Guidance

LA Welfare Direct 11/2025

Updated 11 November 2025

LAWD11/2025 4 November 2025

Crown Copyright 2025 

Recipients may freely reproduce this bulletin.

Contact

If you have queries about the:

• technical content of this bulletin, contact details are given at the end of each article 
• general content and distribution of this bulletin, contact lawelfare.correspondence@dwp.gov.uk

Who should read

All Housing Benefit colleagues, County Councils and wider if appropriate

County Councils: Please note that the articles at paragraphs 7 to 11, 12 to 14, 22 to 29 and 37 to 42 are for your attention.

Action

For information

Editorial

It was great to catch up with many local authority (LA) colleagues (and other associations!) at the Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation (IRRV) Annual Conference and Exhibition in Telford last month. I found the sessions I attended informative and insightful, particularly those around local government reorganisation and the challenges you face when going through this process. Our teams in the Local Authority Partnership, Engagement and Delivery (LA-PED) division are always here to support LAs through this, particularly when it comes to merging systems and processes, and we’re preparing for the next wave of new unitary authorities as they get announced.

The conference was well attended and I hope you found the update from Clare Elliott (Head of LA-PED) useful. Please feel free to send any feedback to lawelfare.correspondence@dwp.gov.uk for my attention. We are also planning for the IRRV regional events coming up in December to relay some of those messages and provide further updates where we can.

Beyond that, no doubt you’ll be turning your attention to annual billing/uprating, which, if all goes to plan, will be the first one post Universal Credit migration completion. I’d like to thank you all for your support and efforts in ensuring nearly 900 thousand Housing Benefit claimants moved safely across through this process, this could not have happened without that. This is all the more impressive when considering speed of processing times are being maintained, the latest of which have just been published (more on this in this bulletin).

Have a great rest of the year. 

Darren Baker 

Head of Change and Communications, Fraud, Error and Debt Team

Update: Scottish Government disability benefits

1. The Scottish Government has advised that the managed migration of Personal Independence Payments (PIP), Carer’s Allowance and Disability Living Allowance to the equivalent Scottish Government Benefits will end on 5 November 2025.

New cross border process

2. From 6 November 2025, awards of United Kingdom (UK) benefits named above will cease when a customer changes address from England or Wales to Scotland. Customers will be required to make a new claim for Adult Disability Payment and Carer’s Support Payment. Customers who move to England and Wales from Scotland will be required to make a new claim for PIP and Carers Allowance.

Impact on local authorities

3. ATLAS (Automated Transfer to Local Authority Systems) notifications will continue to be issued to notify local authorities (LAs) of the end of the UK Government benefit and any new award of the Scottish equivalent benefit.

4. All ATLAS notifications with a future end date received after 6 November 2025 should be treated as business as usual and actioned from the relevant date.

5. From 6 November 2025 it will be the responsibility of the customer to make a new claim to the relevant Scottish benefit if required. There will be no automatic transfer and no assumption can be made that the Scottish benefit has been awarded unless an ATLAS notification is received to confirm this.

6. If you have any queries, contact lawelfare.ladsdeliveryteam@dwp.gov.uk

Funding for Department for Work and Pensions’ requirements provided by LAs IT software suppliers

7. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has worked with project leads and LA Housing Benefit (HB) IT software suppliers on the LA funding to pay for DWP commissioned work completed by the LA HB IT software suppliers.

8. The funding was paid to LAs on 24 October 2025.

9. On 22 October 2025, a letter from the LA Data Sharing Team was issued to each LAs single inbox which provided a breakdown of the funding, the work this relates to and the date the payment would be made. LAs should ensure this information is provided to their finance team.

10. The LA HB IT software suppliers will be invoicing you for the amount received. LA finance teams need to ensure these invoices are paid in a timely manner.

11. Thank you for your support with this work. If you need any further information, email lawelfare.ladsdeliveryteam@dwp.gov.uk

Care Home Information Service: Additional introductory workshops for SystemC LAs only

12. Further to LAWD9/2025, which outlined the planned Care Home Information Service (CHIS) introductory workshops for SystemC LAs, we have scheduled two additional Microsoft Teams workshops for those that were unable to attend:

• Wednesday 5 November 2025 at 10:00am
• Thursday 20 November 2025 at 10:00am

13. These workshops are designed to provide essential insights into CHIS and its implementation. We recommend that representatives from both your Adult Social Care team and your IT team attend.

