Download or read book Law in a Complex State written by Neville Harris and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-10-14 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Approximately half of the total UK population are in receipt of one or more welfare benefits, giving rise to the largest single area of government expenditure. The law and structures of social security are highly complex, made more so by constant adjustments as government pursues its often conflicting economic, political and social policy objectives. This complexity is highly problematic. It contributes to errors in decision-making and to increased administrative costs and is seen as disempowering for citizens, thereby weakening enjoyment of a key social right. Current and previous administrations have committed to simplifying the benefits system. It is a specific objective of the Welfare Reform Act 2012, which provides for the introduction of Universal Credit in place of diverse benefits. However, it is unclear whether the reformed system will be either less complex legally or more accessible for citizens. This book seeks to explain how and why complexity in the modern welfare system has grown; to identify the different ways in which legal and associated administrative arrangements are classifiable as 'complex'; to discuss the effects of complexity on the system's administration and its wider implications for rights and the citizen-state relationship; and to consider the role that law can play in the simplification of schemes of welfare. While primarily focused on the UK welfare system it also provides analysis of relevant policies and experience in various other states.

Download or read book National Audit Office NAO Department for Communities and Local Government Council Tax Support HC 882 written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2013-12-13 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Department for Communities and Local Government worked together effectively with local authorities to ensure Council Tax support was introduced on schedule. Not all local authorities' support schemes, however, will achieve the expected objectives outlined by the Department before the policy was implemented. The Department reduced the funding for Council Tax support by 10 per cent, equating to a saving for central government of £414 million in 2013-14. Its 'localization' of Council Tax support required local authorities to design their own local support schemes. Most local authorities have reduced support for claimants to meet some of their funding reduction. Seventy-one per cent of local authorities have introduced schemes that require working age claimants to pay at least some council tax regardless of income. Most local authorities also used new powers to charge more Council Tax on some properties, such as second and short-term empty homes, to help offset the funding reduction for Council Tax support. The National Audit Office found that all of a sample of 207 local authorities had taken advantage of these additional powers, raising an estimated additional income of £178 million. The Department expects local authorities to implement schemes which protect vulnerable people and improve work incentives. The task for local authorities to meet these different objectives whilst managing their funding reduction is complex, and may require trade-offs. The Department takes the view that scheme designs are local decisions and it does not plan to intervene in local authorities' scheme choices

Download or read book Managing the Impact of Housing Benefit Reform written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2012-11 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As part of the measures announced in the emergency budget in June 2010 and the Spending Review of October 2010, the Government announced changes to housing benefit, including reductions to local housing allowance rates for private rented sector claimants and deductions in payments to social sector tenants in under-occupied homes. The Department is actively preparing for the implementation of housing benefit reform, using available data to assess the impact of the reforms on current entitlements. It has estimated that the reforms will result in around two million households receiving lower benefits. Claimants with large numbers of children and those living in areas of high rent such as London will be most affected. The Government intends the reforms to improve incentives to work and lead to positive changes for claimants. Reforms could also lead to hardship or an increased risk of homelessness. How tenants and landlords will respond is highly uncertain at the moment and the Department has commissioned independent research to evaluate the impact of the reforms after implementation and is also working with local authorities to identify the extent to which the reforms will increase the administrative. Uprating local housing allowance by the consumer price index, rather than local rent inflation, could put pressure on the supply of affordable local housing. Downward pressure on rents or increased employment would mitigate the impact but NAO analysis indicates that, on current trends, 48 per cent of local authority areas in England could face shortfalls by 2017

Download or read book Support for Housing Costs in the Reformed Welfare System HC 720 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Work and Pensions Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2014-04-02 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reforms to the support provided for housing costs - including the Social Sector Size Criteria (SSSC) (also known as the "Bedroom Tax" and the "Spare Room Subsidy") and the household Benefit Cap are causing financial hardship to vulnerable people who were not the intended targets of the reforms and are unlikely to be able to change their circumstances in response. The SSSC is having a particular impact on people with disabilities who have adapted homes or need a room to hold medical equipment or to accommodate a carer. Anybody living in a home that has been significantly adapted for them should be exempt from the SSSC and all recipients of Carers Allowance where the carer lives with the disabled person should be exempt from the Benefit Cap. The Report further urges the Government to exempt all households that contain a person in receipt of higher level disability benefits (DLA or PIP) from the SSSC. Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are only temporary, and whether or not a claimant is awarded DHP is heavily dependent on where they live because different local authorities apply different eligibility rules. Local authorities often have no option other than to place homeless households in expensive temporary accommodation and claimants can then fall within the scope of the Benefit Cap. Local authorities then often have to pay the shortfall for those affected by the Cap so there is no overall saving to public funds. All households in temporary accommodation should therefore also be exempt from the Benefit Cap.

