Guidance

LA Welfare Direct 4/2025

Updated 7 May 2025

LAWD4/2025 1 April 2025

Crown Copyright 2025

Recipients may freely reproduce this bulletin.

Contact

If you have queries about the:

• technical content of this bulletin then 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 and wider if appropriate

Action

For information

Editorial

There is much to consider in this, shall we say, spring edition of our Local Authority Welfare Direct. It is beginning to feel like spring but I’m sure the typical British weather will have one or two surprises before the warm days are here. Let me take you through a quick canter of the articles we have for you.

Firstly, there is a reminder about your pre audit final claims for Housing Benefit (HB) subsidy and Discretionary Housing Payment claims. Please note your diaries as these returns are required no later than the 30 April 2025. 

Springing into the new financial year, our HB Award Accuracy Initiative continues to evolve with the ask this year for local authorities (LAs) to undertake Full Case Reviews to further support keeping caseloads free from fraud and error. There will be some workshops tailored to the specific IT software suppliers, where members of my team will talk through how the quality of the management information can be improved to enhance local record keeping and that which we receive through SHBE (Single Housing Benefit Extract). This will be very much about sharing knowledge and we have some helpful tips for you to consider.

Talking of invitations, we also have our next Data sharing and IT consultation, and engagement forum planned for Tuesday 20 May 2025, so another date for your diary! Data sharing continues to be a priority for the division to support LAs. There are some interesting articles which will be of particular interest and will help LA colleagues administer the big business that is HB.

Finally, I should like to signpost you to the latest HB recovery statistics which we published on 5 March 2025. We consider the statistics show the profile of debt recovery has risen since the COVID-19 pandemic and LA performance continues to improve. For our part, we will continue to work collaboratively with LA colleagues, like we have done through our debt recovery workshops and the continuous improvement for the recovery of HB from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), working with our DWP debt management to enhance the process and influencing authorities to maximise use of the service. My team is very keen to support LAs to continue to improve recovery performance and we offer a Debt Recovery Health Check. If you are interested in this or any other form of consultancy support, do get in touch at lawelfare.pdt@dwp.gov.uk

Jonathan Bottomer 

Lead for the Performance Development Team

Pension Age Disability Payment and Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance IT changes

1. In LAWD11/2024, we advised local authorities (LAs) that Pension Age Disability Payment (PADP) and Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance (SADLA) were introduced in October 2024. For those in Scotland, PADP replaces Attendance Allowance and SADLA replaces Disability Living Allowance (DLA). 

2. From 22 April 2025, applications for PADP will be open to every area in Scotland. SADLA is a closed benefit and is not accepting new applications.

3. Both Attendance Allowance and DLA cases are now being progressively transferred to PADP and SADLA respectively. Further information on case transfer can be found in LAWD3/2025.

IT changes

4. A new Automated Transfer to Local Authority Systems (ATLAS) schema will be implemented on 19 May 2025 to include PADP and SADLA data.  

5. All LAs will need to be able to accept the new schema as the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) issue a single ATLAS schema for the whole of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales).

Impact on LAs

6. The LA software suppliers are making the required changes to their Housing Benefit (HB) systems. The changes will be implemented in their latest releases. All LAs will be notified of the availability of the new software by their LA IT software supplier.

Use of PADP and SADLA data

7. The Scottish Government has asked DWP to provide the PADP and SADLA data through ATLAS files. This data will also be accessible on Searchlight for the purposes of the administration of HB, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) and Local Council Tax Reduction.    

8. If you have any questions on the IT changes in this article, email lawelfare.ladsdeliveryteam@dwp.gov.uk  

9. For all other enquiries, email lawelfare.changemanagementoffice@dwp.gov.uk

Reminder: Deadline for the submission of HB pre-audit final claims and DHP end of year final claims

10. Pre-audit final claims for HB subsidy and DHP claims (England and Wales only) are normally provided to DWP by 30 April each year.   

11. The HB subsidy pre-audit final claim form and the DHP end of year government contribution final claim form were issued to all LAs on 14 March 2025.  

12. LAs must submit their claims by 30 April 2025 for the financial year ending March 2025.  

13. Please return your completed claim forms to  

• hbsubsidy@dwp.gov.uk for HB Subsidy  

• dhp.returns@dwp.gov.uk for DHP 

14. If for any reason you have not received either claim form or you need any further information then contact us at lawelfare.lapaymentsandsubsidy@dwp.gov.uk

All LA Housing Benefit Award Accuracy conference calls: To discuss the approach to management information

15. The HB Award Accuracy (HBAA) Initiative launch letter for the financial year ending (FYE) March 2026 was sent to Chief Finance Officers and Revenues and Benefits managers on 21 February 2025. An ‘All local authority (LA) HBAA and Verify Earnings and Pensions initiatives conference call’ was then held on Tuesday 18 March 2025. 

