The government has conceded to an Early Day Motion, tabled by Mark Tami MP and signed by 73 others, calling for Universal Credit to be payable up to the day before State Pension is paid. In response to the news, NAWRA released the following statement: This is a great achievement by Mark Tami and will make a huge difference to all the pensioners who are currently being left with a big gap in income.   NAWRA is delighted to see …

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Our national Chair, Alan Markey, has recently had an article published in ‘Adviser’ magazine. In the article Alan offers his take on how the social security landscape has changed, on increasing conditionality and a hostile environment for claimants, and highlights the increasing importance of advisers in the fight against poverty. If you don’t have a copy of the magazine, you can read his article on the Medium website.

NAWRA has submitted a detailed response to the recent consultation on ‘Improving Disability Assistance in Scotland’. In time Disability Assistance will replace Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment and Attendance Allowance as per devolved powers covered in Section 31 of Social Security Act (Scotland) 2018. The points covered in our submission include: It is welcomed from Scottish Government that Disability Assistance will be paid to aged 18 but we would extend this further for children and extend to aged 19 …

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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 …

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We have written to Damian Green MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to raise concerns about what we see as the DWPs failure to follow correct legal procedures on conversion of incapacity benefit claimants to employment and support allowance.  The full text of our letter is reproduced below. “Our members have identified many former Incapacity Benefit/Severe Disablement Allowance claimants who have been migrated to Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), and only been awarded contributory ESA as the Department …

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