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Thanks to Neil Bateman we have been allowed to copy his very useful Welfare Rights links.
Please Note:
These
are links to external websites and I have no control over or responsibility for the
content of these websites and inclusion of a link on this page does not imply any
recommendation.
WELFARE RIGHTS LINKS
(Last update: Feb 2007)
Tax credits and benefits rates
Blackpool
& Lancashire Councils: Probably the best benefits rates chart I've seen
Websites with information resources for advice work
Action for Blind People: Useful resources about benefits & visual
impairment
Advicekit: Manchester City
Council's innovative on-line advice service
Advicenow: Accessible
information about a wide range of legal rights
Age Concern England: Advice factsheets
Age Concern Scotland: Advice factsheets
Barton Hill Advice Centre:
Guides to claiming disability benefits
Benefits in Mind: Neath
Mind's excellent site about benefits and mental health
Care and Health Law: By social care and health law trainer and consultant
Belinda Schwehr
Carers
UK: Information about benefits and carers' rights
Centre for
Economic and Social Inclusion: Useful publications and information on welfare to work
issues
Child Poverty Action Group
Citizens Advice
Adviceguide: Information about a wide range of rights
Citizens Advice
Scotland Adviceguide
Community Legal Service Direct: Leaflets about a range of legal rights
Consumer Direct:
Consumer rights advice
Coventry
Law Centre: Employment rights leaflets (also about other subjects)
Date
calculator: From 1 Hare Court barrister's chambers, useful for calculating arrears, etc
New!
DFES: Education Maintenance
Allowances
DFES:
Care To Learn: Help with childcare costs for young parents aged 16+ who are in learning
DIAL
UK: Factsheets
DirectGov:
Benefits, tax credits and other information
DirectGov:
Make online claims for benefits
Disability Alliance
Electronic Immigration
Network: Public resources page of this useful website
Govan Law Centre:
Excellent Scots law resources about housing, employment, debt, benefits, etc
Greater Manchester
Low Pay Unit: Factsheets about employment rights
Healthy Start: Advice about what it is and who
qualifies New!
HMRC Adjudicator's
Office: For complaints about HMRC service and discretionary decisions (eg refusal to waive
a tax credit overpayment)
HMRC: Tax
Credits ready reckoner
Immigration Advisory Service: Advice pages
Independent
Review Service: Social Fund reviews and related matters
Institute of Mental Health
Law (Dave Sheppard Associates): Excellent info about mental health law
Legal Action Group
Leasehold Advisory Service:
Legal rights of residential leaseholders (e.g.service charges)
Scots Legal Action Group
Mencap: Factsheets
Multikulti: Rights
leaflets in thirteen languages
National Association of Welfare
Rights Advisers
National
Debtline: Useful factsheets and self help packs
Northern Ireland
Law Centre: Northern Ireland social welfare law resources New!
Refugee
Council: Publications for advisers (includes useful statistics)
Rights Advice Scotland: For
local authority welfare rights advisers in Scotland
Rightsnet: News, discussions
and resources for welfare rights work. The world's greatest welfare rights website!
Rightsnet’s
useful links
Rightsnet Toolkit: Comprehensive benefits, tax credits & child support
resources
Say no to 0870: Geographical
equivalents for 0870 and 0800 numbers, useful for mobile phone calls to DWP & HMRC
New!
Shelternet: Housing advice
Scottish Association for Mental Health: Factsheets about benefits and
mental health
Support
4 learning: Information about financial support for all types of education/training
Tribunal Service:
Information about social security and other tribunals
Veterans
Agency: Information about War Pensions, etc
Computer software and on-line calculators for welfare
rights work
Lisson
Grove Benefits Program: Benefits calculation software
Ferret Information Systems:
Benefits calculation and information software
Peter Cox: Quick
Calculators for Pension Credit, Tax Credits, HB & income tax
DWP: On-line Pension Credit calculator
Angus
Council Welfare Rights Service: Pension Credit calculator (much better than the
DWP's!)
Rights
Advice Scotland: Online Pension Credit & HB/CTB calculator
Benefit Claim forms
DWP: Printable benefit claim forms
HM
Revenue and Customs: On-line claim form for Tax Credits
Pension
Credit: claim form
Legislation and Caselaw
British and Irish Legal
Information Institute: Caselaw (esp High Court and Court of Appeal) and legislation
Social
Security & Child Support Commissioner’s decisions: The "official" site
Daily Law
Notes: Summaries of all cases in the higher Courts
DWP: Social Security and
Child Support Commissioner's Decisions
DWP: Housing and Council
Tax Benefit legislation
DWP: Social Security Legislation
Eur-Lex:
European Union legislation, caselaw & much more
HM Courts Service: Judgements
Home Office: Immigration law & policy
HMSO: Acts of Parliament
HMSO: Statutory
Instruments
House of Lords: Judgements
Incorporated
Council of Law Reporting: Free law report summaries
Neligan's
Digest: Summaries of Commissioner's Decisions
Rightsnet's collection of Commissioner's Decisions
The
Times Law Reports: Useful site. Shame it's owned by Murdoch
Daily
Telegraph Law Reports: Another useful site, but I just can't bear reading the paper.
Well, thankfully the Mail doesn't do law reports New!
