Welfare Reform Bill

Link to the Welfare Reform Bill. 

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmbills/154/11154.i-v.html

Explanatory Notes:

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmbills/154/en/11154en.htm

All Bill documents:

http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2010-11/welfarereform/documents.html

There is a lot to examine in these documents and some points of interest are:

Schedule 2 – Universal credit: amendments

133. Paragraphs 3 to 34 amend SSAA 1992 to apply the provisions that relate to other benefits in respect of claims and payments to universal credit and to make other consequential amendments.

134. In particular, paragraph 1 6 enables the Secretary of State to require rent officers to provide housing information for the purposes of universal credit or housing credit. Paragraphs 17 to 2 1 make further provision relating to the supply of information for universal credit purposes.

135. Paragraph 2 2 provides that rates of universal credit may be uprated annually by way of an uprating order. Underparagraph 2 3 the amount of an award may be altered as a result of uprating without a further decision being made by the Secretary of State. Similarly paragraph 24 allows for a person’s universal credit award to be increased due to them reaching a particular age without a further decision. Paragraph 25 makes consequential changes to existing financial provisions.

136. Paragraphs 3 2 to 3 4 amend the Local Government Finance Act 1992 so that in certain circumstances outstanding amounts of council tax owed to a local authority may be deducted directly from an award of universal credit.

Clause 34: Abolition of benefits

149. Clause 34 provides for the abolition of income-based JSA, income-related ESA, IS, housing benefit, council tax benefit, child tax credit and working tax credit. Schedule 3 makes consequential amendments relating to the abolition of these benefits. Abolition will happen once all claimants have been transferred to universal credit. The repeals in Part 1 of Schedule 13 are consequential on this.

Clause 35: Universal credit and state pension credit

151. Clause 3 5 and Schedule 4 provide for a new housing credit element of state pension credit to replace housing benefit for claimants above the qualifying age for state pension credit.

Schedule 4: Housing credit element of state pension credit

152. State pension credit is currently made up of two elements: the guarantee credit and the savings credit. Schedule 4amends SPCA 2002 to create a new credit to cover housing costs. This will provide support for people who have reached the qualifying age for state pension credit (for couples where both members have reached the qualifying age) once housing benefit is no longer available following the introduction of universal credit.

153. Paragraph 2 and 3 of Schedule 4 amend SPCA 2002 to provide that a person is entitled to state pension credit if, in addition to being in Great Britain and having attained the qualifying age, that person satisfies the conditions for entitlement to the new housing credit element. A person may be eligible for the housing credit without being entitled to either of the other elements of state pension credit, or may receive more than one element if they meet the relevant conditions.

154. Paragraph 4 inserts a new section 3A into SPCA 2002. Section 3A sets out the conditions of entitlement to the housing credit and provides the powers to set out the structure of the housing credit in regulations. Subsections (1) and (2) of section 3A outline the specific conditions which a claimant must meet along with basic conditions which need to be satisfied in order to be entitled to the housing credit. Subsection (1) provides that, as with housing benefit, a claimant must be liable to make payments in respect of the accommodation they occupy as their home. Subsection (2) provides that a claimant will not be entitled to housing credit if the amount payable is below a certain level, to be prescribed in regulations, once the claimant’s income and capital has been taken into account. This calculation will be specific to the housing credit and will not be the same as the income rules for the other elements of state pension credit.

155. Subsection (3) of the new section allows the Secretary of State to prescribe in regulations the method by which the rate of the housing credit will be determined or calculated. The amount may be nil to allow entitlement to be restricted in specific circumstances outside of the core entitlement conditions. The intention is that claimants will be entitled to broadly the same amount of support under the housing credit as they would have been entitled to by way of housing benefit.

156. Subsections (4) and (5) of the new section specify types of accommodation in respect of which a housing credit may be claimed and allow the Secretary of State to make provision through regulations to determine when a claimant is treated as liable or not liable for payments in respect of the accommodation. Subsection (6) enables different provision to be made for different areas.

157. Assessed income periods in state pension credit are set periods in which changes to retirement provision, such as income from retirement pensions, annuities or capital, do not need to be reported, thereby fixing the amount of retirement provision. Provision in respect of fixing a claimant’s retirement provision is provided by section 7 of SPCA 2002. Paragraph 5of the Schedule amends section 7 so as to give the Secretary of State the power to prescribe in regulations circumstances in which retirement provision will not be fixed for the purpose of determining entitlement to the housing credit.