WELFARE RIGHTS LINKS
(Last update: Feb 2008)
Here are some web links for welfare rights work
advice and policy work. I often refer to these during my training and in my
articles, so I've collected them in one place for others to use. If you are looking
for advice about your rights, please go to Your Rights page .
Please tell me if any of these links
don't work.
Please let me
know about other useful websites. 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 or endorsement.
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
Benefit fraud legal resources: Excellent site by Garden Court Chambers
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
checking overpayments
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
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
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
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
TUC: Commission
on vulnerable employment New!
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. Just glad the Daily Mail doesn't do law reports
UK Statute law database:
Excellent government site
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 New edition
July 2007!
DWP:
Working with Representatives guidance. Oft ignored, so do tell them about it New!
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
Ministry of Justice: Pre-action protocol for rent arrears cases
The Rent Service
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
Ipswich County Court Advice and
Representation Service: A successful pro bono advice scheme New!
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
DFES
Statistics
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)
Community
Health profiles
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
Citizens
Information Board: Government of Ireland body supporting advice and advocacy
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