UK Statute law database:
Excellent government site New!
Other legal resources
Infolaw Lawfinder:
Searchable catalogue of UK legal materials
Law
Links: On line legal research site at the University of Kent
Lexis Nexis: Some free legal
resources
Legal resources in the UK
& Ireland: Website maintained by Delia Venables
Official guidance
DWP:
Decision Maker's Guide
DWP:
Agents, Appointees, Attorneys and Receivers Guide
DWP: Corporate
Medical Group: Internal guidance etc for doctors
DWP: Disability Handbook –
guidance for benefit Decision Makers about specific disabilities and medical conditions
DWP:
Guidance for medical practitioners about certification of sickness/incapacity
DWP: Incapacity
Benefit Handbook. Guidance for their doctors about Personal Capability Assessment
DWP: Jobseeker's
Allowance Severe Hardship Payments for 16 and 17 year olds New!
DWP:
Guidance on IS claims by estranged young people in full time education (via Rightsnet)
New!
DWP:
Overpayment Recovery Guide (via Rightsnet)
DWP: Social Fund
Guidance
DWP:
Housing and Council Tax Benefit Guidance Manuals
DWP: Housing
Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Circulars for local authority staff
DWP: Housing and Council Tax Benefits overpayments manual
HM
Revenue and Customs: Code of Practice on Tax Credit Overpayments (COP26)
HM Revenue and Customs: Tax Credit Guidance Manual for staff
Department of Health: Residential care charges guidance for local
authorities
Department of Health: Fairer Charging guidance
Department
of Health: Legislation & guidance on care leavers' rights
Department of
Health: Fair Access to Care Services guidance
DCLG:
Homelessness guidance and legislation
DCLG:
Guidance to social landlords on preventing rent possession and evictions
Other advice resources
DWP: Press releases
Dumfries Welfare Rights:
guides and discussion board
EAGA: Insulation &
draughtproofing grants
Home Office: Immigration Rules
HM Revenue and Customs:
National Minimum Wage
HM Revenue and Customs: Tax Credit leaflets
HM Revenue and Customs: Tax Credit Code of Practice on overpayments
HM
Revenue and Customs: Tax Credits info
Jobslink: Directory of grant
making charities
Low Income Tax Reform Group:
Advice and campaigns about tax issues affecting people on a low income
Make
on-line complaints to local Trading Standards Services
Prescription Pricing
Authority: Information and claim forms for help with health costs
Tax Aid: Advice on tax issues
for people on low incomes
Write to Them: A website for
emailing MPs, MEPs, MSPs, etc
Some local authority welfare rights websites with useful
resources
(There are many, here are a few)
Some social policy and research resources
Census
2001
DWP:
Statistics
DWP: Work and
Pensions Statistics
DWP: Local area
benefit statistics
DWP: Estimates of
income related benefit take-up
DWP:
Benefit expenditure statistics
DWP: Tax
Benefit Model Tables (analyse the impact of changes in social security and income tax)
HM Revenue and Customs: Tax Credit statistics
HM
Revenue and Customs: Wealth distribution statistics (depressing reading)
IFS: Social
statistics resources (a useful list)
Institute for Fiscal
Studies: Research about benefits and tax
Institute for Public Policy
Research
Joseph
Rowntree Foundation: Findings
New Economics Foundation:
Fascinating stuff
New Policy Institute: More
reports and analysis about poverty
Dept for
Communities & Local Gov't: Housing statistics
DCLG:
Homelessness statistics
DCLG:
LA housing management practice (includes recent research on rent arrears and evictions)
DCLG:
Local Deprivation Index 2004 (including ward level data)
Office for National
Statistics: Nomisweb (labour market statistics)
Office for National Statistics: Focus on Inequality
Office for
National Statistics: Neighbourhood Statistics
Oxford
City Council: A good example of local authority online local statistics
Poverty UK:
Indicators about poverty & inequality
Refugee
Council: Useful statistics & other information
Shelter:
Housing and homelessness statistics and research
Workhouses: Let's not
forget why we have a welfare state
Some international Welfare Rights links (please tell me about others)
Adva Centre: Israeli
welfare rights group
Combat Poverty
Agency: Ireland
Comhairle
("corla"): Irish government advice and advocacy site which doesn't feel like a
government site!
Danish Workfare Watch
FLAC: Free Legal Advice
Centres (another example of the rich tapestry of welfare rights services in Ireland)
The Irish National
Organisation of the Unemployed
Jersey Citizens
Advice: Compare how the system differs, Channel Islands are not part of the UK
States of Guernsey: Social security
Isle of Man: Social
security, yet another jurisdiction
Northern
Ireland Social Security Agency: Legally part of the UK but has a separate benefits system
Links to
international social security websites: via Ireland's Ministry of Social Welfare
National Organisation of
Social Security Claimant Representatives: USA
National
Welfare Rights Network: Australia
Poverty Law Net:
Illinois,USA
New York Welfare Law
Center: USA
Povnet: Canada
Social Security Advisory
Service: USA
Social security systems in OECD countries: a detailed explanation
and analysis
Summaries about benefits
systems in many countries: by US Social Security Administration
Workfare
Fight: Danish site with many international links
World Law Guide
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