Advice Bulletin: March 2021 - The Advice Shop - Edinburgh Council

Advice Bulletin: March 2021
The Advice Shop
We’ve put together this bulletin to help spread
awareness of welfare rights and debt matters relevant
to people in Edinburgh so that we can assist individuals,
households and communities to prevent and alleviate
poverty and promote social inclusion.
Over the past 12 months, our team in the Advice Shop
has assisted around 4000 people to make 1800 claims
for benefits, dealt with 600 disputes about benefit
decisions, carried out nearly 700 benefit checks, dealt
with £500,000 of personal debt and achieved over
£8.5m in financial gains for clients as well as providing
information and advice on all aspects of debt and
welfare rights, including our specialist Macmillan
partnership for people affected by cancer. Email us
Advice.shop@edinburgh.gov.uk, call us on 0131 200
2360 or see our website
www.edinburgh.gov.uk/adviceshop

Universal Credit updates
Unable to work                                              If no UC50 is sent then the form can be downloaded
When making a claim for Universal Credit (UC), you          from the DWP website and sent to the JobCentre
should state clearly if a person is unable to work. This    In work
should lead to a UC50 form being sent to the claimant       Universal Credit surplus earnings threshold of £2,500
so the DWP can assess their ‘Limited Capability for         for universal credit claimants will be maintained for a
Work’. Many people are not being sent a UC50 so are         further year until April 2022
missing out on additional income. If a UC claimant is
                                                            UC minimum income floor remains suspended until
unable to work and can provide medical evidence to
                                                            end of July 2021 so if a claimant earns very little
support this, they should press for a UC50 to be sent
                                                            income from self-employment this will not be
to them.
                                                            challenged by the DWP.

EEA Nationals – Brexit Update
Pre-settled status                                          in future, pre-settled status is found to enable eligibility
                                                            that these claims must then be considered.
On 18 December 2020, the Court of Appeal
determined by its judgement in the Fratila and Tanase       At the same time, if a person can evidence a right to
v SSWP & AIRE Centre [2020] case, that EEA                  reside through some other means then this should be
Nationals with pre-settled status had the same rights       put forward to support their claim. For example, being
as those with settled status. This potentially meant that   a worker, the family member of a worker or worker who
those with pre-settled status could access benefits in      is temporarily ill or pregnant. A family member can be
the same way. However, on 22 February 2021, the             your:
Secretary of State was granted permission to appeal         • husband or wife
the decision and a stay of execution has been granted       • civil partner
until the Supreme Court make a decision. The case is        • parents or grandparents, if you’re under 21 - this
now scheduled to be heard on 18/19 May 2021. CPAG                includes your husband, wife or civil partner’s
have put up a summary of the case and a helpful             • parents or grandparents, if you’re over 21 and
advice for claimants note.                                       depend on them to live - this includes your
If a client is refused a benefit on the grounds of having        husband, wife or civil partners
only pre-settled status then we would encourage this to     • child or grandchild, if you rely on their support to
be challenged. It is worth noting that the person should         live - this includes your husband, wife or civil
be supported to claim every benefit that they may be             partner’s.
eligible for including housing costs in UC, CTR, HB         This list is not exhaustive - you should seek advice to
and even Scottish Child Payment. This will mean that if     obtain a full assessment of entitlement to benefits.