14. Please contact us at lawelfare.ladsdeliveryteam@dwp.gov.uk to book a place.

Update: Decommissioning of Universal Credit Local Council Tax Reduction Version 1 data feed

15. We’re continuing to phase out the Version 1 (V1) Universal Credit (UC) Local Council Tax Reduction (LCTR) data feed as part of our wider improvements to data sharing with LAs.

Latest progress

16. On 3 November 2025, we stopped sending V1 files to most of the remaining LAs who had continued to receive them after the 30 September 2025 switch-off.

17. From 4 November 2025, only 36 LAs will continue to receive the V1 file. We’ll be working closely with these authorities over the coming weeks to complete the decommissioning process by the end of December 2025.

Technical update

18. We’ve identified that in some cases the amount of self-employed income used in UC assessments has been reduced due to current or previously reported losses. To support you, we’ve updated the UC LCTR Technical Guidance Version 11 with examples, which can be found on Glasscubes.

What’s next

19. While most of the issues previously raised about the UC LCTR data feed have been resolved, we’ve identified a few minor changes needed in how UC claim data is gathered. We’re working with UC colleagues to implement these changes as soon as possible.

Help us evaluate the impact

20. We want to understand whether the improvements we’ve introduced have delivered the expected benefits. Please share your experiences with us, including any savings or efficiencies your authority has seen, by emailing lawelfare.datasharingtransformation@dwp.gov.uk

21. We’re also keen to hear if things haven’t gone as planned. If you’ve encountered issues or have suggestions for how we could improve delivery in future, please share these with us also.

Update: UC Searchlight enhancements

22. We’re continuing to improve the UC Searchlight tool to support LA decision-making. Here’s the latest on what’s coming and what’s changed.

Housing costs enhancement – New timeline

23. The next round of improvements, originally expected in late October 2025, has been delayed due to competing priorities. We now expect the housing costs enhancement to be delivered by the end of November 2025.

24. With support from our LA Working Group, we’ve updated Searchlight guidance to reflect these improvements. We’ll share the revised guidance with LAs when the enhancement goes live.

Self-employed data and display improvements – What’s next

25. Work is underway on the fourth and final phase of improvements, which will add self-employed data to Searchlight. We’ll be demonstrating how this will appear at the November 2025 LA Working Group meeting.

26. We’re also reviewing the order of data presentation to better reflect the UC decision-making process. Feedback from the working group will help shape the final design.

27. We don’t yet have a definitive date for the delivery of this final set of improvements. However, we are anticipating it being delivered by the end of January 2026 at the latest.

Terminology alignment

28. We’re exploring whether it’s possible to align Searchlight terminology more closely with the language used in UC. This should help improve clarity and consistency for users.

29. If you have any questions about the content of this article, email lawelfare.datasharingtransformation@dwp.gov.uk

Update: Identifying Local Vulnerability

30. We advised in LAWD9/2025 that we were finalising a requirements document and we completed this work in September 2025. We continue to consult with architects, UC and data engineers to ensure we build a strategic, end-to-end solution that meets LA requirements for data to identify vulnerable individuals and households.

31. We are committed to making further progress during the ‘Alpha phase’ of this data share product and we will continue to provide further updates through LA Welfare Direct bulletins.

32. In the meantime, you can contact the team by writing to lawelfare.datasharingtransformation@dwp.gov.uk

Urgent reminder: Discretionary Housing Payment mid-year claims form return for the financial year ending March 2026 (England and Wales only)

33. The Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) mid-year claims form (1 April 2025 to 30 September 2025) for the financial year ending March 2026 was issued to local authorities (LAs) on 17 September 2025 and the deadline for submitting returns, as required in legislation, was 31 October 2025.

34. We would like to use this opportunity to extend our thanks to those LAs who have already submitted their returns. However, if you have not done so yet then we ask that you do so immediately.

35. All returns should be sent to dhp.returns@dwp.gov.uk

36. If your LA is having any difficulties submitting your return or has still not received your DHP mid-year claims form, please contact the email address given above as soon as possible.

