Housing costs support is one of the most common issues we help low-income households with at @citizensadvice.bsky.social A big reason: private renters' UC housing support is frozen at rent levels from 2.5+yrs ago. And rents are up 16% since then. New blog from me + @drsarahhadfield.bsky.social 🧵

More than 710,000 disabled people are waiting for PIP decisions, with new claim wait times now at 20 weeks. These delays can push people into poverty and worsen health conditions. My new blog breaks down the backlog and why the Timms Review must not lose sight of delays and the harm they cause.

Access to Work isn’t meeting its BIG potential! 🧵 New report out now: www.citizensadvice.org.uk/policy/publi...

@citizensadvice.bsky.social helps 900 people a day with issues relating to the disability benefit PIP. That's a sign that the system isn't working as it should. The Timms review of PIP could be a chance to change that. We asked our advisers what it needs to get right: medium.com/p/5a3f881a08ee

For future reference, this is what a Universal Credit review looks like 👇

No mention here of the upcoming cut to Universal Credit, which will cost 700,000+ disabled people an average of £3,000 a year. From April, the health element of UC will be cut by nearly 50% for new claimants. Set out by @victoria-anns.bsky.social here: www.citizensadvice.org.uk/policy/publi...

The Equality Act should protect disabled people at work But @citizensadvice.bsky.social supported 5,393 people with health-related job discrimination in 2025 - roughly one every 1.5 hours Mine and @victoria-anns.bsky.social's new report digs into the barriers our disabled clients face at work /1

There’s a risk that the Keep Britain Working plan will see good employers continuing to perform well and receiving more recognition for this. And that little will be done to change the behaviour of employers who are failing to support disabled workers. wearecitizensadvice.org.uk/our-response...

New blog from me on the need to unfreeze LHA at the Budget Govt has suggested in the past that DHP can mitigate impact of freezing LHA - but we find it's not remotely set up to do this

📰New @citizensadvice.bsky.social briefing ahead of the #Autumnbudget: The Government if failing private renters by freezing #LocalHousingAllowance #LHA.

More from @citizensadvice.bsky.social on Local Housing Allowance today... Here's our pre-budget briefing by the brilliant @DrSarahHadfield.bsky.social assets.ctfassets.net/mfz4nbgura3g...

As the #AutumnBudget approaches, we're calling on the Chancellor to unfreeze Local Housing Allowance (LHA) to support people on low incomes as private rents continue to soar. Read more in our blog ⤵️ https://t.co/xTGMQRoFsk https://t.co/ijj5LHQyVC

📢Young disabled people could face benefit cuts of more than £420 a month if government plans go ahead. Young people deserve real support - not cuts that could push them into poverty. New blog from me & @victoria-anns.bsky.social: medium.com/p/62015a6f0b12

📢 Last night, the Renters Rights Act finally became law. We’ve been campaigning for this for years. Read more about the bill and what it means for you ⤵️ https://wearecitizensadvice.org.uk/the-renters-rights-act-is-here-but-the-work-is-just-beginning-1308fb226853

Great to see coverage of the 5 week wait in @the-independent.com, highlighting new Citizens Advice analysis of the huge scale of this issue ⚠️800,000 households repaying loans to DWP only needed because of 5 week wait for 1st UC payment ⚠️0.5M+ children growing up in households repaying these loans

Very encouraging to read that the Government is preparing to lift the two-child limit as part of its child poverty strategy, but it is disheartening that options short of scrapping it entirely are still being considered. Thread on why this would be the wrong choice for an ambitious strategy:

📢 Benefit cuts don’t have widespread support

Important and thoughtful new report from @beccastacey.bsky.social on how the benefits system could be better at making work pay for disabled people + great to see this coverage in @bigissue.com from @cjayanetti.bsky.social 👇👇👇

Government’s claim that Universal Credit Bill will incentivise people to work is ‘wishful thinking’ @citizensadvice.bsky.social www.rightsnet.org.uk/now/post/68056

Cuts to disability benefits weren’t totally averted! 🚨New report out today explaining why the Universal Credit Bill will harm disabled people and exploring who will be impacted by the cuts. www.citizensadvice.org.uk/policy/publi...

🚨 We're hiring a Policy Research Assistant in the Families, Welfare and Work team at Citizens Advice🚨 Come and help us make the benefits system fairer (and work with lots of lovely people)! Deadline to apply is 21st August: www.jobtrain.co.uk/citizensadvi...

📢New briefing with @drsarahhadfield.bsky.social published today - looking at how UC’s rigid monthly model is often at odds with recipients’ working lives, and how + why the UC review could be a chance to fix this ⬇️

Raising state pension age is a surefire way of increasing spend on disability benefits www.ft.com/content/1b30...

The narrative around Universal Credit has long centred around work incentives. This new briefing examines how effective UC is at encouraging employment – and how that focus may have overshadowed the deeper complexities of getting into work. 🧵 🔗 www.citizensadvice.org.uk/policy/publi...

