WELFARE RIGHTS LINKS
(Links all updated: July 2009)
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 and Help the Aged Scotland: Advice factsheets
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 Advice: Leaflets about a range of legal rights
Consumer Direct:
Consumer rights advice
Coventry
Law Centre: Employment rights leaflets (also about other subjects)
Date
calculator for checking benefit backdating or overpayments
Education Maintenance
Allowances
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)
Immigration
Advisory Service
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)
LHA
Direct: Local Housing Allowances for each local authority/Broad Rental Market Area
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
Tribunals Service:
Information about social security and other tribunals
TUC: Commission
on vulnerable employment
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
QuickCalc
Calculators for benefits
DWP: On-line Pension Credit calculator
Rights
Advice Scotland: Online Pension Credit & HB/CTB calculator
Benefit Claim forms
DWP: Printable benefit claim forms
HM Revenue and Customs: Claim form for Tax Credits
Pension Credit and Retirement Pension: claim forms
Legislation and Caselaw
British and Irish Legal
Information Institute: Caselaw (esp High Court and Court of Appeal) and legislation
Upper
Tribunal/Social Security & Child Support Commissioner’s decisions
Daily Law
Notes: Summaries of all cases in the higher Courts
DWP: Social security legislation, caselaw and internal guidance
DWP: Law Volumes
DWP: Neligan's Digest of Upper Tribunal/Commissioner's Decisions
DWP: Housing and Council Tax Benefit information
Eur-Lex: European
Union legislation, caselaw & much more
Home
Office: Immigration law & policy
OPSI: Acts of Parliament
OPSI: Statutory
Instruments
House of Lords: Judgements
Incorporated
Council of Law Reporting: Free law report summaries
Rightsnet's
collection of Commissioner's/Upper Tribunal Decisions
The Times 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: Social security legislation, caselaw and internal guidance
DWP: Decision Makers Guide
DWP: Agents, Appointees, Attorneys and Deputies Guide
DWP:
Information for local authority HB/CTB staff
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 for Children, Schools and Families: Legislation & guidance
on care leavers' rights
Department of Health: Fair Access to Care Services guidance
DCLG: Homelessness guidance and information
DCLG: Guidance to social landlords on preventing rent possession and
evictions
Ministry of Justice: Pre-action protocol for rent arrears cases
Ministry of Justice: Mortgage Arrears Pre Action Protocol
Other advice resources
DWP:
Press releases
Dumfries Welfare Rights:
guides and discussion board
EAGA: Insulation &
draughtproofing grants
HM Revenue and Customs:
National Minimum Wage
HM Revenue and Customs: Tax Credit leaflets
HM Revenue and
Customs: Tax Credits info
Ipswich County Court Advice and
Representation Service: A successful pro bono advice scheme
Jobslink: Directory of grant
making charities
Low Income Tax Reform Group:
Advice and campaigns about tax issues affecting people on a low income
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
DCSF:
Statistics
DWP: Research and Statistics
Community
Health profiles
HM Revenue and Customs: Tax Credit statistics
HM
Revenue and Customs: Wealth distribution statistics (depressing reading)
Institute for Fiscal
Studies: Research about benefits and tax
Institute for Public Policy
Research
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
New Economics Foundation:
Fascinating stuff
New Policy Institute: More
reports and analysis about poverty
DCLG: Statistics
DCLG: LA housing management practice(includes 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 Social Inequalies
Office for
National Statistics: Neighbourhood Statistics
Poverty UK:
Indicators about poverty & inequality
Refugee
Council: Research and policy
Shelter: Research and statistics
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
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 Dept for Social Development
National Organisation of
Social Security Claimant Representatives: USA
National
Welfare Rights Network: Australia
Sargent Shriver
National Center on Poverty LawUSA
National Center for Law
and Economic Justice: 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
