https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/pdfs/Targeted_Case_Reviews.pdf Executive summaryIn 2022, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) launched ‘Targeted CaseReview’ (TCR), a large-scale fraud and error reduction scheme involving checkson the accuracy of payments made to millions of Universal Credit claimants(DWP, 2022). The scheme has scaled up dramatically since then. With over twomillion reviews completed to date (DWP, 2026a), almost 6,000…
Universal Credit
Saving private renters – Why the Government should unfreeze Local Housing Allowance
https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/saving-private-renters/ Local Housing Allowance (LHA), which caps how much support is provided through the social security system to low-income private renters, was last relinked to the 30th percentile of rents in April 2024, and has been frozen in cash terms ever since. But private rents have risen considerably since then. [1] A low-income family renting…
Today many thousands more children across England will be fuelled for learning thanks to a free school meal.
School Food Review statement on the expansion of free school mealsIssued September 2026Today many thousands more children across England will be fuelled for learning thanksto a free school meal. As organisations working in schools and with children, we knowthis is a huge boost for children and families.For too long, school food has been a source…
Free school meals expansion – half of newly eligible parents don’t know they can get the meals
As the PM’s cost of living tour gets underway, a new survey from Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) finds more than half of parents (55%) whose children will be newly eligible for free school meals (FSM) from September don’t know that they will qualify for the meals. The government expanded eligibility for FSM to all…
Submit your evidence to the APPG on Ending the Need for Food Banks on how the level of support offered by Universal Credit should be decided.
https://www.trussell.org.uk/our-work/changing-policy/inquiry In 2023 the Work and Pensions Select Committee carried out an inquiry into benefit levels in the UK. The final report pointed to “a wide range of evidence which suggests that benefit levels are too low, and that claimants are often not able to afford daily living costs”. Their recommendations included the government setting out a…
Radical overhaul of fit note system to be piloted
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/broken-fit-note-system-to-be-overhauled The government press release states, Patients, employers and GPs are set to benefit from an overhaul of the broken fit note system following the launch of several pilots by the Government today to reform the system for workers who fall ill. The current system sees some 11 million fit notes issued every year, with…
Guidance if you received a lower level of benefit after moving to Universal Credit, and this was due to a decision to end your old ‘legacy’ benefit, which was found to be incorrect.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-a-one-off-payment-under-the-successful-legacy-appeals-compensation-scheme Who the scheme is for In 2020, a Court of Appeal decision concluded that people who had an incorrect decision to end their legacy benefits later reversed, for example on appeal, could not be reinstated onto their legacy benefit if they had already claimed Universal Credit. However, where these same people had a lower…
IFS: April’s universal credit changes mean giveaways now, takeaways later
Three reforms to universal credit, the UK’s main working-age means-tested benefit received by 6.6 million families, take effect on 6 April 2026. Together, they will change the incomes of almost all who receive the benefit … First, the real value of the UC standard allowance will be increased by 2.3% more than inflation … Second,…
This year’s Universal Credit uplift means that the basic rate of unemployment benefits will go up by more than inflation for the first time since 1983.
This year’s Universal Credit uplift means that the basic rate of unemployment benefits will go up by more than inflation for the first time since 1983. But the real-terms value of unemployment benefit is still 5% lower than in 2010-11. By contrast, State Pension rose by 20% over the same period.
‘A cruel penalty’: disabled people face lower benefit payments if conditions not deemed lifelong
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/mar/29/disabled-benefit-claimants-face-lower-payments-if-conditions-not-deemed-lifelong-charities-say Hundreds of thousands of severely ill and disabled people making new claims will have their benefits cut if the government assesses that their condition might improve, charities have said. In April, the health element of universal credit – an extra payment for people assessed as too unwell to work or prepare for work –…