Child Benefit changes and HM Revenue and Customs correction exercise (England only)

37. Child Benefit legislation was amended to align with changes made by the Department for Education in 2014, who raised the statutory participation age for education in England to 18 years old. However, the definition of ‘full-time’ education for Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit purposes was accidentally disapplied for a small number of customers. Due to this, parents and guardians whose children were receiving less than 12 hours a week of education missed out on Child Benefit and Child Tax Credits payments between April 2014 and August 2025.

Extended Child Benefit

38. To address this, from 1 September 2025, parents and guardians of young people:

• in non-advanced education who cannot meet the 12-hour weekly requirement due to illness or disability, throughout Great Britain and Northern Ireland, will be eligible for Child Benefit to continue

• who are receiving full-time non-advanced education outside of a school or college, such as being home-schooled will also now be eligible to continue to claim Child Benefit, whether this began before or after the young person’s 16th birthday

HM Revenue and Customs correction exercise and how LAs can help

39. About 7 million families received Child Benefit last year. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has identified that a very small number, about 500 over 10 years, may not have been paid their correct entitlement. This affected families in England only.

40. The HMRC messaging explains both the new rules that have come into effect and how families can check if they may be entitled to backdated payments.

41. We would be grateful if you could share this messaging through your networks and communication channels to help us reach families who may be affected by these changes. This is particularly important to reach families who may be eligible for the backdated payments as HMRC do not hold records of those who may have been affected.

42. Thank you for your support in helping to communicate these important changes to families who may benefit.

Invitation to the next Data sharing and IT consultation and engagement forum

43. The next forum will be held on Wednesday 26 November 2025 from 11am to 12 noon.

Joining instructions

• The MS Teams link to this meeting has been shared in the version of the LAWD11/2025 that was sent directly to each LA’s single inbox. Note: It is more difficult to ask questions through dial-in so, if you anticipate having questions, we recommend joining through MS Teams where possible

• Aim to join the event two or three minutes before the start time, as we intend to start promptly. Do note: Speakers will be muted by default but instructions will be given during the event if you want to ask a question

Forum agenda

• A 15-minute introduction from DWP, covering projects recently delivered, projects currently in delivery and insight into future planned projects, as well as the most recent common issues that have been reported to us

• 30 to 45 minutes of questions from LAs on the call about the projects and matters covered in the introduction and any other IT and data sharing questions and issues LAs may have

• If time allows, 15 minutes focused on suggestions from LAs about future data sharing, data matching or automation projects that DWP could consider funding and delivering

44. The call will be recorded and the recording will be published on Glasscubes.

45. The forum is open to all LAs and it would be beneficial for every LA to have at least one representative dial into the forum to help us maximise feedback. Each LA representative should:

• seek input and feedback from as many of their colleagues as possible prior to dialling in, for example, questions they might want an answer to

• have knowledge, at least at a high level, about data sharing, data matching and current IT topic areas

• feedback to their colleagues about how the conference call went, including the answers to the questions that were asked

46. We look forward to your participation on the call. However, if you have any questions in the meantime, please contact paul.selby@dwp.gov.uk

Publication of HB speed of processing statistics for April 2025 to June 2025

47. The department published the HB speed of processing statistics and associated data for quarter 1 (April 2025 to June 2025) of the financial year ending March 2026 on Wednesday 29 October 2025.

Some key points

• During the latest quarter there were 100,000 new claims processed. This comprises of:
  • 73,000 (70%) for Working Age claimants
  • 31,000 (30%) for Pension age claimants

• Overall, this is a decrease of 4,600 (4%) since last quarter and an increase of 480 (1%) when compared to a year earlier

• During the latest quarter there were 1 million changes of circumstances for existing HB claims processed. This comprises of:​

  • 660,000 (65%) for Working Age claimants​
  • 350,000 (35%) for Pension age claimants​

• Overall, this is a decrease of 1.9 million (65%) since last quarter and a decrease of 410,000 (29%) when compared to the same quarter a year earlier

• do note, the volumes for Working Age and Pension age cases may not sum to the total volume for processed cases sometimes. This is caused by records that could not be matched to CIS (Customer Information System) to extract missing date of birth and sex of claimant records. For information on the matching process and reasons for unmatched records, please see the HB speed of processing methodology note

