Benefit rate changes for 2020
By Peter Smith, Financial Advocate and New Business Advocate for Dosh
April generally brings a review of benefit rates and this year is no exception. There is some welcome news for working age benefit recipients, and a one-off increase for Universal Credit recipients to reflect the current Coronavirus situation. Pension benefits continue to enjoy the ‘triple lock’, which means they increase by the most favourable amount calculated from three different elements. Let’s look at some of the changes, starting with working age benefits.
The then Chancellor George Osborne announced a freeze on the personal allowance element of benefits in 2016, but that has changed for 2020 and for the first time in five years the basic personal allowance element will increase by 1.7%. This change affects Jobseekers’ Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance (both personal allowances and the work-related activity component), Income Support, Child and Working Tax Credits, some elements of Housing Benefit and finally Universal Credit. You can see some examples of the increased figures on our benefits uprating poster.
For Universal Credit (UC) recipients only – so this does not apply if you are in receipt of any other benefit – there will be an additional amount of £20 per week, paid for the next twelve months until April 2021. As UC is actually paid monthly this means that the standard allowance for a person over 25 will increase from £317.82 per month to £409.89 per month. Other components of UC are also increased by 1.7%.
There is also welcome news for those who receive help with housing costs either via UC or through Housing Benefit. If you are subject to the limits provided by the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) – so if you rent from a private landlord, for instance – then the LHA will also increase by 1.7%.
This is also the first increase in this allowance for five years.
For pension age benefit recipients, then both State Pension and the minimum amount of Pension Credit increase by the triple lock figure, which for 2020/21 is based on the average earnings index, and brings an increase of 3.9%. Please see the uprating poster for some examples of what that means in pounds for Pension Credit. State Pension entitlements are all individually calculated, so people can have different amounts, but the full amount of the new State Pension goes up from £168.60 per week to £175.20.
Disability benefits like Personal Independence Payment and Disability Living Allowance have continued to be increased each year while the other benefits were frozen. This is also the case for 2020, and these benefits are also increased by 1.7%. Again, please see our uprating poster for some examples of the actual figures. This increase also applies to the disability premiums payable with some means tested benefits like ESA and Pension Credit, so they will rise too.
While most benefit increases lag behind the increases in earnings, it is good to see some relaxation of restrictions this year with the basic personal allowances and the LHA. Hopefully this will be of help to those who need it most.
If you are supported by Dosh, your Financial Advocate will include these increases on your next Money Plan.
If you manage your own benefit and want to check you are getting the benefits you are entitled to, you can use an online calculator: www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators or view all the relevant rates for each benefit at www.gov.uk/browse/benefits. For a more detailed review, Dosh can conduct a Money Check.
Meike Beckford April 28th, 2020
Posted In: News and Blogs
Tags: benefits, DLA, housing benefit, Pension Credit, PIP, State Pension, Universal Credit
Summer Newsletter 2019
Welcome to the Dosh Money Pack newsletter for Summer 2019!
This edition of the newsletter was put together by Grace Calvert, our Dosh Financial Assistant.
Download the full newsletter to read all our updates and tweet us @DoshTweets or contact us to tell us what you think.
This is a quarterly newsletter and the next one will be out in the summer. If you have ideas for future newsletter pieces, please get in touch!
This edition includes:
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Meike Beckford August 22nd, 2019
Posted In: News and Blogs
Tags: benefits, Council Tax, ESA, Grace Calvert, PIP, story, Universal Credit
Dosh Summer Newsletter 2018
Welcome to the Dosh Money Pack newsletter for Summer 2018!
This edition of the newsletter was put together by Lia Herbert, our Dosh Financial Assistant and Meike Beckford, Dosh Financial Advocacy Manager.
Download the full newsletter to read all our updates and tweet us @DoshTweets or contact us to tell us what you think.
This is a quarterly newsletter and the next one will be out in the summer. If you have ideas for future newsletter pieces, please get in touch!
This edition includes:
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Meike Beckford August 2nd, 2018
Posted In: News and Blogs
Tags: money pack, Natwest, newsletter, PIP, story, training, Universal Credit
Dosh’s commitments for 2018-19
Dosh has been putting together our Business Plan for the next year: April 2018 to March 2019.
