Advice Dorset Partnership E News No 20: 19 January 2023

19/01/2023
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The Advice Dorset Partnership E news is published fortnightly on a Thursday, BUT if there is something urgent in-between we will send out a short supplementary edition.

As usual feel free to forward this email to colleagues and they can get in touch with us if they wish to go on the list. If you would like to send anything out via the bulletin, and for all other enquiries about the Advice Dorset Partnership, contact Caroline Buxton on her Citizens Advice Central Dorset email: mailto:[email protected]

You can view previous editions of the E news HERE

Jobs

Citizens Advice Bridport – Welfare Benefits Caseworker / Supervisor: Bridport CA are seeking to recruit an experienced welfare benefits caseworker. You will be able to provide specialist welfare benefits casework and consultancy, including representation at benefits appeals. You will be required to support colleagues and volunteers within the benefits team with welfare benefit casework enquiries through one-to-one support, supervision, mentoring, and training.

Location: Bridport with some travel in the Dorset area
Hours: 32 per week
Salary: Up to £26,975 gross FTE subject to experience
Job Type: 3 year fixed term
Closing date: 10.00 am, Monday 30 January 2023
Interviews: Thursday 2 February

Read more below, and on their website here.

Readvert-Jan-23-welfare-benefits-caseworker-supervisor

Information updates

COST OF LIVING

Announcement on Cost of Living Payments for 2023/24: The Government has announced its schedule for issuing the 2023/2024 cost of living payments. The qualifying dates for payments will be announced separately.

first cost of living payment of £301 issued during spring 2023
£150 disability payment issued during summer 2023
second cost of living payment of £300 issued during autumn 2023
£300 pensioner payment issued during winter 2023/2024
third cost of living payment of £299 issued during spring 2024

All working age claimants in receipt of means tested benefits, tax credits and disability benefits will be eligible as will pensioners entitled to a winter fuel payment. Eligible claimants will not need to claim and will be paid automatically.

Energy Support updates:

The current Energy Bill Relief Scheme will be replaced on 1 April by the Energy Bills Discount Scheme. Eligible consumers will receive a per-unit discount to their energy bills from April 2023 to March 2024.
Energy Bill Support Scheme: 42% of EBSS vouchers for customers with older prepayment meters have yet to be redeemed. National Energy Action is urging people who are on older meters to contact their supplier to make sure they have the right contact details and can access the vouchers. Expired vouchers can be reissued – all vouchers must be used by 30 June 2023.
Warm Homes Discount for park homes: The scheme is administered by Charis, and the main criteria are: living permanently in a park home site, paying for electricity through the park site owner, and getting Pension Credit or a means-tested benefit. Applications are dealt with in date order, so check the Charis website as soon as possible.
Energy bills support for businesses, charities* and public sector, from 1 April: The Govt has announced the Energy Bills Discount Scheme. From 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, eligible non-domestic customers who have a contract with a licensed energy supplier will see a unit discount of up to £6.97/MWh automatically applied to their gas bill and a unit discount of up to £19.61/MWh applied to their electricity bill, except for those benefiting from lower energy prices. [*For charities, see item from NCVO below]

Other support:

Broadband – social tariffs: Sky is the first national provider to help their customers access cheaper broadband by signing up to the Department for Work and Pensions scheme for benefit claimants. Read the press release here.
Local Cost of Living information: Dorset Council, BCP Council, Help and Kindness, Faithworks.

BENEFITS

Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates FROZEN at 2020/2021 levels: From 31 January 2023, the Rent Officers (Housing Benefit and Universal Credit Functions) (Modification) Order 2023 freezes LHA rates for 2023/2024 at the rates set for 2020/2021. As part of the government’s COVID-19 response LHA rates were increased in March 2020 to cover the lowest 30% of local rents from April 2020. The rates were maintained at the same cash levels in 2021/22 and 2022/23.

