessment.

The default position is a fit note, but this case details the other ways in which a claimant can demonstrate having a LCW. It’s worth a read.

 

 

No cut to UC for under-22s until at least the Autumn

In November, DWP secretary Pat McFadden confirmed that the government had not yet decided whether to take forward its proposal that people under the age of 22 would no longer be eligible for the limited capability for work related activity (LCWRA) part of Universal Credit (UC). He told parliament that the department wouldn’t be making any firm decisions until after Alan Milburn publishes his review into young people and unemployment this “summer”.

The DWP commissioned Milburn to carry out an independent investigation to explore why young people are not in employment, education, or training (NEET).

Speaking to parliament on Tuesday 28 April, Timms responded to a question on the plans from Labour MP Ben Coleman.

He told parliament that:

>“There is an urgent need to address the big rise in the number of young people not in work, education or training that took place before the last general election. We think that better support might help young people more than extra cash. Alan Milburn’s review on the NEET problem more broadly will report in September; we will wait until then to decide whether to delay access to the universal credit health element until the age of 22. If we did do that, there would need to be exceptions.”

Read the debate on hansard.parliament.uk.

 

 

Thousands of healthcare professionals complete autism awareness training

As Autism Awareness Month draws to a close the DWP has announced that “thousands of healthcare professionals have completed Oliver McGowan training to better support autistic people and those with learning disabilities as they navigate the benefits system.”

The training is named after Oliver McGowan, a young man with autism and a learning disability who died in 2016 after being given antipsychotic medication against his and his family’s wishes. It was established following a campaign by his family to ensure that staff working with autistic people and those with learning disabilities have the knowledge and skills to support them safely.

The training tackles “diagnostic overshadowing” - where symptoms are wrongly attributed to a person’s disability rather than investigated properly - ensuring people receive the right support at the right time.

It also gives staff practical tools to make meaningful reasonable adjustments for people with learning disabilities and autism as they navigate the benefits system. These include:

• More time in assessments, reducing anxiety and allowing people to communicate clearly and confidently.
• Simpler, clearer communications from Jobcentres, making information accessible to people who may find complex language difficult to process.
• Sensory-aware Jobcentre environments, ensuring spaces feel safe and manageable for people who may find busy or loud environments overwhelming.

Minister for Social Security and Disability Sir Stephen Timms, said:

>“Oliver McGowan’s story is a powerful reminder of why services must understand the people they serve.

>This training is part of how we achieve that, equipping our staff to treat every autistic person and everyone with a learning disability as an individual, and to provide support that genuinely works for them.

>We’re determined to break down barriers for disabled people, and to put autistic people and those with learning disabilities at the very heart of our decisions and direction.

>I pay tribute to the hard and brave work of the McGowan family in Oliver’s memory.”

In total, 231 active internal DWP healthcare professionals have completed part of the training. 4,168 active external provider healthcare professionals have completed part of the training. “Active” is defined as having an active employment status, excluding those on long-term sickness, parental leave or similar absences.

The training is one part of wider support the DWP is investing into better support people with autism. Separately, an expert academic panel has examined the specific barriers neurodivergent people face in the workplace, with its recommendations under active consideration.

Jon Sparkes, OBE, Chief Executive of learning disability Mencap, said:

>“Increasing benefit assessors’ understanding of learning disability is an important step towards a more accessible and inclusive benefits system. The training they’ve received has the potential to make a real difference in helping them to communicate more clearly, recognise individual needs and make reasonable adjustments.

>People with a learning disability need to be properly understood and receive the level of support that’s right for them to navigate the benefits assessment process.

>This training is already making a difference in health and social care teams, and we hope it will now make another public service more accessible to people with a learning disability so that they can live their lives to the full.”

The press release is on gov.uk.

 

 

PIP Timms Review, have your say: PIP call for evidence ends this month

The Co-Chairs of the Timms Review shared an update this week in which they stressed that it is “essential that this Review is informed by a diversity of experiences, evidence, and perspectives” and it included a ‘call for evidence’, which is the first step in the Review’s wider programme of engagement.

Dr Clenton Farquharson CBE, co-chair of the Review, said:

>“PIP is not just a benefit. It is part of how many disabled people live with dignity, independence and choice. That is why this Review must be shaped by people who know the system from the inside.

