A fantastic opportunity to work for a developing Community Interest Company in a lovely central London location.

Come and join our friendly team as a trainee welfare advisor for the UK’s entitlement experts, IncomeMAX.

Who are we?                                    

IncomeMAX are the entitlement experts. We help people to make sense of their benefits, tax credits, expenditure and debt issues.

What do we do?

We provide personalised telephone-based advice to our customers, to help them maximise their income and minimise their expenditure.

We do this through a range of projects commissioned by our partner organisations.

What does the job involve?

Our welfare experts know and understand the benefits and tax credits system inside out. We help our customers to make sense of their welfare entitlement, maximise income and minimise their expenditure, so that moving forward they are in a much better position financially. We also help customers to find the right debt advice.

We go the extra yard for every customer, recording our interactions and building each customer’s case as we progress.

So you’ll be on the telephone talking to customers a lot! You’ll carry out in-depth benefit checks and will provide expert advice to customers to help them increase income and minimise expenditure.

As a result of your work with customers, you’ll prepare in-depth reports and statistics for customers and our commissioning partners.

Phew! Sounds like hard work?

It is. But it’s rewarding and ground-breaking. IncomeMAX is unique in its approach and we’re a company going places. Our trainee welfare advisors will help us to develop our business and the possibilities for development are endless.

Are you our ideal candidate?

You might be if you are; hard working, caring, bright, buzzy, ready to learn, conscientious, brilliantly numerate, fantastically literate and a people person.

You’ll be a quick learner and possess excellent research skills. You’ll have an interest in helping people (within professional boundaries) and an understanding of issues people face in life; e.g. unemployment, disability, debt, caring, children, bereavement, old age, mental health, maternity, fuel poverty, child poverty, housing and social care issues…. to name just a few.

Ultimately, you’ll be self-motivated, energetic and ready to give your all for IncomeMAX, our customers and our partners. 

Training

The training is intensive and you will be expected to study outside of work hours as well as undertaking formal training. A self-starting, positive attitude and dedication will be required to get up to speed quickly so please take this into consideration before applying.

What we promise in return

£21k starting salary with regular pay reviews

In-depth, intensive training

Opportunities for development within a range of sectors including finance, energy, debt management, local authorities, charities and advice

Central London location

Give yourself a head start…

Check out www.incomemax.org.uk

Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/incomemax

Follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/income_max

Interested?

To apply send a buzzy email to info@incomemax.org.uk or call us on 0300 777 7772

Immediate start available

Apply today

IncomeMAX CIC

We are… the BBC’s regular benefits experts… 2010 London Leaders… 2010 Go Awards Best Service Finalists… Advice UK members… Social Enterprise Coalition Members

Cancer charities have expressed concerns that changes to Contribution-based Employment Support Allowance (ESA)outlined in the government’s Welfare Reform Bill and being debated by MP’s today will see some people being made worse off a year after being diagnosed with cancer.

The issue relates to time-limiting Contribution-based ESA to just one year for those in the work-related activity group, which is one of two groups of ESA claimants.

The other group of claimants is the support group, which will not be affected by the one-year CB-ESA time limit. In broad terms, the support group of claimants are deemed not to have to undertake work related-activity. If cancer patients do not meet the support group criteria, they are placed in the work-related activity group and therefore may be subject to time limiting of CB-ESA.

The welfare system has always been difficult to access for cancer patients. Some  cancer patients struggle to meet the various disablility/capacity for work related criteria that exists for benefits such as ESA and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) even though they may be gravely ill during treatment and may need lots of rest during recovery.

This will continue to be the case for many cancer patients under the proposed welfare reforms, as benefits such as Universal Credit (replacing Income-related ESA) and CB -ESA will continue to assess people on their capacity for work whilst the Personal Independence Payment (replacing DLA) will still assess care and mobility needs.

The answer to supporting cancer patients adequately through the welfare system is a simple one and it doesn’t need to be complicated.  

Cancer partients should be subject to simplified ESA/DLA criteria, using guidance from a cancer patient’s hospital consultant.