In our plan, we have written 6 commitments:
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1. We will show that people with a learning disability can lead our company |
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2. We will make sure our systems and processes are ready to support more than 1000 people |
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3. We will have a louder voice as financial advocates to make a difference for people through innovative research and ambitious projects |
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4. We will develop new ways to support people with a learning disability aged 16-25 transitioning from child to adult services |
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5. We will write a plan for Dosh from the point of view of people we support, building on the Dosh Promise to make sure we keep getting better at giving people the support they want |
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6. We will keep growing steadily and make sure Dosh has long-term financial stability |
We’re really excited about these commitments and our business plan and want to share them with you. We created a video that tells you all about them.
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Meike Beckford February 16th, 2018
Posted In: News and Blogs, Uncategorized
Tags: advocacy, business, personalisation, PIP
Being an appointee
By Meike Beckford, Financial Advocacy Manager
Here at Dosh, we’ve been thinking about what it means to be an appointee for someone’s benefits. 100,000s of people across the UK have an appointee, many of whom are family members doing a great job for their relative without any training and only limited information. If you’re just starting on this journey, what do you need to do, know and have to be a successful appointee?
Firstly, what is an appointee?
An appointee is a person or organisation that is registered with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to manage a person’s benefits if they lack capacity to do this themselves.
Unlike a Power of Attorney, Guardian or Deputy, an appointee isn’t a legal authority over all of someone’s money; it just lets you manage their benefits. This can be great for people who only have benefits income as it’s much simpler and cheaper to set up and doesn’t take as much control away. It does come with its own challenges however; in particular when dealing with other companies to help them spend their benefits money and pay the person’s bills.
What does an appointee do?
Simply put, an appointee represents the person with the DWP. This means you do everything the benefit claimant would usually do, like filling out application forms, receiving benefit payments and reporting changes in circumstances. You are the one that receives benefit letters and is responsible for completing them. If that sounds scary, don’t panic just yet – there is plenty of help out there if you know where to look and we hope this article will help too.
Your main responsibilities are to:
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What else can you do as appointee?
You may also manage the person’s Housing Benefit and Council Tax. To do this, you need to register separately with their Local Authority, but most will accept you if you can show you are already DWP appointee. Housing Benefit is often linked to other benefits like ESA and also requires you to report savings (over £16,000) so it’s useful to manage them together. If you’re managing Council Tax you can often get discounts for the person – such as the Severe Mental Impairment exemption that has been in the news recently.
If the person has a Motability vehicle, you will also be responsible for this as the appointee. You must ensure this is used for the person’s benefit and is worthwhile – they are sacrificing nearly £60 per week of their DLA or PIP to have the vehicle.
So, that’s the basics. In part 2 we’ll talk about some of the most common questions we get and some of the pitfalls it is easy to fall into.
Return to our main blog page or home page
Meike Beckford January 8th, 2018
Posted In: News and Blogs, Uncategorized
Tags: appointee, banking, benefits, Meike Beckford, Motability, PIP
Dosh Newsletter Autumn 2017
Welcome to the Dosh Money Pack Newsletter for Autumn 2017!
This edition of the newsletter was put together by Lia Herbert, our new Dosh Financial Assistant.
Download the full newsletter to read all our updates and tweet us @DoshTweets or contact us to tell us what you think.
This is a quarterly newsletter and the next one will be out in the summer. If you have ideas for future newsletter pieces, please get in touch!
This edition includes:
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Meike Beckford December 11th, 2017
Posted In: News and Blogs
Tags: 10, annual review, benefits, Blue Badge, housing benefit, money pack, Motability, newsletter, PIP, story
Benefit changes 2017-18
Will my benefits change this year? Most benefit amounts have stayed the same for a few years, but from April 2017 some of them will go up. Here is Dosh’s guide explaining the changes:
Why do benefit amounts change?
The amount that people get in benefits often goes up each year in April because of inflation. Inflation is a word for when prices go up so money is worth less. Inflation means that in 2017 you can buy less for your money than you could in 2016. For example, a 2% rate of inflation would mean that something costing £1 last year would cost £1.02 this year. If you want to learn more, you can watch an accessible video about why prices go up over time.
Inflation means that to be able to afford the same amount of things, the money you have coming in needs to go up by the same amount as other prices are going up each year.