>We need to hear what works, what does not, who is being missed, and what needs to change.

>This engagement programme matters because good evidence is not only about data. It is about real lives, real barriers and practical recommendations that can make the system fairer and fit for the future.”

The six-part evidence and engagement programme will use different ways to hear from people, including written evidence, local workshops, expert sessions, deliberative events, existing research and new survey work. The programme will comprise:

1. A Call for Evidence - the steering group’s thinking will be informed by the responses received. 
2. Existing data and research - the steering group will consider existing qualitative and quantitative research from the disability sector, experts, and government, so that its work is grounded in a broad base of evidence. 
3. New quantitative survey research - the steering group has commissioned a representative quantitative survey on topics for which the existing evidence base is limited or further insight is needed, working with the National Centre for Social Research. 
4. Workshop in a box - the steering group will create resources for organisations to run workshops on the Review. These workshops will allow us to capture more in-depth qualitative insights on people’s lived experience of disability and PIP across the UK. 
5. Evidence sessions with experts - the steering group will hear evidence from experts, including people with lived experience of disability and/or relevant professional expertise. The group will consider which experts it wants to engage with and how best to do so, providing an opportunity for deeper, targeted engagement on specific topics. 
6. Deliberative events – later in the year, a series of deliberative events will be held across the UK to test ideas, explore trade-offs, and refine the Review’s recommendations.

 

The steering group believes that using this mixture of methods is essential to the success of the Timms Review. Giving individuals and organisations a variety of ways to take part will help us to reach more people, hear a wider range of perspectives, and build a stronger evidence base for the Review’s recommendations. 

The Timms Review of Personal Independence Payment: Call for Evidence is open to responses until 28 May 2026.  

The press release is on gov.uk

 

 

More than one in four pensioners are struggling financially

In a new report, ‘Fragile budgets, difficult choices’, Age UK warns about the risks of another year of energy price hikes and inflationary consequences, especially for pensioners living on a low fixed income.

New polling for Age UK shows that among the 3.4 million pensioners (28%) in Great Britain who said they were financially struggling, almost half (47%) 1.6 million said they’ve been struggling for three years or longer, pointing to more persistent financial hardship.

Notably, a fifth (22%) of those struggling, equivalent to 740,000 aged 66+ said they have been struggling financially for more than five years showing an even more persistent financial strain for a large number of pensioners.

In 2022-24, pensioners with the lowest fifth of incomes spent half of their total spending (more than £6,500) on the essentials of energy, food and housing. This is higher than those pensioners on the middle fifth of incomes who spent around 40% on these, and those on the highest incomes who spent around 30%.

Age UK warns that energy remains the dominant source of financial pressure for older households in 2026. Energy affordability continues to shape the financial confidence and wellbeing of pensioners, with one in four (25%) saying they find their energy bills unaffordable – even before the conflict in the Middle East began.

The pressures among older people are not felt equally. Renters, women, younger pensioners, those with disabilities, and pensioners from ethnic minority backgrounds are all disproportionately affected.  Among older private renters, 51% pensioners said they were financially struggling, compared with 28% overall.  And for pensioners from ethnic minority backgrounds these challenges were likely to be even more common, as poverty rates are higher. 29% of Black pensioners and 21% of Asian pensioners are living in poverty, compared to 12% of white pensioners.

Age UK is calling on the Government to act across income, energy and housing to address the underlying drivers of insecurity in later life, including boosting Pension Credit take‑up, strengthening protections against high energy costs and tackling unaffordable and poor‑quality housing.  To protect older people from another tough winter, Age UK urges the Government to act now across three interconnected areas:

• Income: Age UK calls for a sustained strategy to tackle the persistently low take-up of Pension Credit and other benefits, stronger protections and careful monitoring of the new Crisis and Resilience Fund to ensure it reaches pensioners in genuine hardship.
• Energy: Age UK calls for reform of the Warm Home Discount to extend eligibility to all low-income households, deepen the support it provides, while also optimising and accelerating delivery of the Warm Homes Plan.
• Housing: Age UK urges the Government to ensure Local Housing Allowance keeps pace with real rental costs, provide more consistent access to proven funding models and support with housing costs, and develop a long-term strategy to increase the supply of affordable, accessible homes suitable for later life.