The cancer patient’s hospital consultant could easily make a judgement on their capacity for work and their care/mobility needs and MOST IMPORTANTLY, would also be able to make a judgement on the amount of time the patient needs help and support from the welfare system.

This is not designed to be a time-consuming exercise for the hospital consultant. It would be a simple form which outlines the patients condition as well as confirming the customers inability to work and requirement for care and mobility support. It would also state the amount of time that the hospital consultant expects the patient to need help and support for, up to a maximum of 1 year. If the cancer patient needed help past 1 year, the form would need to be renewed. The form would passport customers into the support group for ESA and to High rate Care DLA, meaning that cancer patients would be properly supported financially until such time that they no longer need that support.

There would be no need to change the rules relating to terminal illness and cancer patients could still be subject to DLA mobility component rules. Claimants would also need to meet the general criteria for ESA e.g. in the case of CB ESA, meeting the contribution conditions.    

Cancer patients would then be supported through the welfare system appropriately and according to their needs and requirements. They would no longer need to meet impossible criteria which does not relate to the nature of their health condition and treatment.

It would make use of existing expert resources; e..g. hospital consultants and there would no be no need for expensive, independent medicals etc.

There is always a danger of over-complicating these issues. IncomeMAX would urge the government to listen and to act on the guidance provided by cancer charities such as Macmillan Cancer Support, to ensure that fair and appropriate welfare support is available to those battling cancer.      

Related news stories:

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13775281

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Politics/Ed-Miliband-PMQs-Labour-Leader-Pushes-David-Cameron-On-Welfare-Reform/Article/200906316012286?lpos=Politics_Carousel_Region_1&lid=ARTICLE_16012286_Ed_Miliband%2C_PMQs%3A_Labour_Leader_Pushes_David_Cameron_On_Welfare_Reform

The hard-hitting reailty TV documentary follows the dramatic and emotional highs and lows of daily life for six
different families all living in one large housing scheme in Kilmarnock.

Benefits and tax credits income is always a controversial subject and we’re grateful to The Sun for allowing us to make sense of the type of benefits and tax credits income some of the cast may have been entitled to at the time of filming.

The first series was actually filmed two years ago, but we’ve used current benefit rates in the article to avoid confusion.

Of course it is all just rough guidance anyway, as many of the cast’s circumstances have changed since the programme was filmed. We’d have needed to carry out a full benefit check at the time to establish actual entitlement but it is still a good indicator of the types of payments that are available under the current welfare system.

The Scheme really brings to life many of the issues we see at IncomeMAX every day. The welfare system traps so many people in poverty with seemingly no way out, especially because of the work and couple penalties that exist.

The government have recognised that the welfare system is not working as it should and because of this they are introducing the Universal Credit from 2013, to help people on benefits be better off when they work.

If you haven’t yet seen The Scheme check it out on BBC iPlayer

Check out The Scottish Sun benefits story by Graeme Donohoe.

Launched in April 2011, The Money Advice Service aims to provide free, unbiased advice to help people make the most of their money.

The Money Advice Service was set up by government and is paid for by a £43.7 million (2011/2012) statutory levy on the financial services industry, raised through the Financial Services Authority. Its 2011/2012 business plan budget has over £13 million of staff costs so it is an incredibly large organisation for one so new.

The Money Advice Service is actually the final version of an extensive government re-branding exercise.

The Money Advice Service was originally launched in 2009 as Moneymadeclear, a Financial Services Authority (FSA) service. The Moneymadeclear service at this point was not independent of government.

The FSA was then asked to create a new, independent agency called the Consumer Financial Education Body, or CFEB as it was to be known, to help move the Moneymadeclear initiative forward.

CFEB came into existence on April 26, 2010 and had a mandate from Parliament to develop consumer financial education in the UK and to enhance the public’s understanding and knowledge of financial matters and their ability to mange their own financial affairs. Tony Hobman was named CEO of the new organisation on May 17 2010.

CFEB took on the role of delivering the Moneymadeclear service and in June 2010, the government asked CFEB to develop the new annual family financial health check, which is to launch in spring 2011.

