Guidance

LA Welfare Direct 2/2026

Updated 3 February 2026

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.

Recipients may freely reproduce this bulletin.

Editorial

As ever, this months’ Local Authority Welfare Direct includes important articles, updating you about the latest things that impact on your Revenues and Benefits services and, sometimes, your wider local authority (LA) colleagues too.

I thought I would take the opportunity in writing this editorial to highlight some important long-term trends in the work my team and I have been doing to improve the data sharing and data security services we offer to LAs.

Below is a graph going back nearly 12 years showing the monthly volume of incidents/queries that my LA Support team receive (actual volumes shown as a dashed line and the 12-month moving average shown as a bolded line). You can see that, in December 2025, my team received the lowest number of incidents/queries since September 2015.

More important than that is the trend, with the latest 12-month moving average of 885 per month being 64% lower than the peak of 2492 in September 2019.

We’ve achieved this huge decline as a consequence of our relentless focus on reducing Failure Demand. Failure Demand reduction is all about analysing the incident and query data, identifying and categorising all that could have been avoided and then focusing on actions that could reduce or eliminate that avoidable demand. In effect, improving the data shares, our communications and guidance around them and offering a better overall service.

The fall in incidents and queries has been achieved despite the number of data shares increasing from 8 to 28 in that same 12-year period.

None of this would have been possible without LA feedback and support in identifying and contributing to the design of various improvements. A huge thanks for that. Our relentless focus to improve our services continues. We’ve every reason to believe that we can reduce the average monthly volume of incidents and queries to around 650 to 700 a month in the near future. Please continue to support us in these efforts by providing feedback through all the normal channels.

Paul Selby
Head of Data Sharing and Security
Local Authority Partnership, Engagement and Delivery Division

Reminder: Pension Strategy Computer System Application Programming Interface uprating solution

1. As you know, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for sharing data with local authorities (LAs) annually when DWP Pension Strategy Computer System (PSCS) hosted benefits (for example State Pension) have been uprated.

2. This is a reminder that all LAs should use the PSCS Application Programming Interface (API) uprating solution for annual bulk uprating and claim maintenance.

3. Accessing accurate PSCS uprating amounts when reviewing Housing Benefit (HB) and Local Council Tax Reduction claims helps prevent or reduce overpayments and underpayments.

4. Please note that applying a percentage increase to PSCS amounts for each claim may result in incorrect awards.

5. When requesting uprated April 2026 details from the PSCS API the effective date of 17 April 2026 must be used, as payment dates can fall on any day during the week. Using this date ensures all retrieved records have been uprated.

6. The PSCS uprating guidance for LA users can be found on Glasscubes.

7. Any queries regarding this article should be directed to lawelfare.frauderrordebt@dwp.gov.uk  

 All LA HB Award Accuracy Initiative conference call on 5 March 2026

8. The ‘All LA HB Award Accuracy (HBAA) Initiative conference call’ will take place on 5 March 2026 from 10am to 11am.

9. During the call, we will help prepare LAs for the relaunch of the HBAA Initiative (Year 7) from April 2026. We will provide an overview of the performance expectations and explain the funding for the financial year ending (FYE) March 2027. There will also be an opportunity for LAs to ask questions.

10. All LAs are encouraged to attend. However, to prevent any capacity issues, we would ask that no more than two representatives from an LA join the call.

Joining instructions

11. The joining instructions are:

• The MS Teams link to this meeting has been shared in the version of the LAWD2/2026 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.
• Speakers will be muted by default but instructions will be given during the event if you want to ask a question.

12. If you have any queries regarding the HBAA Initiative, you can email lawelfare.frauderrordebt@dwp.gov.uk

Publication of HB speed of processing statistics for July 2025 to September 2025

13. The department published the HB speed of processing statistics and associated data for quarter 2 of the FYE March 2026 on Wednesday 28 January 2026.

Some key points

• During the latest quarter there were 110,000 new claims processed. This comprises:
  • 77,000 (71%) Working Age claimants. Of these, 35,000 (46%) were in specified accommodation, 34,000 (44%) were in temporary accommodation and 8,400 (11%) were in other accommodation types.
  • 32,000 (29%) Pension age claimants. Of these, 1,500 (5%) were in specified accommodation, 900 (3%) were in temporary accommodation and 29,000 (92%) were in other accommodation types.
  • Overall, this is an increase of 5,900 (6%) since last quarter and an increase of 4,500 (4%) when compared to the same quarter a year earlier.
• During the latest quarter there were 830,000 changes of circumstances for existing HB claims processed. This comprises:​
  • 530,000* (65%) for Working Age claimants
  • 290,000* (35%) for Pension age claimants
  • Overall, this is a decrease of 180,000 (18%) since last quarter and a decrease of 340,000 (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 Searchlight to extract missing date of birth and sex of claimant records. For information on the matching process and reasons for unmatched records, see the HB speed of processing statistics HB speed of processing methodology note

New claims

• The average time taken to process an HB new claim during the latest quarter was 23 calendar days. This is two days higher than last quarter and compares to 21 days for the same quarter a year earlier and comprises an average time of:​
  • 20 days for Working Age claimants​
  • 28 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 9 calendar days. This is 2 days higher than last quarter and compares to 8 calendar days for the same quarter a year earlier and comprises an average time of:​
  • 8 days for Working Age claimants​
  • 11 days for Pension age claimants

Practitioners’ Operational Group and Local Authority Welfare Steering Group   

14. The last Local Authority Welfare Steering Group meeting took place on Thursday 22 January 2026. Agenda items included bringing together the administration of HB and Pension Credit, LA funding, Move to Universal Credit, the Crisis and Resilience Fund and supported housing.

15. Both groups’ meetings are held bi-monthly (and alternately), so the next Practitioners’ Operational Group meeting is scheduled to take place on 19 February 2026. 

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

HB Decisions by the Upper Tribunal

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

18. 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.

19.  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

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

New Legislation

21. The following Statutory Instrument (SI) has been laid:

• 2026 No. 31 – The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (Commencement No. 5) Regulations 2026, made on 15 January 2026

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

What’s new on our HB pages on GOV.UK

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

LAWD bulletin

Link: LAWD1/2026

Subject:

• Editorial
• Have your say on proposed changes to the Discretionary Housing Payment statistics for Wales
• Searchlight update: Delay in Phase 3 Universal Credit data enhancement delivery
• Update: Universal Credit Local Council Tax Reduction Version 1 data feed decommissioned and project closed
• Identifying Local Vulnerability update: Progress toward a Minimum Viable Product
• Practitioners’ Operational Group and LA Welfare Steering Group
• HB Decisions by the Upper Tribunal
• New Legislation
• What’s new on our HB pages on GOV.UK