Important information for benefit and upcoming benefit changes 2009-2010.

Fran · 16 October 2009 at 11:03PM

This is excellent news for people who might now be entitled to some Housing &/or Council Tax Benefit starting from November 2nd, 2009.

From 2nd November 2009, Child Benefit will no longer be counted in the calculation of Housing and Council Tax Benefit.

The other important change from 2nd November 2009 will affect claims from those who have reached the qualifying age for State Pension credit (60 years +)

From this date, the £6,000 capital disregard has been raised to £10,000. This means that the first £10,000 of all capital will be ignored. The upper limit of £16,000 still applies which means that unless you are receiving Guarantee Pension credit, you will not qualify for housing/Council Tax Benefit.

The quotes are from Havering.gov website and explains it clearly with some examples.

According to the Leicester.gov website if you are already receiving Council Tax or Housing Benefit you will automatically have your claim re-adjusted by the Council's revenues and benefits team from 2nd November.

So get applying on 2/11 if you have low income as you might be entitled now.

[Deleted User] · 16 October 2009 at 11:55PM

A timely reminder there from Fran

seven-day-weekend · 18 October 2009 at 10:30AM

I AM a regular here and I didn't know about the increase in lower capital amount for Pension Credit.

So thanks, Fran.

CocoPopsLover · 23 October 2009 at 11:11AM

what is classed as a low income?

dmg24 · 28 October 2009 at 4:03PM

Thanks sammyjammy - this would make an excellent sticky!

lindsaygalaxy · 28 October 2009 at 9:20PM

Is there anyone on housing benefit that knows if calculations will get automatically changed?

Fran · 31 October 2009 at 12:30PM

lindsaygalaxy wrote: »

Is there anyone on housing benefit that knows if calculations will get automatically changed?

The Leicester.gov website says:

Anyone who already receives Council Tax or Housing Benefit will automatically have their claims re-adjusted by the Council's revenues and benefits team from 2nd November.

DX2 · 2 November 2009 at 11:49AM

From October 2009

From the end of October 2009 those making a third and subsequent application for a crisis loan for living expenses (other than for loans to cover the period before a claimant receives their first payment of benefit or wages) will be required to attend a face to face interview. Claimants will also be limited to no more than three crisis loan awards for living expenses in any 12 month period. See Hansard written answers 14 Oct 2009 : Column 890W-891W.
Flexible New Deal replaces the New Deal Scheme. See The Social Security (Flexible New Deal) Regulations 2009 (SI 2009/480).
From 26 October lone parents with a youngest child aged 10 or over will no longer be entitled to income support solely on the grounds of being a lone parent. They will instead have to transfer to jobseeker’s allowance. Find out more.

From November 2009

From November 2, child benefit will not be taken into account for housing and council tax benefit purposes. For more information see SI 2009/1848.
From November 2 the capital disregard limit for pension credit will be raised from £6000 to £10,000. For more information see SI 2009/1676. Those who lose out due to changes to their savings credit entitlement will be given a one-off extra-statutory payment of £40 regardless of the actual level of loss (see the Explanatory Memorandum to the Social Security (Deemed Income From Capital) Regulations 2009 – SI 2009/1676).
The lower capital disregard limit for people age 60 and above who are on council tax benefit or housing benefit will be raised from £6000 to £10,000. For more information see SI 2009/1676.

From 2010

From spring 2010 a new medical 'fit note' replaces the current 'sick note'. This note will provide advice on staying in work and workplace adjustments. Find out more.
The government intends child poverty to be halved.
Savings Gateway rolled out nationally. Find out more.

From 2010 to 2011

Child maintenance disregards increased.

From April 2010

From 6 April carer's credit will be available to those caring for one or more person(s) for 20 hours or more a week. See DWP factsheet.
The Government will change the housing benefit and council tax benefit earnings limit for those undertaking permitted work who are on contributory employment and support allowance, incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance, so that these are the same as for those on income-related employment support allowance. For more information see SI 2009/2608.
Free prescriptions in Northern Ireland. See Northern Ireland Executive press release.
The child maintenance disregard in income support, income-based employment support allowance and income-related JSA will rise from £20 to £40 per week.
From 6 April 2010 women born on or after 6 April 1950 will no longer be able to retire at 60. To find out your retirement date go to the DirectGov state pension age calculator. See also The Social Security (Equalisation of State Pension Age) Regulations 2009 (SI 2009/1488).
Increase of the weekly rate of child benefit for the eldest child to £20.
Cost of prescriptions in Scotland reduced to £3. Find out more.
Cost of prepayment certificates in Scotland goes down from £38 to £28. Find out more.

From August 2010

The Scottish Government intends to give all primary school children (P1 to P3 pupils) free school meals. (See the Scottish Government press release issued 2 October 2008).

From October 2010

From 25 October lone parents with a youngest child aged 7 or over will no longer be entitled to income support solely on the grounds of being a lone parent. They will instead have to transfer to jobseeker’s allowance. Find out more.

From January 2011

Everyone under the age of 25, who has been out of work for 12 months, will be offered a job or a place in training. Those in work will receive a wage. Those in training will receive additional money on top of their benefits. For more information see the April 2009 budget.

