NEXT WORKSHOP:
Thursday, 22nd May, 2025.
Full-Day Workshop: (9:40 - 4:30)
Workshop Fee: £270 (No VAT)
Book 3 places and receive a 4th place FREE.
Also available for In-House Bookings for individual organisations, either On-Site or Online.
Suggested Companion-Workshop: “Housing Benefit Appeals & Tribunals”: (24th January). When we run these two workshops on consecutive days (or if booked as a pair in-house), the content will be tailored to minimise overlap and provide worthwhile content for delegates attending both days and cover a comprehensive understanding of the wider topic, but either Workshop can be booked as single, stand-alone date in their own right.
Also available for In-House Bookings for individual organisations, either On-Site or Online.
The Benefits Adjudication Regime: Decision-Maker’s Toolkit
Changing Benefit Decisions
The HB and UC Adjudication Regime: Grounds, Time Limits & Correct Effective Dates .
PROGRAMME CURRENTLY BEING REVIEWED
For policy, appeals and training officers, specialist decision makers and anyone with a keen interest in the adjudication rules in HB, UC and other benefits.
(It is assumed delegates have some prior knowledge of benefits in general.)
This Workshop offers an in-depth guide to the principles of decision making in both HB and other welfare benefits. The focus is primarily on HB, but the decisions and appeals framework for DWP benefits has very similar principles and delegates who are involved in advising claimants about UC, PIP, ESA, etc., are welcome to attend. We cover the full range of circumstances in which an existing benefit decision, or more than one existing decision, might need to be changed, whether on the initiative of the Council / DWP or the claimant. Sometimes it will be appropriate to revise a decision, other times the decision will need to be superseded. We look at the fundamental nature of revision and supersession:
Often, it is necessary to revise or supersede more than one decision over a long period, especially when creating an overpayment – it is important that you identify each original decision that requires revision or supersession and get your “ducks in a row” as Tribunals often put it.
The Decisions and Appeals Regulations for both HB and for other benefits include multiple grounds on which decisions may be revised or superseded: change of circumstance, official error, award of one benefit affects the rate of another etc. We will look in depth at the main grounds for revision and supersession that you are likely to be relying on from day to day – some of these involve time limits when the resulting decision as revised/superseded will be advantageous to the claimant … but many do not. Incorrectly applying time limits, or the wrong time limits, is a frequent error in benefits decision making.
Where a superseding decision is required, it must be implemented from the correct date. Getting the date wrong is an error frequently picked up on by external auditors. Common errors include Pension Credit upratings; Multiple events falling in the same benefit week; supersession instead of out-of-time revision; and changes affecting other state benefits. The default action of applying all changes and adjustments from the following Monday is often the wrong one. The Notes Pack contains a complete list of correct effective dates, with detailed commentary on the most important ones.
Presented by Peter Barker, this Workshop will clarify all the issues involved in a detailed and fact-filled day.
Topics covered:
The Basics
· Key terminology:
o Decision;
o Revision;
o Superseding decision.
Revising A Decision
· Establishing grounds for revision;
o “Any time” revision on limited grounds;
o “Any grounds” revision within limited time.
· When the time limit can be extended.
Superseding Decisions
· Available grounds;
· Time limits;
· Tribunal decisions.
Effective Dates Of Superseding Decisions
· Important examples including:
o Annual uprating;
o More than one change in a week;
o Pension Credit cases;
o Changes to other benefits;
o Too late to revise.
Case Studies
· Real life case studies involving some complex adjudication problems involving both HB and UC.
Contact us for In-House 'Zoom/TEAMS' booking information for this topic.
We are always pleased to arrange most of our Workshops, such as this one, for staff from an individual organisation. Please email us with your requirements for details.