People on the lowest incomes – both in and out of work – have endured a decade of austerity; with freezes and cuts to social security benefits and in-work support; hollowing out support, undermining resilience and ability to cope with adversity.
With students arriving at University to commence a new academic year, the Advice NI Policy & Information team has published an information briefing for advisers covering Universal Credit eligibility for students.
Advice NI responds to plans by the UK Government to begin the managed migration of millions of people in Great Britain off legacy benefits and on to Universal Credit.
Leading advice charity; Advice NI Head of Policy, Kevin Higgins and Professor Eileen Evason CBE is urgently calling on the NI Executive to extend Welfare Mitigations to alleviate further hardship in NI.
The report has taken time and gone into meticulous detail; and ultimately which talks about systemic maladministration on the part of the Department & Capita, putting PIP claimants at systemic disadvantage in terms of the approach taken to how further evidence is obtained.
Backing the “Keep Me Posted” campaign, Kevin Higgins, Head of Policy at Advice NI joined Judith Donovan CBE from Keep Me Posted to discuss the crucial need for continued paper-based correspondence for Universal Credit claimants.
Employees who are paid early at Christmas may be affected by a flaw in the Universal Credit (UC) system whereby claimants may be treated as receiving two monthly wages in one assessment period, resulting in a dramatically reduced or even nil Universal Credit award.
The Department for Communities has put additional support in place to assist Post Office card account and HM Government Payment Exception Service customers who are unable to access their benefit or pension payments during the Coronavirus pandemic.