Download or read book Means testing written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-09-14 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is clear that means testing will be used extensively for the foreseeable future as it helps target state support at the people that need it most, but it can have many other important consequences. For example, there can be disincentives for recipients of means-tested benefits to return to work. Means testing also makes the administration of benefits more complex and is associated with higher costs as well as increased rates of fraud and error. In light of proposed and ongoing reforms to benefits and related programmes, the NAO notes the importance of departments sharing good practice and learning from past experiences in the design of means tests. For example, HM Revenue and Customs has struggled in the past with unexpectedly large overpayments of tax credits (£9 billion between 2003-04 and 2009-10) because of the way that payments are determined under the legislation. Departments need to consider all of the impacts of means testing: for example, the burden on claimants, such as difficulty with completing forms and the cost of requesting advice. Issues associated with means testing, such as incorrect declarations of earnings and errors by officials in calculating entitlements, accounted for over half of all fraud and error in benefits and tax credits. There is a lack of coordination of, and overall accountability for, means testing across government. For example, no one body has responsibility for looking at how the impact of university fees will be influenced by wider means testing.

Download or read book Administration and expenditure of the Chancellor s departments 2008 09 written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010-03-09 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Chancellor's departments faced extraordinary challenges during 2008-09, mainly arising from the need to respond to the emerging financial crisis and associated economic downturn. The report concludes that it is very difficult to draw final conclusions regarding their level of success - too much remains unfinished business. It draws attention, in particular, to the new relationship between the Treasury and UKFI, and recommends that the Government considers whether the formal terms of the relationship need some re-definition in the light of experience. The report is particularly concerned by the dire results for HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) of a cross-Government staff survey pilot study. The Report calls for HMRC management to publish a clear and detailed plan to provide focus and direction to their efforts to re-engage with their workforce. Noting a rise in customer complaints and that, on average, only 57 per cent of calls to HMRC contact centres were answered during 2008-09. HMRC should publish more data to enable effective scrutiny of its performance against its targets, data which is essential for tax gaps to be closed and for the take up of the working tax credit to be assessed and improved. The Report is critical of the failure of most departments to provide accurate and timely monthly in-year figures to the Treasury. Other sections of the report cover National Savings & Investment, the revaluation of UK statutory ports and the performance of the Royal Mint.

Download or read book Minimising the cost of administrative errors in the benefits system written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010-11-25 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2009-10 the Department for Work and Pensions overpaid its customers by an estimated £1.1 billion and made underpayments of £500 million. However, the scale of the challenge faced by the Department should not be underestimated. The benefits system is large, encompassing over 27 different benefits and a total caseload of around 20 million people. In addition, the Department has had to respond to the recent recession in which Jobseekers Allowance caseload almost doubled between 2008 and 2009. The recent announcement of the introduction of Universal Credit is an opportunity to simplify many of the regulations, but such changes will take a long time to implement. In the meantime, the onus remains on the Department to keep the costs of mistakes to a minimum. The Department has demonstrated a clear commitment to reducing administrative error, but there is scope for improvement in the quality of information used to assess where the Department should focus its efforts. Although DWP has initiated an exercise to understand fully the causes of error, this will not be complete until the spring of 2011. There is also scope for further work in collecting and analysing the full costs and benefits of the Department's interventions in order to assess cost effectiveness. The Government announced a new strategy in October 2010 with a greater emphasis on preventing errors from arising and this is now an opportunity for lessons to be learned.

Download or read book The Administration of Tax Credits written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Treasury Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-06-06 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: administration of tax Credits : Sixth report of session 2005-06, Vol. 2: Oral and written Evidence

Download or read book Appropriation No 3 Act 2005 written by Great Britain and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005-07-27 with total page 78 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Royal assent, 20th July 2005. An Act to authorise the use of resources for the service of the year ending with 31st March 2006 and to apply certain sums out of the Consolidated Fund to the service of the year ending with 31st March 2006; to appropriate the supply authorised in this session of Parliament for the service of the year ending with 31st March 2006; to repeal certain Consolidated Fund and Appropriation Acts.