Fragile budgets, difficult choices: The cost of living for pensioners in 2026 is on ageuk.org.

 

 

DWP names first ‘Jobs Guarantee’ delivery partners

Some of the country’s biggest employment support providers have been chosen to deliver the first phase of the government’s flagship youth unemployment scheme.

The DWP has appointed six organisations as lead delivery partners to run the “jobs guarantee” in six areas ahead of the national rollout.

They will be responsible for matching unemployed young people to suitable jobs, reimbursing employers for wage and onboarding costs and providing wraparound support before and during placements.

The jobs guarantee is one of the government’s key initiatives to tackle stubbornly high youth unemployment. Eligible young people will have access to a fully subsidised six-month paid job through the scheme. They must be aged 18 to 21 and have been on universal credit and looking for work for 18 months.

Catch 22 will deliver the scheme in Birmingham and Solihull, Ingeus in the East Midlands, The Growth Company in Greater Manchester, Reed in Partnership in Hertfordshire and Essex, The King’s Trust in central and east Scotland and Itec Training Solutions in South West and South East Wales.

The six areas chosen for phase one were selected because they were identified as having the “highest need”.

DWP expects 1,200 referrals in phase one, although the guidance said referral numbers could increase if capacity allows.

Delivery organisations have until October 2026 to assess and place eligible young people, and job placements in this phase must be completed by April 2027.

Covering the six-month job placement, the government will fund 100 per cent of wage costs at the minimum wage for up to 25 hours per week, plus employer national insurance and minimum pension contributions.

In addition, delivery organisations can claim up to £2,250 per participant for wraparound support and training, £400 for administration and up to £250 for employer onboarding costs.

DWP guidance says the scheme will roll out across England, Scotland and Wales “later” this year. Ministers have said the scheme will provide 55,000 job placements over the next three years.

The scheme is part of the government’s wider youth guarantee, backed by £820 million, to ensure young people can access work, training or education.

Details on the jobs guarantee are on gov.uk.

 

 

Young people lost in transition

The share of 18–24-year-olds not in education, employment or training (NEET) has risen from 13% in 2019 to 15% in 2025, leaving almost 900,000 young people navigating a challenging transition between childhood and adulthood in terms of economic status. This rise has made the headlines and the Government agenda, with Alan Milburn’s team set to release findings from a review that is looking into why young people in the UK are disconnected from work.

The Resolution Foundation in their latest report ‘Lost in Transition’ investigates why the UK’s NEET rate has been rising since 2019, and why it has long been higher than in many other countries.

Resolution Foundation argues this recent increase is only part of the story. The UK already had one of the highest NEET rates in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OEDC) even before the pandemic.

Just over half of the recent rise reflects a weaker labour market. The rest is driven by a sharp increase in economic inactivity, closely tied to worsening health (especially mental health) and rising incapacity benefit claims among young people. Crucially, youth unemployment itself is not unusually high. More young people are simply disengaging from the labour market altogether.

International comparisons helped their researchers challenge some common assumptions about worklessness among young people. Countries with far lower NEET rates do not necessarily have better health outcomes. Instead, they keep more young people in education – particularly vocational pathways – and combine stricter engagement requirements with more generous, hands-on support than in the UK.

Recently, there have also been several headlines about entry-level jobs disappearing. Many have attributed the rise in economic inactivity among young people to this phenomenon. While this is certainly part of the story, this latest report highlights the barriers in the transition between education and work for young people.

Areas to examine are encouraging young people to stay in education and re-engage after setbacks, whilst setting up a better support system to help them navigate ill (mental) health alongside work. The report makes clear there are no quick fixes.

Lost in transition: An examination of why the UK NEET rate is high and rising is on resolutionfoundation.org.uk.

 

 

DWP commences corrections to ESA to UC late managed migration claims

You may remember that back in January that the National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers (NAWRA) highlighted an issue where ESA claimants who missed their final migration deadline but subsequently claimed UC were not having the LCWRA element included and were being put through the WCA due to the DWPs failure to apply regulation 21 of the Universal Credit (Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2014.

While the DWP accepted it was in the wrong, it said it would 'take some time' to fix.