Fast forward to April 2011 and both CFEB and the Moneymadeclear brand have been replaced by The Money Advice Service, a private company limited by guarantee, whose vision is to “enhance people’s lives because they take control of their money as a matter of course.”

The Money Advice Service statutory objectives are to enhance the understanding and knowledge of members of the public about financial matters (including the UK financial system) and to enhance the ability of members of the public to manage their own financial affairs.

The Money Advice Service has an independent Chairman and board appointed by the Financial Services Authority.

The Money Advice Service is free to the millions of people who need practical money advice, whatever their financial circumstances and aims to revolutionise the way people in the UK think about and manage their money, as research shows that if people feel in control of their finances they feel better off, have a greater sense of wellbeing, and are happier.

The Money Advice Service will help people take the right financial decisions and act on them, by giving personalised advice online at www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk,  over the phone on 0300 500 5000, and face-to-face across the UK through a national network.

To book a local face-to-face advice session, customers can call:

England 0333 321 3434

Scotland 0808 800 0118

Northern Ireland 0333 321 2424

Wales 0300 330 0520

Gerard Lemos, Chairman of the Money Advice Service, said at the time of its launch:

“The Money Advice Service is here to make people’s lives easier and better. I firmly believe we can all enjoy life more given the right money advice at the right time in the right way. We’re not here to sell people anything and we won’t charge anyone – we are here to help people take decisions about their money and plan for a better future for themselves and their families.”

From a benefits and tax credits perspective The Money Advice service will only be providing basic benefits and tax credits information to customers and not in-depth expertise. Instead, The Money Advice Service will signpost and refer customers to established networks such as CAB, Advice UK and Law Centres.

For more information about the Money Advice Service please contact:

Nancy Baynes 020 7943 0593

Louise Alissi 020 7943 0429

Kate Humphris 020 7943 0475

pressoffice@moneyadviceservice.org.uk

Saturday 22^nd January 2011

Entitlement experts IncomeMAX have discovered that some higher earning parents may still be entitled to tax credits from April 2011, even though the second earnings threshold has been reduced to £40,000.

The second tax credit threshold reduction, announced in the emergency budget, has been widely publicised and many higher earning parents believe they will no longer be entitled to tax credits from April if their income exceeds £40,000 per year.

But what many parents fail to realise is that circumstances such as having higher child care costs, a higher number of children or a disabled child can mean that Tax Credits will still be payable, even if income exceeds the second income threshold of £40,000.

The www.savvywoman.co.uk website recently contacted IncomeMAX to say that a number of parents have asked them for clarification on the rules, with one parent stating that it is too confusing and virtually impossible to understand what the threshold levels actually mean. This is a regular complaint about the benefits and tax credits system and it would appear that the Coalition Government’s much publicised changes to the system have done little to help the general public make more sense of it all.

Tax Credits, made up of Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit, have a history of causing confusion. In 2004, over 80,000 people were hit with tax credit overpayments and as a result, the Government had to increase the income disregard from £2500 to an eye watering £25,000. Interestingly, the tax credits income disregard is set to drop to £10,000 in April, heralding a possible return to the bad old days of tax credit overpayments.

The main point of confusion for most people is the calculation of tax credit awards, which adds up the maximum amount of tax credits available, before tapering them away by using a claimant’s income, various threshold levels and a set taper rate.

What do parents need to be aware of?

* Lone parents or couples with taxable income below £40,000 per year will be eligible for AT LEAST the £545 family element of Child Tax Credit for the tax year 2011/2012.

* Some lone parents or couples with taxable income over £40,000 may still be eligible for tax credits, especially if they have:

- a higher number of children

- a disabled child

- higher child care costs

IncomeMAX Managing Director Lee Healey urged parents to seek advice. “It is so important to claim your tax credits if you think you might be eligible and don’t be afraid to speak to an independent expert if you are confused about your tax credit entitlement” said Lee.

HMRC have confirmed the findings, telling IncomeMAX that “households with children will, in general, receive tax credits up to an income of around £42,000, though families with disabled children, higher childcare costs or large numbers of children may be able to receive tax credits with incomes above this threshold”.