Universal Credit- Administrative Earnings Threshold (AET): For people that are fit to work, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) places Universal Credit claimants on low incomes into groups known as ‘Light Touch’ and ‘Intensive Work Search’. The Administrative Earnings Threshold or AET determines which group a person is placed in based on how much they earn, and therefore how much support they receive to find work and develop a career. The AET increases on 30 January and the new threshold will be £617 per month for single people and £988 per month for couples.

Universal Credit – Managed Migration timetable: See below for a report on the discovery phase of migration. The report states that the DWP plans to move claimants getting tax credits only in 2023/24. In 2024/25 it plans to move claimants who receive:

Tax credits along with a DWP benefit (including income-related employment and support allowance (ESA))
Income Support
Income-based Jobseeker’s allowance
Housing Benefit only
The remaining ESA claimants will not be moved until 2028/29.

Council Tax Reduction Rules: Whilst each council runs its own scheme they have to take account of Govt regulations; in the Council Tax Reduction Scheme Regulations 2023 which come into force from 10 February, are the following ‘prescribed requirements’:

uprates CTR in line with other benefits
uprates non-dependant deductions
clarifies that ‘thank you’ payments under Homes For Ukraine won’t count as income or capital
states that people with leave to remain outside of the Immigration Rules and with recourse to public funds, can claim CTR

IMMIGRATION

Asylum support changes: Asylum support rates went up to £45 per person weekly on 9 January to reflect the cost of living crisis. The order was made on 21 December and payments will be backdated automatically to 21 December, when the order was made. Asylum seekers who do not receive the increase and backdating should contact Migrant Help to ask for assistance.

Helpline opening hours for Ukrainian visa applications updated: The helpline provides support for Ukrainian nationals to apply to stay in the UK under the Ukraine Extension Scheme, Sponsorship scheme and Family Scheme. The guidance on the scheme is here.

HOUSING

Eligibility for housing assistance for confirmed victims of human trafficking and slavery: From 30 January, people in England applying as homeless, or for an allocation of social housing, will be eligible for housing assistance if they are confirmed victims of human trafficking or slavery and have been granted limited leave to remain. This brings the eligibility regulations into line with an amendment to the Immigration Rules allowing limited leave for victims of human trafficking or slavery. The regulations are here.

UTILITIES

Utilita Energy: Utilita Energy is paying out a total of £830,000 to over 25,000 customers after an investigation by Ofgem suggested that the supplier was not taking individual circumstances into consideration when deciding whether or not to provide additional support credits for customers topping up prepayment meters. Customers potentially affected will receive £20 as a direct credit on their meter in most cases.

Bulb energy: The transfer of Bulb Energy to Octopus is now complete. Customers don’t need to take any action but they might get communications from Octopus Energy or Bulb about the transfer.

OTHER

Child Maintenance Service and domestic violence: Survivors of domestic abuse will be given the choice to allow the CMS to collect and make payments on their behalf – without the consent of an abusive ex-partner. This will prevent perpetrators from using child maintenance as a form of ongoing financial abuse and control and mean survivors will not have to have contact with their ex-partner if there is evidence of domestic violence. Read the press release here.

Barcoded stamps – reminder: From 1 February stamps without a barcode won’t be valid, unless it’s a special issue stamp to commemorate a person or event. Although the change happens then, Royal Mail have announced that for the first 6 months, post with non-barcoded stamps will be delivered without a surcharge being charged to the person receiving the post. [This corrects and clarifies an entry from a previous Enews where I thought the deadline had been extended to July……]

LOCAL NEWS

Dorset – borrow an iPad: Five Dorset Council Libraries are offering the chance to borrow an iPad for up to six weeks free of charge. The pilot scheme is to help residents search and apply for jobs online, and to access online training to gain skills and knowledge. The devices are easy to use with an instructional video and support from library staff and digital champions. There is no need for broadband as the tablets have free data and are fully loaded with information about looking for work and learning new skills. The iPads will be available to borrow from, Blandford, Bridport, Ferndown, Swanage and Weymouth Libraries. Terms and conditions apply. Borrowers must be 18+, Dorset residents, and full members of Dorset Libraries. read more – Dorset Council.

