LA Welfare Direct lite 1/2023
Updated 12 December 2023
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Contact
If you have queries about the:
- technical content of this bulletin then contact details are given at the end of each article
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Who should read
All Housing Benefit staff
Action
For information
Update: Benefit cap levels increasing from April 2023
1. On 17 November 2022 the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions announced he had completed his review of the benefit cap levels and decided they should be increased from April 2023.
2. Regulation changes will allow you to take account of the new benefit cap levels from the 1 April 2023 for monthly rental liability cases, and from the 3 April 2023 where rent is paid on a weekly basis or multiple of a week.
3. The benefit cap levels will be increased as follows:
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Greater London: £486.98 for couples, with or without children, and lone parents and £326.29 for single people
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Nationally: £423.46 for couples, with or without children, and lone parents and £283.71 for single people
4. Full details of weekly and monthly equivalents can be found in the Benefit and pension rates 2023 to 2024 Policy paper published on 28 November 2022.
Urgent reminder: Deadline for the submission of Housing Benefit Subsidy final tested claims and assurance reports/audit certificates
5. Final tested claims for HB subsidy and subsequent Housing Benefit Assurance Process reports (in England) and audit certificates (in Scotland and Wales) are required, in legislation, to be submitted by 30 November following the end of the relevant financial year. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) does not have any plans to change the statutory deadline.
6. However, in LAWD5/2021 (paragraph 19) we advised that the department would not exercise its right to apply withholdings for claims due on 30 November 2022 but received by 31 January 2023.
7. The department does not intend to extend the deadline beyond 31 January 2023 or grant formal extensions to this deadline. Local authorities (LAs) will be given adequate advance notice prior to the department introducing withholdings for outstanding claims relating to the financial year ending March 2023.
8. LAs should continue to inform the department of expected completion dates for planning purposes where they are not able to meet the 31 January deadline. These should be sent to [email protected]
Completing the move to Universal Credit: Learning from the Discovery phase
9. The Completing the move to Universal Credit: Learning from the Discovery phase document has been published on GOV.UK.
10. This document sets out learnings from the initial managed migration Discovery work, for moving remaining benefit and tax credit claimants to Universal Credit.