HMRC also advised that if someone thinks they may be eligible for tax credits then they can either check it out online using the HMRC online calculator or via the tax credits helpline on 0845 300 3900.

2011/2012 Tax Credits Case Study

John and Sarah are both aged 32. They have two children, George, aged 2 and Ronnie aged 3. John works 35 hours per week and Sarah works part time for 15 hours per week.

Their joint, yearly taxable income to be used for calculating tax credits in 2011/2012 is £45,000 and they have average Child Care Costs of £240 per week.

John and Sarah’s Maximum Tax Credits Amount

CTC Family Element £545

CTC Child Element    £2555

CTC Child Element    £2555

WTC Basic Element   £1920

WTC Couple Element £1950

WTC 30 Hour Element £790

WTC Childcare Element £8736 (70% of £240 x 52)

Maximum Tax Credits = £19,051

John and Sarah’s Income

= £45,000

Tax Credit Threshold

£6420 *

Tax Credits Final Calculation

£45,000 – £6420 = £38,580

Taper = 41% of £38,580 = £15,817.80

Maximum Tax Credits £19,051 minus taper of £15,817.80

TAX CREDIT AWARD = £3233.20 (made up entirely of Child Tax Credit as Working Tax Credit elements taper away first)

* Note that the £40,000 second threshold will not apply, as the award of Child Tax Credit includes an amount higher than the £545 family element

The benefits and tax credits system is incredibly confusing, not to mention expensive. A dizzying array of contributory, non-contributory and means-tested benefits, allowances, tax credits, grants, pensions and other payments costs the Government over £180 billion each year – more than the budgets of both defence and health.  

Evolving from a 1940′s system that was supposed to pay for itself through National Insurance, you fast forward to 2010 and find a welfare system which the majority of the general public do not understand and one which is plagued by criticism for being too easy to claim and open to fraud. 

With the budget announcements Chancellor George Osborne wasted no time in wielding the axe. Parents with children were the big losers. Pensioners got off relatively unscathed. Those on Housing Benefit and Disabled people would be fearful for the future.

The actual planned changes announced in the budget would not kick in instantly. Instead, the changes would be made in phases.

The biggest announcement, and indeed the biggest change to the welfare system, would be the creation of a brand new benefit to replace a range of current benefits. Universal Credit, planned for launch in 2013, will replace benefits such as Jobseekers Allowance, Income Support, Employment & Support Allowance, Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit and Housing Benefit. The Government still have a lot of issues to resolve before Universal Credit goes live, so for the time being, the current system will continue to operate, albeit with some changes.

So what are the changes for 2011?

Tax Credits

• The second income threshold currently used to calculate and award the family element of Child Tax Credit (presently £545 per year) for higher earners will reduce from £50,000 per year to £40,000 from April 2011
• The £545 family element will also now taper away using the new Tax Credit withdrawal rate of 41% 
• The Child Tax Credit baby element (currently £545 per year) which is paid when children are under one will no longer exist from April 2011 
• At present, HMRC use an income disregard of £25,000 when calculating entitlement to tax credits (meaning they can ignore income increases of up to £25,000 from the current tax years’ income when calculating your entitlement). This disregard will be lowered to £10,000 for two years from April 2011. There is therefore a bigger danger of overpayments and it will be important for families to keep HMRC fully updated with their income and circumstances. 
• The % of eligible Child Care costs that can be covered within Working Tax Credit will be reduced from April 2011 – to 70% instead of 80% 
• The Child Tax Credit child element (currently £2300 per child) will be INCREASED to £2555 per child

 Child Benefit

• Child Benefit, which is currently still universal and NOT MEANS-TESTED will be frozen for three years from April 2011, meaning £20.30 for your first or only child and £13.40 for each other child

 Pensioners

• The Basic State Pension will be uprated by 4.6% from April 2011 – meaning a full basic state pension will be £102.15 per week  
• The Pension Credit Guarantee Credit rates have also been uprated to exceed the basic State Pension cash increase from April 2011.   
• From April 2011 people aged over 60 will qualify for Working Tax Credit if they work for at least 16 hours a week. 

