Welcome to this week’s E News on the Citizens Advice Dorset website. Just a reminder that the Advice Dorset Partnership is a network of organisations providing advice and support to residents of Dorset and Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole. It is managed by Citizens Advice and is open to any organisation which provides information, advice and support/guidance to local residents.
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.
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Information updates
COST OF LIVING
JULY Cost of Living fact sheet:
2024 JULY Cost-of-Living-Crisis-factsheet
Energy Price Cap: Between 1 July to 30 September 2024 the energy price cap is set at £1,568 per year for a typical household who use electricity and gas and pay by Direct Debit. This is £122 lower than the cap set between 1 April to 30 June 2024 (£1,690). The price cap is based on typical household energy use. Read more from Ofgem.
BENEFITS
Benefit Cap: The benefit cap is a limit on the total amount of benefit you can get. It applies to most people aged 16 or over who have not reached State Pension age. The current cap levels are here. An Adviser Online article – The Benefit Cap and Universal Credit — What you need to know – has been updated for 2024. It contains advice about the benefit cap and tactics on exemptions and other help for affected claimants. See also reports on number affected under the Reports section below.
UC Payments – Statements: Previously you could not see a previous version of someone’s UC statement (what they were actually paid at the end of that assessment period) if that had been overridden by a subsequent decision that they were entitled to more or less. So if someone was overpaid or underpaid, their statement got changed, and you only saw the new statement, not what had happened before, making it very difficult to check overpayments. Now you can choose either the old or the new statement and then you can see what it used to look like. Then you have to go back into the Journal to find out what the decision was that changed it.
DEBT
DRO criteria: A reminder that the following debt relief order (DRO) parameters changed on 28 June:
- Qualifying debt limit increases to £50,000
- The value of a single domestic vehicle a client can own increases to £4000
General information on debt relief orders is here.
EMPLOYMENT
National Minimum Wage – when does travel time count as work: The time a worker spends travelling may count as part of ‘working time’, for which they must get the National Minimum (or Living) Wage (NMW). This can be in one of two ways.
- It may actually be ‘work’ eg if someone is travelling to a meeting by train and is working on a laptop while travelling or
- It might be deemed to be work under the regulations. This includes travel which is ‘for the purposes of work’ but excludes travel between the workers home and an assignment (i.e. normal commuting time). The most common example is a peripatetic care worker – the time they spend travelling between service users’ homes will count as working time, but not their commute to the first service user.
There has been a recent Employment Appeal Tribunal case on this subject – here.
LEGAL
Court of Appeal: The Court of Appeal is the highest court within the Senior Courts of England and Wales, and deals only with appeals from other courts or tribunals. It is divided into two Divisions, Criminal and Civil, and is based at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. HMCTS has issued guidance – here – on how you can appeal a county court, High Court or tribunal decision to the Court of Appeal. The guidance provides useful information about the time limits for submitting an appeal and the necessary forms and any court fees. This may be a useful guide for a litigant in person.
HOUSING
Housing Ombudsman Service: Social tenants can often get stuck in their landlord’s repairs system when making a complaint about disrepair. This article on Adviser Online provides practical advice on what to do if a client’s housing repairs are taking too long or the process seems to have stalled.
IMMIGRATION
Right to work checks: The guidance has been updated to reflect that employers are no longer required to make follow up checks on individuals with pre-settled status – as announced on 21 May following a High Court ruling.
Events
Citizens Advice – data insights briefing – 16 July 12.30-1.30: How will the incoming government make an impact from day one? The last few years have been catastrophic for living standards and month after month we’ve broken unwelcome records. Now over 50% of the people that come to us for debt advice are in a negative budget where their income can’t cover essential costs. But with public finances so tight, how can a new government ease the burden on the people we help? Join us online as we welcome author, former government advisor and senior fellow at the Institute for Government, Sam Freedman, to explore the policy levers available to the next government to raise living standards and avoid austerity. Book via eventbrite.
Prejudice Free Dorset: Two online engagement events addressing hate crime across Dorset. We want to hear what people consider is the role of community groups in creating inclusive and respectful communities.
- Wednesday, July 10th, 12:30 – 2:30 pm – eventbrite
- Monday, July 15th, 10 am – 12 pm – eventbrite
Safeguarding training: CAN in partnership with Dorset Council Communications & Engagement department is delivering a session on Monday 9 September 10 – 2. This course introduces safeguarding for VCS groups and is an intermediary course for those requiring a fundamental knowledge of safeguarding (more than basic awareness). Venue: Old Market Hill, Sturminster Newton, DT10 1FH. Book via eventbrite. Cost – £5.
Support from Livewell: As part of work to support and sustain the emergency and affordable food projects across Dorset, #HelpAndKindness has been looking for ways to provide emotional support to wonderful people who run and support these projects and do so much to support people in need. They have worked with Livewell Dorset to create opportunities for you to access this kind of support when you need it. Livewell are offering free health and wellbeing essentials training – wellbeing essentials for you / wellbeing essentials for others. Read more and book here.
Research, reports, etc
New statistics on the benefit cap and two-child limit: New DWP statistics – here – show that almost 78,000 households in Great Britain had their income reduced by the benefit cap as of February 2024. This is a 4% increase on the previous quarter. Figures show:
- 70% of affected households were single-parent families, of which more than half had a youngest child under the age of five
- 88% included children
…and other benefit cap reports:
- The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has produced a report on the extent and effects of the two-child limit. The IFS estimates that this will affect a further 670,000 children by the end of the next parliament. According to the IFS, affected households will lose £4,300 per year, representing 10% of their average income and 22% of their average benefit income. The research suggests that removing the two-child limit would be a highly effective way of reducing child poverty.
- Statistics from the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) – in this briefing – show that removing the two-child limit would immediately lift 250,000 children out of poverty and mean 850,000 children are in less deep poverty.
CPAG’s Welfare Rights Bulletin is 50! read more about how CPAG are celebrating the 300th edition of the Welfare Rights Bulletin, which is 50 years old.
Two Citizens Advice blogs looking ahead…..
- On the future of welfare reform under a new government – recommends that a new DWP team urgently looks at deductions, Local Housing Allowance, Household Support Fund, disability benefits, managed migration and benefits uprating.
- On making energy affordability a top priority.
Energy suppliers hold £3.7 billion credit for domestic energy customers: Ofgem published data – here – for April 2023 to March 2024 showing that:
- the average amount of credit in energy accounts for people who pay for their gas and electricity by fixed Direct Debit was £3.7 billion.
- the average household energy account was in credit by £175 at the end of winter 2023/24 – similar to the same period in 2023
Advice on how to claim back credit from a supplier is on the Citizens Advice website here.
Funding news
Austin & Hope Pilkington Trust: The Trust supports registered UK charities that work with communities in the UK. The funding is intended to support those in society who face the greatest challenges and whose opportunities are the most limited. There are normally four application rounds per year with applications accepted for one month only, usually in February, April, July and September. Charities can only apply for one round per calendar year.
Round 3 will accept applications during the month of July for projects that focus on the theme of Food Poverty. Priority will be given to projects that focus on enabling resilience and independence, in particular food education and cooking skills. UK registered charities with an operating income of between £100,000 and £1 million can apply for grants of £1,000.
The September 2024 round which has the same theme of Food Poverty will offer grants of £5,000 to charities with a minimum operating income of £1 million (no maximum income). Read more here.