Discretionary Housing Payment                              Council tenants in rent arrears
Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) has been               Council tenants who have significant rent arrears and
boosted by additional funds and greater flexibility so     have not sustained a repayment plan nor engaged with
tenants are in a better position now to get assistance     their landlord, will potentially face court action for
with housing costs – including payment toward rent         eviction. The sheriff court is already hearing cases and
arrears. DHP can cover the shortfall between UC or         the Council is keen to recover income.
HB income for housing costs; it can cover under            If you are supporting a tenant who has rent arrears
occupancy (bedroom tax) too.                               then the sooner they get advice or work out a
To be eligible for DHP you must be in receipt of HB        repayment plan with their landlord, the better as rent
(any amount) or the housing element of UC is included      arrears debt will not just disappear.
in your assessment.
                                                           Bankruptcy updates
Personal Independence Payment                              We reported changes to the bankruptcy fee structure in
People with a significant health condition or disability   our Summer 2020 bulletin and are pleased to advise
may be entitled to receive PIP to help cover the           that it is anticipated that the positive changes made to
additional costs of ill-health.                            the fee structure in response to the pandemic will be
During the pandemic the process for receiving PIP has      enshrined in legislation later this year.
been very disrupted. Reviews were suspended but are        Customers in receipt of a means-tested benefit can
now happening again, often with poor communication         continue to access bankruptcy without having to pay a
from DWP; far fewer claims were made as many               fee, and this change will be permanent. The increased
people were not able to access their GP to get a           debt limit of £25000 for MAP bankruptcies will also
diagnosis or evidence of their illness; the assessment     remain in place.
process moved from an in person session at an office       The reduced fees of £50 to access a MAP bankruptcy
location to a telephone and soon to be video               and £150 to access a Full Administration bankruptcy
assessment with very mixed outcomes for people.            will also be a permanent change.
Anyone with a significant and enduring health condition
should consider a claim for PIP and GP practices are       Universal Credit – help to make a
now more accessible to support claims with medical
evidence.                                                  claim
                                                           With advice services working almost entirely remotely,
                                                           it may feel difficult to access help to initiate a UC claim.
                                                           Citizens Advice Edinburgh (CAE) have a specialist
                                                           Help to Claim project for UC and are able to see
                                                           people face to face if absolutely required. To access
                                                           the service either call 0131 510 5510 or visit the CAE
                                                           website.
                                                           From April 2021 UC advanced payments can be paid
                                                           back over 24 months with a decrease in the recovery
                                                           rates.
                                                           We would advise seeking alternative methods of
                                                           securing income for the period until a first UC payment
                                                           is made – a Crisis Grant may be accessible if you can
                                                           demonstrate that a UC advance would cause hardship,
                                                           for example.

Coronavirus updates
The £20 per week uplift to UC will continue until the
end of September 2021.
Furlough scheme is extended until the end of
September 2021
Working Tax Credit claimants will receive a one-off
payment of £500 by 23 April 2021. Conditions apply so
see gov.uk for further details. The payment will not be
counted as income for HB purposes.
WTC claimants continue to be treated as working
normal hours despite being furloughed.
The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme
(SEISS) has been extended which means some
people who were not previously eligible can now claim
a grant and previous claimants can claim further grant.

Scottish Child Payment                                    Care leavers
This new benefit can provide £10 per week per child       From June 2021 the age at which care leavers living in
for families on low incomes. There has been significant   shared accommodation will be exempt from the shared
uptake of SCP since its launch but there are bound to     accommodation rate of the Local Housing Allowance
be many households with a child under the age of 6        (LHA) will rise to 25 years old (currently it is 22). You
who have not yet claimed.                                 can find more information on LHA can be found on the
The claim process is fairly easy through the Scottish     Entitled to website.
Government website or you can call 0800 182 2222.
                                                          Feedback
Scottish Social Security                                  We’d love to hear what you think of the Advice Bulletin.
You can find out more about the full range of new         Please drop us an email
benefits that are being rolled out – such as Young        adviceshop.admin@edinburgh.gov.uk
Carer Grant, the £10 per week Scottish Child Payment
and the autumn launch of the Child Disability Payment     Contact us
– on the Scottish Social Security website
www.mygov.scot/benefits                                   The Advice Shop, The City of Edinburgh Council
                                                          Tel: 0131 200 2360
                                                          Email: advice.shop@edinburgh.gov.uk
                                                          Website: www.edinburgh.gov.uk/adviceshop