Download or read book Social Policy for Social Work Social Care and the Caring Professions written by Steve J Hothersall and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-11-29 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This revised second edition analyses social policy in Scotland since devolution in 1999 and reflects the nascent and distinctively Scottish policy agenda. Along with updated chapters, there are two new inclusions: a chapter analysing post-devolution Scotland and a chapter on the likely impacts of Brexit on and within Scotland. Providing diagrams, tables and a range of activities, the book maintains an innovative and pedagogic emphasis to introduce students to a wealth of materials, ideas and practical responses to the increasingly complex and diverse situations faced by social workers and other professionals. Part 1 of the book looks at what social policy is, how and why it is made and highlights the importance of the relationship between social policy and the law. Part 2 refers to specific themes of social exclusion, poverty and (more visible for this revised edition) austerity, considering their complex and multidimensional forms and discussing the range of policies currently extant that aim to combat such disadvantage. Part 3 provides a comprehensive overview of policy for practice, considering concepts of health inequality, mental health, older people, disability, children and families, education, substance use, criminal justice, asylum and immigration and homelessness. This book will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as post-qualified professionals seeking to understand the complexities of the social policy landscape in Scotland, and its influence on social work and related forms of professional practice.

Download or read book Supply and Appropriation Anticipation and Adjustments Act 2012 written by Great Britain and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2012-03-14 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Royal assent, 8 March 2012. An Act to authorise the use of resources for the years ending with 31 March 2012 and 31 March 2013; to authorise the issue of sums out of the Consolidated Fund for those years and for the year ending with 31 March 2011; and to appropriate the supply authorised by this Act for the years ending with 31 March 2011 and 31 March 2012

Download or read book Appropriation Act 2006 written by Great Britain and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-04-04 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Royal assent, 30th March 2006. An Act to authorise the use of resources for the service of the years ending with 31st March 2005 and 31st March 2006 and to apply certain sums out of the Consolidated Fund to the service of the year ending with 31st March 2006; and to appropriate the supply authorised in this Session of Parliament for the service of the year ending with 31st March 2005 and the further supply authorised in this session of Parliament for the service of the year ending with 31st March 2006.

Download or read book White paper on universal credit written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Work and Pensions Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-03-07 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The white paper published as Cm. 7957 (ISBN 9780101795722)

Download or read book Welfare Rights and Social Policy written by Hartley Dean and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-06-06 with total page 495 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Welfare Rights and Social Policy provides an introduction to social policy through a discussion of welfare rights, which are explored in historical, comparative and critical context. At a time when the cause of human rights is high on the global political agendathe authorasks why the status of welfare rights as an element of human rights remains ambiguous. Rights to social security, employment, housing, education, health and social care are critical to human well-being. Yet they are invariably subordinate to the civil and political rights of citizenship, they are often fragile and difficult to enforce, and because of their conditional nature they may be implicated in the social control of individual behaviour.

Download or read book Dealing with the Complexity of the Benefits System written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2005-11-18 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and its agencies, are responsible for administering around 40 social security benefits to the value of around £100 billion a year. Many of these benefits are linked together; hence some customers are in receipt of more than one benefit. The need for equity and fairness in interpreting legislation, is a cause of complexity. Incentives (e.g. to work) and rewards (e.g. for an individual's savings) have been built into procedures. Problems are caused by the interface between DWP benefits and tax credits (which are administered by HM Revenue and Customs); and by the constant flow of major and minor legislative and administrative changes. Simplified procedures would enable both staff and customers to understand the system better, and to avoid duplication of effort. There would also be less scope for benefits fraud (estimated at £2.6 billion in 2004-05). This NAO report also highlights the need for improved communication with customers and better use of new technology.

Download or read book Supply and Appropriation Main Estimates Act 2012 written by Great Britain and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2012-07-20 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Royal assent, 17th July 2012. An Act to authorise the use of resources for the year ending with 31 March 2013; to authorise both the issue of sums out of the Consolidated Fund and the application of income for that year; and to appropriate the supply authorised for that year by this Act and by the Supply and Appropriation (Anticipation and Adjustments) Act 2012

Download or read book Appropriation No 2 Act 2006 written by Great Britain and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-07-27 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Royal assent, 19th July 2006. An Act to authorise the use of resources for the service of the year ending with 31st March 2007 and to apply certain sums out of the Consolidated Fund to the service of the year ending with 31st March 2007; to appropriate the supply authorised in this session of Parliament for the service of the year ending with 31st March 2007; to repeal certain Consolidated Fund and Appropriation Acts.