Benefits

• UC claimants lose ‘hundreds of pounds’ due to assessment timing

  Many Universal Credit claimants are losing hundreds of pounds each year because their payday falls too close to their assessment date, a charity has revealed.

  

• Universal Credit is a ‘flawed’ system, housing organisations warn

  A group of housing organisations yesterday warned that Universal Credit is ‘flawed’ and is causing debt, suffering and hardship for millions.

  

• Charity warns councils are depriving four million older people of benefits

  Nearly four million older people are being denied access to key benefits because they do not use computers, according to campaigners.

  

• Call for more support for young people living independently

  The Government must do more to support young people who are living independently, MPs say.

  

• Carers face benefit ‘cliff-edge’, MPs warn

  MPs have called on the Government to remove the ‘cliff-edge’ in the benefit calculation that could see many carers lose their allowance.

  

• Whitehall extends Universal Credit support to ‘kinship carers’

  The Government has announced it would be extending support under Universal Credit to families looking after children who might otherwise be in the care of the local authority.

  

• Residents miss benefit payments due to ‘system error’

  A system error last Friday left around 1,000 residents of West Dunbartonshire without housing benefit.

  

• Only 4.3% of government housing subsidy spent on new homes

  More than 95% of the government’s housing subsidy was spent on housing benefit and support for mortgage interest, new analysis has revealed.

  

• Government cuts force over a million children into poverty

  One and a half million more children will be in poverty by 2022 due to the Government’s austerity agenda, commission reveals.

  

• Scottish households on low income ‘missing out’ on tax exemption

  Fewer than 4% of Scottish households eligible for council tax exemption are claiming the new benefit, research reveals.