Events

Big Energy Saving Week 16 – 21 January 2023: Energy Saving Week is part of Citizen Advice and Energy Saving Trust’s energy campaign which aims to equip consumers with the knowledge they need on all things energy; there are 3 key things that we want to share during the week:

Easy tips for saving energy and money around your home
Important information that people who use prepayment meters for their energy need to know about the Energy Bills Support Scheme
The different support available to people who are struggling to pay their energy bills

Training

Help your clients with budgeting – workshop: Thursday 26 January 2 – 3pm via zoom. Free session for those working in BCP area. Read more:

STARS Training: On-line training on 24^th February “An Introduction to working with Trauma” for any frontline practitioners. Full details on the STARS Dorset website, where individuals can also book a place. Fee £120; group discount for bookings of 5 or more.

Dorset – Embedded Digital Champion training: If you work or volunteer in a role where you help Dorset Council residents, you can sign up for Embedded Digital Champion training to help service users get online. The training is online and takes 2.5 – 4 hours in total over one or two weeks. Read more here.

NSPCC training: As part of this ‘Listen up, Speak up’ campaign, the NSPCC is offering free, 10-minute digital training to raise awareness of some potential indicators of child abuse or neglect, and where people can go if they, or someone they know, needs support. It will be followed up by a series of emails from the NSPCC’s child protection experts offering advice, tips and actions everyone can take. You can find out more about the campaign and sign-up for the training here.

Research, reports etc

Independent Case Examiner Annual Report: The ICE is a free independent complaints review service for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and their contracted services. In 2021-22 there was a 17% increase in customers approaching the ICE office, and a significant 68% increase in the number of complaints the ICE accepted for review. The report – here – contains interesting examples.

Citizens Advice concerns about PrePayment Meters: National CA’s new report Kept in the dark – The urgent need for action on prepayment meters is base on a recent survey and includes worrying responses, such as 1 in 3 (33%) people on prepayment meters said that they had disconnected at least once in the past year because they could not afford to top up. At the same time, Citizens Advice frontline advisers have consistently seen evidence of people in vulnerable circumstances being moved onto prepayment meters, in breach of energy supplier regulations. Citizens Advice consider that the situation is so acute that they are now calling for a total ban on the forced installation of new prepayment meters until additional safeguards are put in place to end self-disconnection. Read more here and a short blog here. This report was also featured by BBC News.

Universal Credit – Managed Migration: The DWP has published a learning report from the discovery phase of managed migration. Of 499 people issued with a migration notice, 10% had their legacy benefits terminated without moving to UC. For those getting tax credits only it was 20%. Read the report here.

Centre for Social Justice survey on illegal lending: As part of a new project, the Centre for Social Justice is working alongside a steering board comprising the Money and Pensions Service and debt advice agencies to understand debt advice and illegal lending. Complete the survey here.

NCVO call for reduced energy bills for charities: NCVO have called for an urgent review into who’s included in the government’s new energy discount scheme. They are also calling for work to begin on a long-term plan that provides security for the voluntary sector and reduces future risks of unaffordable energy bills. Read more here and they are running a webinar on Thursday 9 February 11am – how to manage rising energy costs – what next for charities; more info here.

Funding news

Energy Redress Scheme – main and small grants: The priorities of the Main and Small Grants schemes are to:

Support energy consumers in vulnerable situations.
Deliver benefits to the types of consumers that were negatively impacted by the specific issues that triggered the redress payment

For these two funding streams:

Small Project Fund grants of between £20,000 and £49,999 for projects that will support energy consumers in vulnerable situations.
Main Project Fund grants of between £50,000 and £300,000 for projects that will support energy consumers in vulnerable situations.

Closing date 30 January. Read more here.