In an update to members this week, NARWA confirmed that the DWP has finally got to a place where they are correcting the cases they are aware of, and they are looking into how they identify and correct all other cases.

The latest DWP statement: 

>“We are currently working to put right an error that affected some customers who were receiving income related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). In these cases, customers did not claim Universal Credit before the end of their managed migration grace period and their ESA award was ended. Where this happened, National Insurance credits should have been considered and, where appropriate continued to be awarded, and we recognise that this did not occur.

>We will review the records for those cases we are already aware of. At the same time, we are working through the issue to ensure we fully understand the problem completely and to develop processes that will enable us to identify and put right cases.

>This issue may also affect the amount of Universal Credit paid to customers who later made a claim and already had a valid Work Capability Assessment decision. We will take steps to ensure that any impact on entitlement is identified and corrected where appropriate.”

Thanks to NAWRA for championing this issue.

 

 

Housing benefit earned income changes from the Autumn

A long-awaited change to benefits designed to make work pay has been confirmed by the DWP - but claimants will have to wait until late 2026 to see it introduced.

The update came after Darlington MP Lola McEvoy pressed the Government for clarity on when new “earned income disregards” four Housing Benefit (HB) would take effect.

Responding on behalf of the DWP, minister Stephen Timms said the changes are scheduled for rollout from Autumn 2026. He said:

>"These disregards will help smooth the transition between the Universal Credit and Housing Benefit for individuals in Supported Housing and Temporary Accommodation as they move into work or increase their earnings, ensuring work always pays.

>The new disregards will be in place from Autumn 2026. This will require legislative changes and be accompanied by IT changes made to local authority IT systems.”

In preparation for this, we have already begun engagement with stakeholders to ensure that the implementation meets the needs of those affected.

This is accompanied by clear communications to support local authorities, housing providers and third sector organisations to ensure that eligible customers are aware of and able to utilise this change."

The reform, first announced in the Autumn Budget last year, will apply to people receiving Housing Benefit while living in supported housing or temporary accommodation.

In practice, the new rules will allow claimants to keep more of what they earn, reducing the risk of being financially worse off when taking on extra hours or a new job.

Officials say they have already begun working with councils, housing providers and charities to prepare for the shift, alongside plans to communicate the changes clearly to those affected.

The question and answer is on parliament.uk.

 

 

Recruitment for Access to Work case managers underway

The DWP has published a job listing for 360 new Executive Officers (read, case managers) within the Access to Work department.

The roles are available across a range of locations: Barnsley BSC, Blackpool Fylde View, Bradford Debt Centre, Dean Clough Office Park, Leeds Quarry House, Preston Palatine House, Stockport Millenium House, Treforest Ty Taf.

The full time salary is £32,137, pro-rata for part time staff.

“We welcome applications from candidates who demonstrate they have the right communication skills to be responsive to the needs of a diverse group of customers, an ability to understand complex information and can make the right decision at the right time.”

Closing date is Thursday 14th May 2026.

The job advert is on gov.uk.

 

 

Case law – with thanks to u/ClareTGold

 

Housing Benefit (supported accommodation, contrived tenancy) - FYE v Middlesborough City Council and GPZ v Sunderland City Council 2026

This case concerned whether rent liabilities had been created to take advantage of the Housing Benefit scheme. There were 34 appeal cases involving two local authorities, this appeal dealt with the two leading cases.

All the cases involved the issue of whether the claimant’s rent liability was created to take advantage of the Housing Benefit (HB) scheme. In every case, the local authority decided that the liability had been so created (contrived), with the effect that the claimant was not entitled to HB.

Some of the cases also raised the issue whether the claimants were living in ‘exempt accommodation’. In the simplest terms, this means whether they were receiving support in addition to their accommodation. However, the support issue only arises if the claimant’s liability was not created to take advantage of the scheme.

The First-tier Tribunal determined that the tenancies were contrived, as per regulation 9(1)(l) of the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006, and the FtT gave detailed reasons for this decision.

Several grounds were put forward in the appeal to the Upper Tribunal (which make for interesting reading). All of which were unsuccessful.

No material error of law was identified, “the tribunal’s evaluative judgment on contrivance was unassailable given the totality of the factors it took into account”. The FtT decision stands.

 

And lastly… Routine DWP led work capability reassessments remain suspended in UC and ESA.