16. The Performance Development Team (PDT) is now inviting LAs to join a further call to discuss HBAA management information quality. 

17. During the call we will look to prepare LAs for the relaunch of the HBAA Initiative by providing an overview of the HBAA data journey, current user guides and how LAs can use their SHBE (Single Housing Benefit Extract) data to check Full Case Reviews are recorded correctly. 

18. We encourage all LAs to attend, ideally with one HBAA lead/officer and one systems/technical officer (preferably with SHBE knowledge). 

19. We will be running three separate online MS Teams calls, tailored to the specific IT software supplier users, Capita, Civica and NEC.  Do note, these events can only be attended through MS Teams, so there is no dial-in alternative.

Joining instructions

20. The joining instructions are: 

• Note: The MS Teams link to these meetings has been shared in the version of the LAWD4/2025 that was sent directly to each LA’s single inbox 

• Aim to join the event two or three minutes before the start time, as we intend to start promptly 

• Speakers will be muted by default, but instructions will be given during the event if you want to ask a question 

• To prevent any capacity issues, we would ask that no more than two representatives from an LA join the call 

21. We look forward to your participation on the call. However, in the meantime, if you have any questions email PDT at lawelfare.pdt@dwp.gov.uk

Update: Universal Credit data sharing

Universal Credit – Local Council Tax Reduction data feed enhancements implementation update

22. As advised in LAWD3/2025, we continue with our agreed rollout schedule of the fully enhanced version 2 (V2) files to coincide with IT software suppliers’ releases that will take advantage of all the latest changes. 

23. Following the successful go-live of four test LAs that use Civica software, V2 files were released to all Civica LA sites from 25 March 2025. 

24. That means that we have met our target in ensuring that the V2 files were available for all LAs to use by the end of March 2025. We would like to thank our working group members, the LAs who tested the files in advance of wider rollout across the various suppliers and the LA IT software suppliers who have greatly supported us through development, testing and rollout.  

25. It is our intention to decommission V1 files by the end of September 2025. Beyond that, only V2 files will be available.  

26. We would greatly appreciate hearing from you about your experience during implementation and the impact that it had on the service you deliver by writing to lawelfare.datasharingtransformation@dwp.gov.uk

Additional Universal Credit information on Searchlight

27. We advised in LAWD3/2025 that we were planning to add more Universal Credit (UC) claim information to Searchlight in phases, starting with Phase 1 on the evening of 3 April 2025. Unfortunately, whilst work to build and test Phase 1 was completed on time, the Searchlight release that included the UC Phase 1 work has been postponed until 24 April 2025. 

28. The delay was caused by difficulties affecting the previous release, which took time to respond to and correct to ensure future releases were unaffected. The delay then reduced the time available to get ready for the 3 April 2025 release. 

29. Improvements in Phase 1 include: 

• the amount the benefit cap reduces the UC award by, if it has been applied 

• details, at an aggregated level, about deductions that are made from the UC award 

• details, at a household level, about any Limited Capability for Work (LCW) or LCW - Work Related Activity, including if it has no monetary value 

30. We strongly recommend LA staff read the associated updated training material as some of the changes require an understanding in the context of what we have been able to develop in Phase 1.  

31. We’re already working on Phase 2 and are aiming to:  

• provide more information about dependant children, indicate which children are and which children are not included in the UC assessment (due to the two-child limit) 

• say what the UC Transitional Protection relates to   

• provide greater clarity on what any deduction from UC is for 

• include the amount, at a household level, of any Disabled Child Element  

• include the amount and type of any Advance Payment 

• include the amount and type of any Alternative Payment Arrangements 

32. We continue to consult with our working group of LAs to co-design how and where the new items will appear in Searchlight and we are very grateful for their support. 

33. The Local Government Data Sharing Transformation team will continue to update on progress through this LAWD bulletin but, in the meantime, if you have any questions email lawelfare.datasharingtransformation@dwp.gov.uk

Identifying Local Vulnerability data sharing working group

34. We advised in LAWD3/2025 that the Local Government Data Sharing Transformation team are still engaged in work to conclude the discovery phase. Unfortunately, this is taking longer than expected due to the need to consult more widely. Please bear with us and we will continue to provide updates in future LAWD bulletins.