 Lone Parents

• Income Support for Lone parents will see an extension to the conditionality rules for those with children aged 5 and above from October 2011. This basically means that many lone parents will need to sign on as Jobseekers and look for full-time work once their youngest child is aged 5 and over.

Expectant Mums

• The £190 Health in Pregnancy Grant is to be abolished and you’ll need to have reached the 25th week of your pregnancy before 1 January 2011 to qualify
• The £500 Sure Start Maternity Grant will only be able to be claimed for your first child (or children where the first is a multiple birth) from April 2011

  Housing 

• The Local Housing Allowance will soon be set at the 30th percentile of local rents
• The deductions made from benefits such as HB/CTB for non-dependents living with you will be increased from April 2011.  
• From April 2011 Housing Benefit claimants with a disability and a non-resident carer will be entitled to funding for an extra bedroom. 
• From April 2011, Local Housing Allowance rates will be capped for new HB claimants, although existing claimants will have until January 2012 to move or negotiate a lower rent. The cap amounts will be:

           - £250 per week for a one bedroom property

           - £290 per week for a two bedroom property

           - £340 per week for a three bedroom property

           - £400 per week for four bedrooms or more

• Funding for Discretionary Housing Payments, where Housing and Council Tax claimants can access additional help for rent and council tax not already covered by Housing & Council Tax Benefit will be increased by £10 million in April 2011

 Disabled People

• All current Incapacity Claimants will be re-assessed at some point in 2011 – those found to have limited capability for work will claim Employment & Support Allowance. Those found fit for work will need to explore other options, such as Jobseekers Allowance. 
• From April 2011 the Disability Living Allowance Higher Rate Mobility Component is extended to claimants with a severe visual impairment

 Young people in education

• Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) now closed to new applicants from January 2011

Download the 2011/2012 Benefits and Tax Credits Rates

I was really pleased to be back on BBC Two’s Working Lunch on Thursday 27th May 2010, commenting on the coalition government’s proposals for welfare reform.

The Secretary of State, Iain Duncan Smith, has called for an end to the culture of welfare dependency, saying that,

‘A system that was originally designed to help support the poorest in society is now trapping them in the very condition it was supposed to alleviate. Instead of helping, a deeply unfair benefits system too often writes people off’

IncomeMAX are very much in favour of welfare reform and we hope that the government will consult with experts that already support people to understand their benefits and tax credits so that a sustainable, sensible, clearer and fairer system is established.

My interview with Naga and Declan on Working Lunch is available on BBC iPlayer for the next week:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00sm004/Working_Lunch_27_05_2010/

Having been involved in benefits and tax credits for the last 16 years, I can’t help having the feeling of deje vu, in that we’ve been here before, but the fact that there is a promise of a comprehensive review is a positive and welcome change from other reforms which quite frankly have done very little to change what is a creaking, fragmented and incredibly complex system.

My worry is that once again the reforms will not go far enough to make the system more accessible for people and that once again reform will only skirt round the edges of the problem.

So my message to the Government is to be bold, and here is how you can do that…

Re-communicate and reinforce to the public what the welfare system is there to do and the help it is supposed to provide  

This is so important, more so than fancy headline grabbing policies such as re-testing Incapacity Benefit recipients (wasn’t that the plan anyway when Employment & Support Allowance was introduced?).

In my opinion, one of the major problems of the welfare system is that everyone, and by everyone I mean the general public, the government and the media have largely lost sight of what the system is there to do and the support it is supposed to provide to people. I know this because I have spent much of the last 16 years up and down the country delivering benefits overview courses to thousands of people and believe me, when it comes to the welfare system, people are seriously confused and misinformed.

There are two main reasons for this. The first is obviously complexity. The system is so complex that it is impossible to get your head around it without studying it in real detail.

The second is the public perception of the welfare system, often reinforced through the media. Think about the last time you read a tabloid news story or watched a TV programme about benefits. I bet you £65.45 (the current single rate of Job Seekers Allowance for a person aged 25 or over) that it mentioned fraud, or possibly scrounging at some point.