From April 2011

Additional paternity leave and pay introduced. This gives fathers the right to take up to three months of additional paid paternity leave during the second six months of a child's life, if the mother has returned to work. View consultation on draft regulations.
Benefit restrictions on A8 nationals ceases from 30 April 2011. See The Accession (Immigration and Worker Registration) (Amendment) Regulations 2009 (SI 2009/892).
Grandparents and other family members will be able to gain National Insurance credits toward the basic state pension for caring for their grandchildren or members of their family aged 12 or younger, for 20 hours a week or more.
The child element of the child tax credit will increase by £20. For more information see the April 2009 budget.
The higher rate mobility component of DLA will be paid to people with serious sight loss. See rnib"taken for a ride" campaign.
Child Support Agency cases start transferring to Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (C-MEC).
By April 2011, no pensioner aged 75 or over will pay any tax until their income reaches £10,000.
Prescription charges in Scotland abolished.

From December 2011

The proposed date for the transfer to child tax credit of claimants who receive income support/income-based jobseeker's allowance child additions is 31 December 2011. Previously the date of transfer was to have been 31 December 2008. (See Memo DMG 47/08).

http://www.disabilityalliance.org/ben7.htm#From%20November%202009

DX2 · 6 November 2009 at 8:25PM

It appears there has ben a tiny change in free school lunches criteria, before if you got WTC you were not entitled to free school lunches. Edit to add: I can only find refrence to this for Scotland
After looking at this it appears they have changed the rules every so slightly.

Can my child get free school meals?

Children are eligible for Free School Meals if their parents (or carers) are in receipt of the following:

Income Support*
Income Based Job Seekers Allowance (JSA)*
Pension Credit (Guarantee Credit)
Any income related element of Employment Support Allowance*
Child Tax Credit (CTC), but not Working Tax Credit (WTC), and have an income of less than £16,040*
Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Working Tax Credit (WTC), and have an income of less than £6420
Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

CORRESPONDENCE FROM THE MINISTER FOR CHILDREN AND EARLY YEARS, ADAM INGRAM MSP TO THE CONVENER, DATED 6 MAY 2009
[FONT=Arial,Arial]Further to my letter of 31 March about our plans to introduce regulations to extend entitlement to free school lunches, I am writing to explain the regulations in more detail. As you know, we have a jointly agreed commitment in our Concordat with COSLA to extend entitlement to free school lunches to pupils whose parents or carers are in receipt of both maximum Child Tax Credit (CTC) and maximum Working Tax Credit (WTC) from August 2009, subject to the necessary legislation being passed by Parliament. The Education (School Lunches) (Scotland) Regulations 2009, if approved by the Scottish Parliament, will entitle these pupils to claim free school lunches.
Section 53(3) of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 gives Scottish Ministers a power to make regulations to provide that entitlement to free school lunches is extended to pupils where that pupil or his or her parent or carer is receiving a particular benefit or allowance or a tax credit or element of a tax credit. The current regulations - The Education (School Meals) (Scotland) Regulations 2003 - provide that section 53(3) shall apply to a pupil who is in receipt of, or whose parent is in receipt of, an award of Child Tax Credit, but not Working Tax Credit, where that person's income is less than the income threshold for Child Tax Credit set through section 7(1)(a) of the Tax Credits Act 2002 (lithe2002 Act") (currently £16,040).
The Education (School Lunches) (Scotland) Regulations 2009 will mean that a pupil who is in receipt of, or whose parent is in receipt of, Working Tax Credit (in addition to an award of Child Tax Credit based on an income not exceeding the income threshold) will be entitled to free school lunches (where school lunches are provided) unless the award of Working Tax Credit is based on an annual income which exceeds the amount determined for the
purposes of section 7(1)(a) of the 2002 Act.
The amount of Working Tax Credit a person is due is dependent on their income for the tax year. The maximum amount is currently available to those with income below a threshold of £6,420 as established by section 7(1 )(a) of the Tax Credits Act 2002. In effect, the new Regulations will mean that, in addition to the current criteria, pupils whose parents are in receipt of an award of both Child tax Credit and Working Tax Credit that is based on an annual income below £6,420, will be entitled to free school lunches.
Based on 2007/08 figures, the new Regulations will extend entitlement to free school lunches to approximately 44,000 pupils each year.
The new Regulations will also bring the eligibility criteria for free school lunches into line with current working practices of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in relation to persons ceasing their employment so as to ensure that these people who would previously have been entitled to claim free school lunches retain that entitlement.
[/FONT] http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S3/committees/ellc/papers-09/edp09-18.pdf

astonsmummy · 6 November 2009 at 9:01PM

DX2 wrote: »

It appears there has ben a tiny change in free school lunches criteria, before if you got WTC you were not entitled to free school lunches.

After looking at this it appears they have changed the rules every so slightly.

Can my child get free school meals?

Children are eligible for Free School Meals if their parents (or carers) are in receipt of the following:
Income Support*

Income Based Job Seekers Allowance (JSA)*

Pension Credit (Guarantee Credit)

Any income related element of Employment Support Allowance*

Child Tax Credit (CTC), but not Working Tax Credit (WTC), and have an income of less than £16,040*

Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Working Tax Credit (WTC), and have an income of less than £6420

Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

When does this one come in to force?

DX2 · 6 November 2009 at 10:02PM

astonsmummy wrote: »

When does this one come in to force?

astonsmummy it appears to be for Scotland at the moment.

Important information for benefit and upcoming benefit changes 2009-2010.

Comments

Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

🚀 Getting Started

Categories

Is this how you want to be seen?

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free