Update: Care Home Information Service national rollout plans

35. As advised in LAWD12/24, DWP continues to work with Adult Social Care (ASC) IT software suppliers and our volunteer Early Adopter LAs to test the new automated Care Home Information Service (CHIS) solution.  

36. All ASC IT software suppliers are progressing with the development and implementation of some improvements identified during the Early Adopter trial. These changes will be tested and released in line with suppliers’ release schedules.

National rollout

37. Following the testing of the enhancements, national rollout of the CHIS solution will begin with LAs on an individual ASC IT software supplier basis.

Next steps

38. To support LAs prepare for national rollout, the Local Authority Partnership, Engagement and Delivery (LA-PED) division will be arranging all LA calls by each ASC IT supplier customer group. The aim is to provide more in-depth information about the CHIS solution and explain the preliminary actions LAs will need to complete in readiness for the rollout. 

39. Further updates on the CHIS national rollout will be shared through the LAWD bulletin and Glasscubes. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please contact lawelfare.ladsdeliveryteam@dwp.gov.uk

Update: Move to UC

40. Tax credits are closing on 5 April 2025 and claimants must respond to their migration notices by their deadline date to continue to receive financial support from the government.   

41. The department recognises that some tax credit claimants may wait until their deadline to claim UC. For those claimants who have a deadline date close to the tax credit closure date, we want to ensure that we provide as much support as possible. Therefore, we are opening our UC Migration Notice Helpline (0800 169 0328) for an additional day on Saturday 5 April 2025, to answer any claimant questions. 

42. In addition to ensuring all tax credit claimants are supported to move to UC, we continue to make good progress on moving claimants receiving income-related Employment Support Allowance (including those who also receive HB).

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

43. The next forum will be held on Tuesday 20 May 2025 from 11am to 12 noon.

Joining instructions 

44. The joining instructions are: 

• Note: The MS Teams link to this meeting has been shared in the version of the LAWD4/2025 that was sent directly to each LA’s single inbox. 

• aim to join the event two or three minutes before the start time, as we intend to start promptly 

• 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, 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 

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

46. 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 answered 

• 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 we asked 

47. 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

HB Debt Recovery statistics for April 2024 to September 2024

48. The HB Debt Recovery (HBDR) statistics were published on 5 March 2025.

Headline statistics

49. During the first two quarters of the FYE March 2025:  

• LAs identified £219 million overpaid HB - £6 million less than the first two quarters of the FYE March 2024   

• LAs recovered £222 million overpaid HB - £4 million more than the first two quarters of the FYE March 2024   

• LAs wrote off £34 million overpaid HB - £3 million more than the first two quarters of the FYE March 2024   

• at the start of quarter 2 (Q2) of the FYE March 2025, there was £1.58 billion outstanding overpaid HB - £106 million less than at the start of Q2 of the FYE March 2024

50. As discussed at the national HB debt workshops organised and facilitated by the Performance Development Team between November 2023 to February 2024, LAs may want to consider benchmarking their LA’s performance against those of neighbouring or comparable LAs. Invariably the current economic climate and declining HB caseload will be impacting your HBDR figures and this is a way to consider if the impacts are similar.

Secondment opportunity on the Local Authority Data Sharing team

51. Working with LAs, as one of our major stakeholders in Welfare Reform, continues to feature heavily and, for this reason, we value the expertise and knowledge that those administering HB and other Welfare initiative within LAs can bring. 

52. LA-PED has had a very successful programme of bringing experts from LAs in to work alongside data sharing, subsidy, change and performance teams on secondment. We are now looking for an LA secondee to join our Local Authority Data Sharing (LADS) team.  

53. LADS work collaboratively across the department, LAs and their software suppliers to provide new data sharing opportunities between both organisations. We also enhance existing systems to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the data sharing with an emphasis on fraud and error. Although the emphasis on data sharing in the past has focused on HB, we are now expanding to put in place data sharing between ASC and other Local Welfare Provision. 

Desirable skills 

• Experience of working directly with a wide range of stakeholders  

• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills 

• Evidence of knowledge and experience of working on projects using project management approaches, tools, and techniques 

• Excellent drafting and communication skills 

• Proven planning and organisational skills, including risk management 

• Ability to manage competing priorities 

• Ability to work as part of a team or on own initiative 

• Knowledge of LAs and DWP relationships with LAs and the current IT data sharing solutions in place

• A working knowledge of Agile methodologies would also be advantageous 

Further information 

54. The secondment post would be offered for either 12 months or 24 months. The post is full time and can be based across the country, although no moves at public expense would be considered. The role is equivalent to a Civil Service Higher Executive Officer that has a national pay band of £37,497 to £38,373. You will, however, retain your current LA salary. 