New claims

• The average time taken to process an HB new claim during the latest quarter was 21 calendar days. This is one day higher than last quarter and the same as a year earlier and comprises an average time of:​

  • 20 days for Working Age claimants​
  • 25 days for Pension age claimants​

Change of circumstances

• The average number of days taken to process a change of circumstances to an existing HB claim during the latest quarter was 7 calendar days. This is 4 days higher than last quarter and one day lower than a year earlier and comprises an average time of:

  • 7 days for Working Age claimants​
  • 9 days for Pension age claimants

Practitioners’ Operational Group and LA Welfare Steering Group

48. The last Practitioners’ Operational Group meeting took place on 16 October 2025. Agenda items included the Crisis and Resilience Fund, supported housing, LA funding, bringing the administration together for HB and Pension Credit, policy exploration focused on Legacy HB (particularly for those in temporary accommodation and supported accommodation), Move to UC, Performance Measurement sampling and Cost of Living.

49. Both groups’ meetings are held bi-monthly (and alternately), so the next LA Welfare Steering Group meeting is scheduled to take place on 20 November 2025.

50. If you have any questions regarding topics raised at these consultation groups, email lawelfare.correspondence@dwp.gov.uk

HB Decisions by the Upper Tribunal

51. Decision Making and Appeals (DMA) Leeds is not aware of any cases that have been decided by the Upper Tribunal (UT).

52. A selection of decisions of the UT are published on their website. Do be aware that there is an undefined time lapse between decisions being issued and their appearance on the website. 

53. If you have any queries about cases before the UT Judges or courts, please contact us by email at quarryhouse.dmaleedscustomersupportservices@dwp.gov.uk

HB cases awaiting decision by the UT

54. DMA Leeds has not been made aware of any HB case that is awaiting decision by the Upper Tribunal.

New Legislation

55. The following Statutory Instruments (SIs) have been laid:

• 2025 No. 1069 – The Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2025, made on 10 October 2025 

• 2025 No. 1077 – The Income-related Benefits (Subsidies to Authorities) Amendment Order 2025, made on 13 October 2025 

• 2025 No. 1089 – The Social Security (Scotland Cross-border Consequential Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2025, made on 14 October 2025 

• 2025 No. 1128 – The Data Protection Act 2018 (Qualifying Competent Authorities) Regulations 2025, made on 27 October 2025. 

• 2025 No. 1130 – The Post Office Capture Redress Scheme (Tax Exemptions and Relief) Regulations 2025, made on 28 October 2025

• 2025 No. 1132 – The Social Security (Contributions) (Amendment 7) Regulations 2025, made on 28 October 2025

56. Copies of SIs can now be downloaded from legislation.gov.uk

What’s new on our HB pages on www.gov.uk

Document Type	Subject	Link
LAWD bulletin	Editorial Housing Benefit Matching Service: New rule UCHB105 Update: UC Local Council Tax Reduction decommissioning of the V1 files Next Performance Measurement HB work programme for November 2025 to October 2026 Update: Memorandum of Understanding compliance audit Discretionary Housing Payments mid-year claims form for the financial year ending March 2026 (England and Wales only) Disabled Facilities Grant/Disability Adaption Grant: Discovery findings and clarifying existing support for financial assessments Further LA HB subsidy workshops in early 2026 Practitioners’ Operational Group and Local Authority Welfare Steering Group HB Decisions by the Upper Tribunal New Legislation What’s new on our HB pages on www.gov.uk	LAWD10/2025
Subsidy circular	Changes to the Housing Benefit subsidy Calculation for prior year overpayments, including Appendix A	S5/2025 and Appendix A
LAWD bulletin	Reminder: Invitation to the Crisis and Resilience Fund co-design concluding event on Wednesday 22 October 2025 (from 3pm to 5pm) Pension Credit Week of Action from 27 October to 2 November 2025 Pension Credit applications and awards: August 2025	LAWD10/2025 lite
Housing Benefit overpayment recovery good practice guidance	Good practice for local authority staff on recovering Housing Benefit overpayments	Pursuing Housing Benefit overpayment recovery effectively: Good practice guide