Is it any wonder then that the message about the welfare system and the type of support it is supposed to be able to provide to people has been lost?

For the record, my understanding is that the welfare system is there to support people with genuine reasons for requiring financial and social assistance. Here are some of those reasons;

–        Jobseeking (working age, good health, looking for full-time work) 

–        Incapacity/Sick (working age, health problems or disabilities mean that you are limited in your ability to work full-time)

–        Disability (requiring help with mobility/care needs)

–        Caring for a disabled person

–        Pension age (this is currently a very complex area as some men can claim Pension Credit earlier than their state pension age)

–        Lone parent

–        Having dependent children

–        Working full-time and on a low income (inc help with childcare)

–        Maternity/Adopting a child/Paternity

–        Needing help to pay Rent/Council Tax/Mortgage 

–        Bereavement of a spouse/civil partner

–        Industrial injury or disease

Is your head spinning reading through that list? I expect it is as it is easy to forget how complex our lives are and the types of situations and circumstances we can find ourselves in as human beings, meaning that working or using pension provision as a way of surviving is not always an option for people.

So at the heart of the welfare system is something positive e.g. it is intended to support people for a range of genuine reasons and this is why I would like this message reinforced as part of any reforms. Re-branding and re-communicating what the system is there to do and the support it can provide would have many benefits (excuse the pun) including: 

• Supporting the public to know where they stand on the subject
• Enabling culture change and fostering the idea that people need to use the system responsibly
• Enabling people that do need to use the system to use it without fear or stigma

 Involve the experts – and I don’t just mean people in government or government departments!

My second key recommendation on being bold is to ensure that the government involve a range of experts in the consultation process. It is intended that there will be a cabinet committee set up to co-ordinate the strategy between government and government departments but it will also be important to involve experts outside of government, many of whom will have been supporting the general public with their benefits and tax credits problems for many years.

IncomeMAX for one would love to be consulted and I think it is fair to say that my colleagues from organisations such as Advice UK, Citizens Advice, Law Centres Federation, Age UK etc would also like to be involved.

And what about the general public? Why not consult with them? Let the general public feed into the debate so that we end up with a sustainable system that everyone has shaped and feels comfortable with.

Independent advice and personalised support is the solution you might be looking for…

My final point is one relating to advice. I am certain that there is a long-term sustainable solution to supporting people in relation to their welfare needs and that that solution is independent advice and personalised support for people.

There is without a doubt a need for a welfare system and we have already discussed that the complex nature of peoples’ lives contributes to having a complex system.

IncomeMAX would like the government to support the provision of quality, independent, personalised advice and support. For too long, it has just been accepted that “no-one tells you what you are entitled to” and that “the system is just too complex”.

This has to change but I can see that even after reform, the general public will still find it difficult to understand the system. It is, after all, a niche financial area, albeit an area where the Government spend over £100billion pound plus on benefits payments every year.

So, I would urge the Government to consider not just welfare reform, but to support charities and social enterprises to have the resources to provide good quality advice and personalised support to people. If this were a key element of the system, then quite often personalised advice and support would get to the heart of the problem as to why people need to access the welfare system in the first place.

Advice can help in so many ways; 

• It helps people use the system correctly and responsibly
• It uncovers other underlying issues that need to be dealt with e.g. debt problems, housing, employment, skills & training, financial capability etc
• It supports people to report changes of circumstances effectively
• It helps people in transition phases, e.g. retiring, moving from benefits and into work, splitting from a partner etc
• It helps people challenge incorrect decisions or injustices
• It helps ensure people maximise their income and that poverty is relieved

 A free training offer to the Government!

 Here is an offer to the new Government – I’d love to share with you my experiences of the benefits and tax credits system over the last 16 years and I’d actually think you would get a lot out of the IncomeMAX benefits overview course! So if you are reading this, I’d be more then happy to deliver it to you at No 10! You can find my email address at the contact us section of the website!