🚨 New report alert 🚨 We’ve launched our first local deep dive research into health inequalities - starting in Chapeltown, Leeds. What does geography have to do with health & work? Quite a lot, it turns out. 🧵

The government's concessions on disability benefits cuts are a good start but do nothing to help those who will need disability benefits in the future. Anyone can become disabled at any time and future claimants are no less deserving of support than existing claimants

Changes to UCPIP bill are result of campaigners & disabled people speaking out about the profound harm the govt was about to inflict. However, the bill remains illogical & inherently unfair. The govt should pause & come back with meaningful reform if serious about “fixing the foundations”.

How will the proposed disability benefit cuts impact disabled people? Today we’re sharing the story of one of the people we’ve helped: Anita*. The cuts could mean she loses over £8k per year (43% of her income)❗ New blog out now: medium.com/p/1ab8959922a1

Heartened to see these charities working together to oppose the UC and PIP bill - www.ucpipbill.co.uk

UC & PIP bill proposes the biggest cuts to disability benefits since OBR was created. It would: ✂️cut benefits for 3.2m disabled ppl 📈Push 300,000-400,000 into poverty, including 50,000 children 📈 Drive 440,000 into severe hardship New joint briefing: www.ucpipbill.co.uk

The new welfare bill could cut billions from health & disability benefits, putting hundreds of thousands of disabled people at risk of poverty. Join @citizensadvice.bsky.social on 26 June to hear from a panel of experts and explore our data ⤵️ www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/citizens-a... #CADataInsights

Today, the government laid its Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill before parliament. But what's actually in the bill and what happens next? New blog out now: wearecitizensadvice.org.uk/why-were-ask...

Join @citizensadvice.bsky.social on Thursday 26th June for our next data insights event - with a spotlight on disability We'll be discussing the disability benefit cuts with a range of experts www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/citizens-a...

V. positive Spending Review has confirmed multi-year funding for crisis support. Good to see move towards crisis support being a permanent part of welfare support, and away from the short-term Household Support Fund approach - But still some questions about how the new fund will work in practice

The Household Support Fund is now the 'Crisis and Resilience Fund' and will be funded at £1 bn/yr (incl. Barnett) until the end of 2028-29. The first multi-year funding will be very helpful for local authorities delivering the scheme as they can now plan, develop their approach, retain staff etc.

Spot on from Polly Toynbee. For more on the @citizensadvice.bsky.social analysis cited, check out Maddy's thread bsky.app/profile/madd...

Its time for change in Jobcentres, but how do we do it? My new paper proposes a vision for Jobcentre reform. The central idea is to introduce case workers, who would be service users’ main point of contact and offer ongoing pastoral and practical support 🧵 www.citizensadvice.org.uk/policy/publi...

New blog on the Fair Repayment Rate, in effect since 30 April. It's lowered deductions + raised UC incomes for many - BUT must be the first, not the only, step govt. takes to tackling deductions. ⚠️ We now need action on the causes of deductions, crucially the 5 week wait.

The Pathways to Work Green Paper sets out plans to cut billions from health and disability benefits. Instead of getting people into work, these cuts will push hundreds of thousands into poverty. Our new report looks at the impact of cuts to PIP, UC health & scrapping the WCA (🧵)

Free School Meals support in the holidays is now the largest category of Household Support Fund expenditure. This is arguably not an ideal use of what is supposed to be crisis support funding and would be better covered by an increased Free School Meals budget instead.

Yes - important that today's U-turn doesn't mean that we lose sight of the 3.2m working-age families who will be affected by cuts to PIP and Universal Credit, with some losing more than £4,500 per year.

Work won’t cut it New briefing for @citizensadvice.bsky.social by me and @beccastacey.bsky.social We look at whether people losing PIP and UC income will be better off *if* they move into employment, if reforms were implemented today Here's a quick 🧵 but spoiler alert: probably not

Great new blog from our policy research intern Josh King explaining how it's become harder and harder for low income families to access Free School Meals. The £7,400 earnings threshold (frozen since 2018 !) is a cliff-edge that keeps getting closer 👇

Deductions are leaving people with less income than they need to make ends meet and pushing them into debt. The benefits system should be there to support people, not force them into hardship Read more: inews.co.uk/news/univers...

1️⃣ we're in the 7th cycle of the Household Support Fund 2️⃣ its future is still uncertain 3️⃣ and we still see record demand for crisis support ... so what should come next? New Citizens Advice paper on the future of crisis support + how to realise an approach that’s more than a sticking plaster🩹👇

Good news for those struggling with council tax debt in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 The Welsh Government is consulting on extra time before becoming liable to pay a full bill, checks on entitlement for council tax reduction and more @citizensadvice.bsky.social work mentioned by Cab Sec here www.gov.wales/written-stat...

New post with @julia-rt.bsky.social for @citizensadvice.bsky.social on Universal Credit's lost value Quick thread on main points 🧵

As well as cutting disability benefits, the government are planning to reform a crucial part of the application process: health assessments. We know they need to be improved but these changes don't seem to go far enough. Check out the proposals below: wearecitizensadvice.org.uk/do-plans-to-...

I’ve written about how the government's cuts agenda conflicts with its employment agenda Reducing the financial support that enables many to access employment will only create further barriers to work for disabled people wearecitizensadvice.org.uk/why-efforts-...