Sickness, disability and carers' benefits
This page highlights some of the current parliamentary material available on sickness, disability and carers' benefits. This includes select committee reports, briefing papers on current legislation and other subjects produced by the parliamentary research services, and the latest Early Day Motions put down by MPs.
Standard Notes
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 12.07.2013 | Short Term Benefit Advances and Budgeting Advances |
| From 1 April 2013, a new advance of benefit facility administered by DWP replaced Social Fund Budgeting Loans, interim payments of benefits and "alignment payments". This note gives details of the new system of Short Term Benefit Advances and Budgeting Advances. | |
| 30.05.2013 | Asbestos-related diseases: payments from the Department for Work and Pensions |
| Exposure to asbestos fibres can lead to a number of serious diseases. People suffering from certain conditions may be able to pursue a civil claim for damages against one or more employers responsible for exposing them to asbestos negligently and/or in breach of a statutory duty. Compensation may also be available under schemes administered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). | |
| 28.05.2013 | Support for Mortgage Interest scheme |
| Help with mortgage costs is available to claimants of certain means-tested benefits for people not in full-time work. The schemes are collectively known as Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI). Payments are made towards mortgage interest payments and are generally made direct to lenders. | |
| 19.02.2013 | Draft Care and Support Bill 2012-13 |
| This note provides general information on the draft Care and Support Bill that was announced in the Queen's Speech on 9 May 2012 and published by the Government on 11 July 2012. | |
| 07.02.2013 | Draft Universal Credit Regulations 2013 |
| Starting in selected 'Pathfinder' areas from April 2013, Universal Credit (UC) will begin to replace a range of means-tested benefits and tax credits for working age families. The Draft Universal Credit Regulations set out the detailed rules for the new benefit. |
Research Papers
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 04.01.2013 | Welfare Benefits Uprating Bill |
| 27.04.2012 | Social Indicators |
| A compendium of the latest social statistics. This edition includes articles: Constituency-level crime data, ESA assessments and reassessments and Measuring well-being | |
| 04.03.2011 | Welfare Reform Bill: reform of disability benefits, Housing Benefit, and other measures |
| This paper has been prepared for the Second Reading debate in the House of Commons. For information on the provision in the Bill relating to the introduction of Universal Credit, please see the complementary Library Research Paper, 11/24. Besides Universal Credit, the Bill proposes a number of other significant welfare reforms, including replacement of the current Disability Living Allowance, restriction of Housing Benefit entitlement to social housing tenants whose accommodation is larger than they need, time-limiting the payment of contributory Employment and Support Allowance to twelve months, and capping the total amount of benefit that can be claimed. | |
| 13.03.2009 | Welfare Reform Bill: Committee Stage report |
| This is a report on the Committee Stage of the Welfare Reform Bill. It complements Research Papers 09/08 and 09/09 prepared for Commons Second Reading. | |
| 23.01.2009 | Welfare Reform Bill: social security provisions |
| This paper is one of two which examine the main proposals of the Welfare Reform Bill 2008-09. It deals with Part 1 of the Bill, which includes provisions to establish a 'work for your benefit' scheme for the long-term unemployed, to allow piloting of the 'personalised conditionality' regime, and to enable the future abolition of income support. See also Research Paper 09/09. |
Select Committee Reports
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 08.12.2010 | The community care grant. |
| Public Accounts Committee report [Commons] | |
| 08.09.2010 | Support to incapacity benefits claimants through Pathways. |
| Public Accounts Committee report [Commons] | |
| 29.06.2009 | Supporting carers to care. |
| Public Accounts Committee report [Commons] | |
| 21.04.2009 | Legislative scrutiny: Welfare Reform Bill; |
| Human Rights Joint Select Committee report [Commons and Lords] | |
| 17.12.2008 | Valuing and supporting carers. |
| Government response. Department for Work and Pensions; Work and Pensions Select Committee report [Commons] |
Early Day Motions
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 08.12.2011 | CHILDREN'S ACCESS TO DISABILITY LIVING ALLOWANCE |
| That this House notes that the parents of ill children often need to live in hospital wards with their children; further notes that living expenses such as meals are not paid for by ... | |
| 29.11.2011 | INCAPACITY BENEFIT REFORM |
| That this House notes the report on the Government's Incapacity Benefits Reform published by the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research, based at Sheffield Hallam University, ... | |
| 27.10.2011 | SOCIAL SECURITY (S.I., 2011, No. 1736) |
| That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty, praying that the Housing Benefit (Amendment) Regulations 2011 (S.I., 2011, No. 1736), dated 14 July 2011, a copy of which was laid ... | |
| 29.06.2011 | DISABILITY LIVING ALLOWANCE - MOBILITY COMPONENT |
| That this House is aware that the disability living allowance mobility component helps meet the extra costs many disabled people face in their everyday lives; notes that for disabled ... | |
| 04.04.2011 | GOVERNMENT REVIEW OF THE REMOVAL OF THE MOBILITY COMPONENT OF DISABILITY LIVING ALLOWANCE/PERSONAL INDEPENDENCE PAYMENT |
| That this House notes the importance of the disability living allowance (DLA)/personal independent payment (PIP) mobility component in helping disabled people to be independent and ... |
Lords Library Notes
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 06.02.2013 | Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill (HL Bill 78 of 2012-13) |
| The Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill implements an announcement by the Chancellor in the 2012 Autumn Statement that increases in certain working-age welfare benefits and tax credits would be limited to 1 percent, rather than increasing them in line with inflation. This Library Note is intended to provide background information in advance of the Bill's second reading in the House of Lords on 11 February 2013. |
POST Papers
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 11.07.2012 | Assessing Capacity for Work |
| This briefing discusses the role of the Work Capability Assessment and its suitability as a gateway to benefit. |
