Jun 29th 2016, 12:32

ANOTHER EXCELLENT CPAG WELFARE LAW HANDBOOK SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED FOR PRACTITIONERS, ADVISERS AND APPLICANTS IN PERSON

An appreciation by Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers

The biggest problem today facing advisers is the sheer bulk of the detailed information which we need in an attempt to understand the complex rules. We all know that the legal fiction of ‘ignorance of the law is no excuse’ is always pulled out by ‘the powers that be’ in order to defeat the less informed. Unfortunately, in the ever more complex society we live in, the legal rules have to be known and understood... and this is exactly what the Child Poverty Action Group gives us here.

The CPAG’s “Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook” for the years 2016 to 2017, now in an 18th edition, is recognized as “the advisers’ bible” as a comprehensive guide to all benefits and tax credits. Users will find it an essential, easy to use resource for all professional advisers offering the best and most accurate advice to clients.

The handbook holds detailed information on all the recent changes to the welfare benefits system, including the latest on the roll-out of universal credit and the sanctions regime. It also offers tactical information on common problem which arise and advice on how to challenge decisions which we found one of the most popular and useful areas for advisers.

So, what does the handbook cover? The 2016-17 edition includes new and updated information in the following areas: who can claim benefits and tax credits; the introduction and implementation of universal credit; disability and incapacity benefits, and the work capability assessment for employment and support allowance; dealing with benefit sanctions; challenging decisions, backdating, overpayments, income and capital, and national insurance provisions; and the new state pension.

Advisers will find the handbook fully indexed for ease of use with splendid cross-referencing to law, regulations, official guidance plus court, Upper Tribunal and commissioners’ decisions. CPAG produces the handbook in print form and online, with bi-monthly updates published in their Welfare Rights Bulletin and the online version updated throughout the year.

And so can use the handbook? We feel it’s essential as a resource for welfare rights advisers, lawyers, local authority staff, social workers, union officials and claimants and should be available in all public libraries, council offices and advice centres.


Alison Garnham writes in the Foreword that there is no point in pretending that low-income families, and those campaigning for improvements for their well-being, are not facing unprecedented challenges at present.


Garnham goes on to say that CPAG remains “adamant that while poverty in the UK today is as real as ever, it does not have to be this way”. She continues that “every child deserves a fair chance in life” stating “that is why it is right for the government to look at educational attainment, health and other indicators of disadvantage”.


However, “the fact remains: money matters to families and children” which, although a statement of the obvious, is why this handbook is worth its weight in gold for the adviser and claimant. As Alison concludes, “CPAG will be there, as we have been for half a century, to make sure these families are not forgotten”. They haven’t, and we remain deeply grateful to CPAG for the way they continue to embrace the challenges in welfare year which we all face.


The law covered in this book is correct as at 7th March 2016 and includes regulations laid up to this date.