55. If you are keen to register your interest:  

• check with your LA that you could be released, then  

• send your CV by email to jo.wood@dwp.gov.uk by Friday 25 April 2025

Practitioners’ Operational Group and Local Authority Welfare Steering Group

56. The last Local Authority Welfare Steering Group meeting took place on 20 March 2025. Agenda items included bringing the administration together for HB and Pension Credit, LA funding, Move to UC, the Fraud, Error and Debt Bill, data sharing, Cost of Living and supported housing.  

57. Both groups’ meetings are held bi-monthly (and alternately), so the next Practitioners’ Operational Group meeting is scheduled to take place on 16 April 2025.          

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

HB decisions by the Upper Tribunal

59. Decision Making and Appeals (DMA) Leeds is aware of the following HB cases that have been decided by the Upper Tribunal (UT): 

• UA-2023-000528-HB: Occupation of dwellings and temporary absence. Remit. Insufficient findings of fact and reasons regarding manner and use of the flat, including relevance of consumption of fuel and water at the address 

• UA-2023-000825-HB: Occupation of dwelling and temporary absence. Remit. Insufficient findings of fact and reasons regarding manner and use of the flat, including relevance of consumption of fuel and water at the address

60. 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. 

61.  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 

62. DMA Leeds has not been made aware of any HB cases that are awaiting decision by the UT.

New Legislation

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

• 2025 No. 232 – The Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) Regulations 2025, made on 25 February 2025  

• 2025 No. 242 – The Council Tax (Discount Disregards and Exempt Dwellings) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2025, made on 28 February 2025 

• 2025 No. 252 – The Public Service Pensions Revaluation Order 2025, made on 3 March 2025 

• 2025 No. 255 – The Social Security Revaluation of Earnings Factors Order 2025, made on 3 March 2025 

• 2025 No. 264 – The Guaranteed Minimum Pensions Increase Order 2025, made on 6 March 2025 

• 2025 No. 288 – The Social Security (Contributions) (Rates, Limits and Thresholds Amendments, National Insurance Funds Payment and Extension of Veteran’s Relief) Regulations 2025, made on 5 March 2025 

• 2025 No. 292 – The Child Benefit and Guardian’s Allowance Up-rating Order 2025, made on 5 March 2025 

• 2025 No. 318 – The Social Security (Contributions) (Re-rating) Consequential Amendments Regulations 2025, made on 10 March 2025 

• 2025 No. 321 – The Social Security (Contributions) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations 2025, made on 10 March 2025 

• 2025 No. 325 – The Social Security (Contributions) (Amendment No. 3) Regulations 2025, made on 11 March 2025 

• 2025 No. 328 – The Social Security (Contributions) (Amendment No. 4) Regulations 2025, made on 12 March 2025 

• 2025 No. 337 – The Guardian’s Allowance Up-rating Regulations 2025, made on 11 March 2025 

• 2025 No. 343 – The Pensions Increase (Review) Order 2025, made on 13 March 2025 

• 2025 No. 350 – The Social Security Contributions (Decisions and Appeals) (Amendment) Regulations 2025, made on 13 March 2025 

• 2025 No. 352 – The Social Security Benefits Up-rating Regulations 2025, made on 14 March 2025 

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

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

65. The following items can be found on the website link shown:

Document Type	Subject	Link
LAWD3/2025	Editorial – Reminder: Capital disregards for claimants fleeing domestic violence – HB debt recovered by the Department for Work and Pensions’ Debt Management: Payment schedule retention period – All LA HB Award Accuracy and Verify Earnings and Pensions Initiatives conference call on 18 March 2025 – Update: Pension Age Disability Payment and Scottish Adult Disability – Housing policy enquiries Living Allowance managed case transfers and pilot – Update: UC data sharing – Have your say on the future of supported housing – Publication of HB speed of processing statistics for July to September 2024 – Practitioners’ Operational Group and LA Welfare Steering Group – Move to UC – Cases with the Upper Tribunal – New Legislation – What’s new on our HB pages on www.gov.uk	LAWD3/2025
Guidance	Household Support Fund guidance FYE March 2026	Household Support Fund: guidance for local councils
Adjudication circular	The Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 (Disability Assistance) (Consequential Amendments) 2025	A5/2025
Subsidy circular	Rent Rebate Subsidy Limitation information for the financial year ending March 2026	S1/2025