NAWRA members have reported via the rightsnet discussion forum that clients have been contacted by a loan company offering a ‘government grant’. The loan company then takes information sufficient to verify ID and submit a universal credit claim without the client’s knowledge, arranges an advance and then keeps a substantial amount of it for themselves. The first the client knows is their legacy benefits have stopped, and they find they are now a universal credit claimant with a large advance …

Fraudulent universal credit claims being made to obtain advance payments Read more »

NAWRA members have raised concerns about the date of claim for universal credit claimants who access universal credit via the Help to Claim service operated by Citizens Advice. NAWRA has written to Amber Rudd, secretary of state for work and pensions to ask for clarity on the government’s position. We received a disappointing reply and we responded on 20 June. The latest reply from Amber Rudd (12 July) does not address our points. Please send any comments to daphne@nawra.org.uk  

Amber Rudd and Neil Couling have told the Work and Pensions Committee that the DWP will pay compensation to claimants who have been misadvised, by the DWP, to claim universal credit and have lost out as a result. Giving evidence to the Work and Pensions Committee, Amber Rudd and Neil Couling were questioned about the evidence that Jobcentres were misadvising claimants to move on to universal credit. This was as a direct result of evidence provided by NAWRA in our …

DWP to pay compensation to wrongly advised claimants? Read more »

The Equality and Human RIghts Commission have published their final  cumulative report on the impact of government Welfare Reforms.  The report suggests that children will be hit hardest with an extra 1.5 million being pushed into poverty. In addition, the report finds that the child poverty rate for those in lone parent households will increase from 37% to over 62% and households with three or more children will see losses of around £5,600.  They also identify significant and disproportionate impacts …

Impact of welfare reform Read more »

NAWRA member, Richard Machin from Staffordshire University, has written an excellent piece for online journal ‘The Conversation’ entitled “A welfare adviser’s view on Universal Credit: a flawed system that emphasises process over people.” Richard highlights myriad problems with the rollout of Universal Credit and highlights NAWRAs position on implict consent.  Richard concludes his article by saying: Benefit advisers have long called for changes to the benefit system to make it easier to understand and access for claimants. The whole point of …

Universal Credit: A flawed system Read more »