Roundup of recent DWP announcements
Child Maintenance: Accelerating Enforcement – new consultation
A new consultation has launched this week seeking views on proposed legislative changes to speed up enforcement of child maintenance arrears, reducing the time it takes from almost six months to six to eight weeks.
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) will be able to use an administrative liability order to recover unpaid child maintenance instead of applying to the courts and facing a lengthy wait.
The CMS helps around 930,000 children get the financial support they are entitled to and between June 2022-2023 arranged £1.2 billion on their behalf. Overall, child maintenance payments help to keep 160,000 children out of poverty each year.
The consultation is open to voluntary and community sector organisations, as well as CMS customers and members of the public. It applies to England, Wales and Scotland, although comments are welcomed from across the United Kingdom.
The consultation closes at 11:45pm on 24 November.
Find out more and access the consultation
Household Support Fund Awareness Week – 16-22 October
To further support households with the cost of living, the Government allocated £842 million to local authorities in England to extend the Household Support Fund for a year from 1 April 2023 until 31 March 2024.
The Household Support Fund is there to help households who are struggling with the cost of essentials including families, pensioners, unpaid carers, care leavers and disabled people.
Between 16-22 October, DWP is holding a Household Support Fund Awareness Week, to promote the good work that local authorities have done in delivering the scheme so far, and to encourage people to visit their council's website or contact their local council office for more information on support available in their area.
You can help to promote the awareness week across your channels by using the assets available in the Household Support Fund awareness week toolkit - which contains social media assets, a downloadable poster, suggested newsletter copy, easy read guidance and more.
The scheme is one of many to support households with the cost of living, including Cost of Living Payments, Social Tariffs and help with childcare costs.
Visit the Help for Households website to find out about the support available.
Move to Universal Credit – update
From September, Move to Universal Credit (UC) activity extended into Cumbria and Lancashire, Essex, Dorset, Wiltshire & Hampshire, Isle of Wight, South-West Wales, East Scotland, and Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire & Rutland.
As we look forward, we will expand to South-East Wales and Central Scotland in October before bringing South-West Scotland onboard in November 2023.
We started our small-scale discovery in September to test more benefit combinations and continue to learn how we move all households safely onto UC. As part of this discovery activity, we will be contacting a small number of households within Greater Manchester, Harrow, and Northumberland.
The Move to UC communications campaign that commenced in August 2023 continues and aims to raise awareness that tax credits are ending as well as preparing tax credit customers for a move to UC before receiving their migration notice. A leaflet has been issued to tax credit customers; these started to land on doormats from 16 September.
New Universal Credit and Employers videos
Two 'Universal Credit and Employers' videos have been produced, specifically designed to address some of the myths surrounding Universal Credit (UC) and work. Each video is around 90 seconds long and highlights the flexibility built into UC for working customers and employers.
Universal Credit and Employers – More flexibility for employers and claimants
Universal Credit and Employers – Making work better for all
Autumn Statement 2023 – stakeholder representations
Did you know you can suggest policy ideas for the Autumn Statement? Head to the representation portal where individuals and organisations can submit comments on existing policy, or suggestions for new policy, for consideration in the Statement.
You have until 5pm on Friday 13 October 2023 to submit your idea(s).
Guidance for submitting Autumn Statement 2023 representations to the Treasury
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