Why did benefits not go up last year?
The government chooses how much is paid for different benefits. They decided that working age benefits were going to be frozen (stay the same amount) for 4 years from April 2016. This means that pensioners will get more money each year, but people who are younger than retirement age will get the same amount from April 2016 to April 2020.
The government has decided that some benefits will still go up each year while most people’s benefits stay the same. Disability benefits are some of the benefits which have been protected. These benefits are:
- Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
- Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
- Disability premiums – the extra money you can get with some benefits for being sick or disabled
- Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) Support Group component
How much will disability benefits change by?
Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) are paid to anyone who is disabled. It doesn’t matter if you are in work or how much savings you have, you just need to meet the criteria and score enough points at assessment.
DLA and PIP will both go up by the same amount this year:
| Old weekly amount | New weekly amount | |
| Low Rate Care
(DLA only) |
£21.80 | £22 |
| Middle Rate Care (DLA)
Standard Daily Living (PIP) |
£55.10 | £55.65 |
| High Rate Care (DLA)
Enhanced Daily Living (PIP) |
£82.30 | £83.10 |
| Low Rate Mobility (DLA)
Standard Mobility (PIP) |
£21.80 | £22 |
| High Rate Mobility (DLA)
Enhanced Mobility (PIP) |
£57.45 | £58 |
How much will income replacement benefits go up by?
Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Income Support (IS) and Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) are paid to people who are not working. ESA and IS are benefits that replace earnings for people who can’t work because they are ill or disabled. JSA is also a benefit replacing earnings for people who are not in work and some people claiming it are ill or disabled. These benefits will not change for most people. The main part of the benefit, called the Personal Allowance, has been frozen and will stay the same.
Some people who get these benefits and are ill or disabled get an extra payment on top of their personal allowance called a premium. To be entitled to a premium you need to be in the Support Group or be getting a certain level of DLA/PIP, along with other conditions. These are going up this year by this amount:
| Old weekly amount | New weekly amount | |
| Enhanced Disability Premium
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£15.75 | £15.90 |
| Severe Disability Premium
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£61.85 | £62.45 |
| Support Group component
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£36.20 | £36.55 |
This means the most you can get in Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) has gone up from £186.90 to £188 per week.
Are any benefits going down this year?
Most benefits are not going down. There have been some rule changes for the benefits cap which means that some people will get less money overall. But this does not apply to people who get disability benefits (PIP/DLA) or Carers Allowance. You can learn more about the Benefits Cap and find out if it applies to you on the DWP website and other advice sites such as Turn2Us.
There are also changes for people in the Work Related Activity Group for ESA if they have made a new application after 3rd April 2017. If you are already getting ESA in the Work Related Activity Group this should not affect you. You can learn more about the different ESA groups and the changes on the Citizens Advice website.
These changes will not affect everyone. If you think you will be affected then you should get more advice from Citizens Advice Bureau, your local Welfare Rights organisations, or from your Dosh advocate.
Where can I get help with my benefits?
If you have any more questions or are worried that you are not being paid the right amount, there are lots of websites which can help you. For example, Turn2Us, EntitledTo and Citizens Advice Bureau. You can find them and many more resources in the ‘Links’ page on our website.
If you support a family member with their money and benefits and would like to learn more, our ‘Factsheets for Family Carers’ cover topics such as ‘Benefits’ and ‘Where does the money come from?’ which could also help.
If you want to learn more about Dosh Appointeeship or Financial Advocacy, please get in touch to find out how we can support you.
Meike Beckford March 28th, 2017
Posted In: News and Blogs
Tags: benefits, DLA, ESA, Maddy Hubbard, PIP
Dosh Newsletter Winter 2017
We have just published the Dosh money pack newsletter for Winter 2017!
This edition of the newsletter was put together by Katie Scott, Dosh Financial Assistant.
Download the Dosh newsletter to read all our updates and tweet us @DoshTweets or contact us to tell us what you think.
This is a quarterly newsletter and the next one will be out in the spring. If you have ideas for future newsletter pieces, please get in touch!
This edition includes:
Meike Beckford February 7th, 2017
Posted In: News and Blogs, Uncategorized
Tags: benefits, Katie Scott, Maddy Hubbard, Meike Beckford, Motability, newsletter, PIP, Sue Rees
