First off, thank you to all those who registered for our free webinars on ‘'When the DWP Says No: Challenging Benefit Decisions with Confidence'.
We’re delighted to say that our next free webinar will take place very soon. This session will focus on explaining Universal Credit Conditionality Group. It's rather aptly titled, 'Universal Credit Conditionality Groups Explained: Who Has to Do What?'. This will take place on Thursday 15th October between 2pm to 3pm. Here's what you'll learn if you join us at the online session:
What Universal Credit conditionality means
The main work-related requirement groups
How health, caring responsibilities and children can affect requirements
What can happen if requirements are not met
Universal Credit and work: earnings, expectations and common misconceptions
Why this matters for employability providers and FES delivery
Landlord registration scheme to begin rollout from December 2026
This month, the government announced that the long-trailed landlord registration scheme (promised as part of the Labour government’s Renters Rights Act legislation, will come into effect from December 2026. Although it comes into effect from December, it will be rolled out region-by-region with landlord’s invited to apply until full implementation over a 12 month period, starting in the West Midlands. Where an area is invited to register, landlords will have 3 months to do so. The government say this will give more security to renters by being able to trust their landlord is genuine as well as giving councils greater accountability to be able to spot ‘rogue’ landlords and take enforcement action.
⭐If you’d like to find out more about upcoming changes to the housing sector and how these changes will affect both landlords and tenants, Society Matters offers a full day CPD-accredited course on Housing and Homelessness which unpacks both the new and upcoming changes that form part of the Renters Rights Act.
PIP review waiting times fall to around 25 weeks
Data released by the government shows that clearance times for reviews of Personal Independence Payment have fallen from a high of 40 weeks to around 25 weeks currently, the majority often completed without the need for an assessment. The DWP say this is in part because of the allocation of additional staff allowing to tackle the increased number (dealing with around 400,000 reviews compared to 162,000 the previous year).
⭐If you’d like to find out more about how to support and prepare people for applying for Personal Independence Payment or prepare people for their PIP review, Society Matters offers a full day CPD-accredited course on An Introduction to Personal Independence Payment where we look in detail at the PIP descriptors, the terminology to bear in mind and how to translate these to successful PIP claims and reviews.
Free school meals extended to all children
on Universal Credit from September
From September, all children in households claiming Universal Credit will be eligible for free school meals. Previously, families on Universal Credit had to be earning less than £7,400 a year from employment. Families will still need to register for free school meals. A survey by Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in August found that half of eligible families were unaware of the changes.
⭐Society Matters offers a full day CPD-accredited course on An Introduction to Universal Credit, where alongside looking at the application process and how to manage a claim day to day, we also talk about extra support people on Universal Credit can claim (including free school meals).
Apprentices Going Self-Employed:
The first invoice is exciting. What comes next?
Social Delivery Manager Adam Matthews explores what can happen when an apprentice starts working for themselves. The first invoice is a milestone, but it can bring new questions about irregular income, receipts, tax and Universal Credit. Adam looks at why practical preparation matters, whatever type of work they take on.
In this episode, Alison is joined by Michelle Percy, Chief Executive of Develop North and a leader whose career has spanned property development, local government, and regional investment. Michelle grew up in Whitley Bay after her family moved from Glasgow, worked paper rounds and Saturday jobs before going into secretarial training, and built a career in the built environment without going to university. She became a chartered surveyor through life experience roughly a decade ago, and she now runs a London Stock Exchange-listed company that directs the majority of its investment into the North East of England.
