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National Association Of Welfare Rights Advisers
The National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers (NAWRA) is a professional membership organisation for Welfare Rights advice providers across the UKMembershipof NAWRA is available to groups or individuals working in the welfare rights field and/or who support the organisations aims and objectives. It has twin aims: * To challenge, influence and improve welfare rights policy and legislation; * To promote NAWRA as the national voice of welfare rights advisers. Alan Markey, of Coventry Independent Advice Service, is chair of the Association. It holds four conferences each year that are free for members to attend. Conferences are usually held across England, Wales and Scotland. Conferences have been held online during the COVID-19 pandemic. NAWRA maintains public websiteand makes recommendations to policy makers. NAWRA has been vocal about problems encountered in the introduction of Universal Credit and submitted evidence to the Work and Pensions Committee on Universal Credit in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Welfare Rights
Welfare rights means the rights of people to be aware of and receive their maximum entitlement to state welfare benefits, and to be treated reasonably well by the welfare system. It has been established in the United Kingdom since 1969 and has also been developed in other countries including Ireland, Australia and the United States. It became necessary because of the complexity of the UK social security system and had links at the time with a growing Claimants Union movement. As local authorities realized the advantages of having well-informed front-line staff such as housing officers and social workers, who often have to deal with benefit queries as part of their wider tasks, they turned to welfare rights staff to provide that expertise for both training and handling complex cases. In the 1980s, as local authorities took on the wider 'equalities' agenda, anti-poverty work was seen as a valid local activity in itself. Increasing benefit income helps individuals but also boosts th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Universal Credit
Universal Credit is a United Kingdom based Welfare state in the United Kingdom, social security payment. It is Means test, means-tested and is replacing and combining six benefits, for working-age households with a low income: income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA), and Income Support; Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Working Tax Credit (WTC); and Housing Benefit. An award of UC is made up of different elements, which become payable to the claimant if relevant criteria apply: a standard allowance for singles or couples, child elements and disabled child elements for children in the household, housing cost element, childcare costs element, as well as elements for being a carer or for having limited capability to work-related activities, due to illness or disability. The new policy was announced in 2010 at the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party annual party conference, conference by the Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Du ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Work And Pensions Committee
The Work and Pensions Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Department for Work and Pensions and its associated public bodies. Membership Membership of the committee is as follows: Changes since 2024 2019-2024 Parliament The chair was elected on 29 January 2020, with the members of the committee being announced on 2 March 2020. Changes 2019-2024 2017-2019 Parliament The chair was elected on 12 July 2017, with the members of the committee being announced on 11 September 2017. Changes 2017–2019 2015-2017 Parliament The chair was elected on 18 June 2015, with members being announced on 8 July 2015. Changes 2015-2017 2010-2015 Parliament The chair was elected on 10 June 2010, with members being announced on 12 July 2010. Changes 2010-2015 Significant inquiries The committee has been involved i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shirley-Anne Somerville
Shirley-Anne Somerville (born 2 September 1974) is a Scottish politician who has served as Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice in the devolved Scottish government since 2023. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Dunfermline (Scottish Parliament constituency), Dunfermline since 2016 Scottish Parliament election, 2016, having previously served as an Additional member system, additional member for the Lothian (Scottish Parliament electoral region), Lothians region from 2007 to 2011 Scottish Parliament election, 2011. Born in Kirkcaldy, Somerville attended the University of Strathclyde, and later the University of Stirling, earning a BA (Hons) in Economics and Politics, and a Diploma in Housing studies respectively. After graduating, she worked as a Policy and Public Affairs Officer, and in 2006 she attended Queen Margaret University. In the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, 2007 Scottish election, she was an SN ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Department For Work And Pensions
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for welfare spending, welfare, pensions and child maintenance policy. As the UK's biggest public service department it administers the State Pension and a range of working age, disability and ill health benefits to around 20 million claimants and customers. It is the second-largest governmental department in terms of employees, and the second largest in terms of expenditure (£228 billion ). The department has two delivery services: Jobcentre Plus administers working age benefits: Universal Credit, Jobseeker's Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance; the Child Maintenance Service provides the statutory child support scheme. DWP also administers State Pension, Pension Credit, disability benefits such as Personal Independence Payment, and support for life events from Maternity Allowance to Berea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Incapacity Benefit
Incapacity Benefit was a British social security benefit that was paid to people facing extra barriers to work because of their long-term illness or their disability. It replaced Invalidity Benefit in 1995. The government began to phase out Incapacity Benefit in 2008 by making it unavailable to new claimants, and later moved almost all the remaining long-term recipients onto Employment and Support Allowance. History 1995 In 1995, the Conservative Secretary of State for Social Security, Peter Lilley, abolished Invalidity Benefit for fresh claims and replaced it with Incapacity Benefit after the Prime Minister of the day, John Major, had complained about the burgeoning caseload, saying: "Frankly, it beggars belief that so many more people have suddenly become invalids, especially at a time when the health of the population has improved". A new feature of Incapacity Benefit was that officials could ask for claimants' disabilities to be confirmed using a bespoke testing procedu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Employment And Support Allowance
Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) is a United Kingdom welfare payment for adults younger than the State Pension age who are having difficulty finding work because of their long-term medical condition or a disability. It is a basic income-replacement benefit paid in lieu of wages. It is currently being phased out and replaced with Universal Credit for claimants on low incomes, although the contribution-based element remains available. Eligibility for ESA An individual can put in a claim for ESA if they satisfy all of these conditions: * They live in the United Kingdom * They are over the age of sixteen * They have not reached their State Pension age * They have a sick-note from their doctor They will not be paid ESA if they are entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (which is paid out by a current employer) and it is not possible to receive ESA at the same time as the other main out-of-work benefits, i.e. Jobseekers Allowance or Income Support. Universal Credit, which is received ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Public Accounts Committee (United Kingdom)
The Committee of Public Accounts is a select committee of the British House of Commons. It is responsible for overseeing government expenditures, and to ensure they are effective and honest. The committee is seen as a crucial mechanism for ensuring transparency and accountability in government financial operations, having been described by Professor the Lord Hennessy as "the queen of the select committees... hichby its very existence exert a cleansing effect in all government departments". Overview The recommendation for the creation of a committee to oversee government accounts was first put forward in 1857 by a small group of interested Members of Parliament led by Sir Francis Baring. The structure and function of the PAC date back to reforms initiated by William Ewart Gladstone, when he was British Chancellor of the Exchequer in the 1860s. The first Public Accounts Committee was established in 1862 by a resolution of the British House of Commons: There shall be a stand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Welfare In The United Kingdom
The welfare state of the United Kingdom began to evolve in the 1900s and early 1910s, and comprises expenditures by the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland intended to improve health, education, employment and social security. The British system has been classified as a liberal welfare state system. History Before the official establishment of the modern welfare state, clear examples of social welfare existed to help the poor and vulnerable within British society. A key date in the welfare state's history is 1563; when Queen Elizabeth I's government encouraged the wealthier members of society to give to the poor, by passing the Poor Act 1562. The welfare state in the modern sense was anticipated by the Royal Commission into the Operation of the Poor Laws 1832 which found that the Poor Relief Act 1601 (a part of the English Poor laws) was subject to widespread abuse and promoted squalor, idleness and criminality in its recipients, compared to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