Lee Healey

IncomeMAX Managing Director

We are proud to announce that IncomeMAX, along with our partners Hillingdon Council, have achieved finalist status in the National Government Opportunities (GO) Excellence in Public Procurement Awards, in conjunction with National Public Procurement Practitioners Day.

Following intense consideration from the GO Awards judging panel, the finalists in each category have been decided and IncomeMAX and Hillingdon Council have achieved finalist status in the Best Service category.

The project that helped us achieve finalist status was a benefit check pilot that we delivered in partnership with Hillingdon council. It was an important project for us as it laid the foundation for IncomeMAX to be launched as a CIC and set a benchmark for how our projects could be successfully delivered in partnership with organisations that commission us.

The Hillingdon benefit check pilot was a great example of joined-up working. IncomeMAX provided its Entitlement Check service to 1000 referred residents. Hillingdon Housing Benefit Team, The Pension Service and the local Advice Sector then delivered the  face2face advice work that was required as a result of IncomeMAX identifying new benefits that were available to customers. Hillingdon’s Energy Efficiency Team then supported customers that then became eligible for help with thermal comfort measures as a result of successful benefit claims. IncomeMAX acted as a central contact, case-managing each customer and also referring them into additional services such as social services where appropriate. As a result of the project we raised over £250,000 of additional benefits for vulnerable residents in Hillingdon.

The 2010/11 GO Awards will be presented at a special ceremony on 15th June 2010 at Institution of Civil Engineers
One Great George Street, London.

GO Awards Best Service Finalists 2010/11

In the first of a series of articles, leading mental health and benefits experts Jenny Blackshaw and Judith Hodson outline the positive effects of ‘ Permitted Work’ for someone with a mental health problem…

People with mental health problems may find moving from Social Security benefits into full time work stressful and overwhelming. Worries about not being able to cope with the pressures of full time work and not being able to return to benefits if unwell again, may lead to people being wary of trying any work.

Permitted Work rules allow people on sickness related benefits – Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Incapacity Benefit (IB), Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA) and Income Support on ill health grounds (IS) – to do a limited amount of work whilst remaining on these benefits. In addition linking rules allow people to return to the same level of benefits if they are unable to carry on working due to ill health within a set period. This encourages social inclusion and decreases isolation, increases confidence and self esteem, and provides meaningful activity during the day, particularly relevant for claimants with mental health problems.

Over the last couple of years these rules have been improved in order to encourage more people to try this route into full time work. Previously the rules and criteria for Permitted Work had varied between the different sickness benefits eg earnings from Permitted Work affected each individual benefit differently, with some people being better off than others. The rules have now changed so that most people can earn the same amount without their sickness benefits being affected. People receiving ESA can now earn up to £93 / week with no effect on these benefits, and no effect on their Housing and Council Tax Benefits (HB/CTB). Unfortunately this rule does not apply to people in receipt  of Income Support (on ill health grounds) where any earnings over £20 /week will still be deducted from their benefit, and may still affect their HB/CTB.

As training providers we have had success in this area by paying mental health service-users to be involved in our training within the Permitted Work criteria, including our training on ‘Mental Health Awareness and Accessing Benefits’ to groups of front line staff and mental health professionals (eg housing and information staff, DWP officers, social workers, nurses, support workers). This includes service-users with long term mental health problems using their IT skills to produce the power point presentation and handouts, and a personal account of how severe mental illness had resulted in the loss of benefits and accommodation due to difficulties dealing with forms, letters etc.  In addition, the training courses are, as a result, more individual and relevant for the course attendees due to service-users’ involvement. 

Also, service-users are able to raise awareness of issues relating to mental health with front line workers, develop new skills and increase self-confidence. The Permitted Work rules enable service-users to do this without having the extra worry and anxieties about losing benefit entitlement.  

Jenny Blackshaw & Judith Hodson are experienced welfare rights advisers with a specialism in mental health. In their work they have found that access to advice can help break the cycle of deprivation linked to mental ill health by increasing  income and reducing stress related symptoms, thereby enabling better engagement with services and improving social inclusion.