With students arriving at University to commence a new academic year, the Advice NI Policy & Information team has published an information briefing for advisers covering Universal Credit eligibility for students.
Backing the “Keep Me Posted” campaign, Kevin Higgins, Head of Policy at Advice NI joined Judith Donovan CBE from Keep Me Posted to discuss the crucial need for continued paper-based correspondence for Universal Credit claimants.
Banks have been warned that it's "not fair" to automatically blame customers for money lost through a scam. Last year, customers transferred nearly £240m to fraudsters, only a quarter of which was refunded by financial firms.
Employees who are paid early at Christmas may be affected by a flaw in the Universal Credit (UC) system whereby claimants may be treated as receiving two monthly wages in one assessment period, resulting in a dramatically reduced or even nil Universal Credit award.
It has been estimated that approximately 200,000 local workers in NI are on the Government's job retention (furlough) scheme, which covers 80% of wages up to £2,500 a month.
Advice NI welcome the growing calls for Government to act to extend the suspension of the 'Minimum Income Floor' for self employed Universal Credit claimants.
Despite the Government announcement on Friday about a different Job Support Scheme to follow the current furlough scheme, we in Advice NI remain concerned that thousands of employees across Northern Ireland could see their jobs under threat and so face the daunting prospect of claiming UC.
Established in 2016, the Scamwise NI partnership now has over 30 members, each one sharing their own unique knowledge on how to protect the more vulnerable of our society.
