Scottish Social Security Consortium

Minutes of meeting 28 September 2006

Present:
Angela Toal - Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland (Chair)
Jo McLaughlin - The Action Group
Helen Fordyce - Scottish Refugee Council
Malcolm Laughton - Alzheimer Scotland
Marion Gell - CAF
Lorna Bernard - HAIN
Alison Gillies - Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland
Lindsay Isaacs - CAS (minute taker)
Collette Cummins - RNIB

Mary Bell - Veterans Agency
Irene Robinson - Veterans Agency
Stuart - Veterans Agency (observing)

Apologies

im Pearson - Alzheimer Scotland

Welcome

Angela Toal welcomed everyone to the meeting.

The Veterans Agency
The presentation from the Veterans Agency representatives started with some background information about the history and remit of the organisation. It was set up to provide care and support to ex-service men and women injured in service, and their families. The term veteran applies to anyone who has served in HM Armed Forces.

The agency currently has 25 offices across the country, with four covering the whole of Scotland. Their main role is a welfare function. Services are provided in a number of ways, such as a free helpline, mobile advice buses and a website.

The War Pensions Scheme
This is the 'old' scheme, and applies to any veterans who became injured or ill as a direct result of their service, before 6 April 2005. Injuries or illnesses occurring after this date are dealt with under a new scheme, the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, discussed below. Although this scheme finished in April 2005, people who claim now for a condition that occurred before this date will still claim under the old system.

Claims can be made for any physical or mental condition, as long as a causal link can be demonstrated, i.e. the condition must be directly attributed to or aggravated by service.

The pensions can only be claimed once the veteran has left the armed forces. They range from 20-100% - awards of less than 20% are paid as a lump sum. All war pensions are non-taxable, and this has an impact on other benefits such as housing benefit and council tax benefit. Other supplements and help are also available depending on an individual's circumstances such as help with clothing, an unemployability supplement if they are unable to undertake any other form of work, priority treatment in hospital and free prescriptions for the designated condition.

The War Widows Pension also comes under the old scheme. The spouse's death must again be directly related to their service. Again, the pensions are tax free. The basic amount is £102.20/week, but there are supplements for service pre-1973 and age additions. Funeral payments of £1,400 are also available if the veteran's death is linked to their service.

Most claims have appeal rights to an independent tribunal. The success rate at appeal is quite high, so it is worth advisers encouraging people to go through the appeals process. However, like DLA, the tribunal does have the right to reduce, as well as increase, awards although in practice this is very unusual.

The Armed Forces Compensation Scheme
The new scheme is very different in nature from the old one. The key difference is that it is a compensation scheme, rather than a pension and allowance scheme. It also focuses much more on injuries and wounds, as opposed to illnesses.

Under this scheme, claims are made while the individual is still in service. The intention behind this is to deliver compensation at the time of injury, rather than years after the event. There is a time limit of five years from the injury (or seeking treatment for the injury), within which claims must be made.

Payments under the new scheme are made as lump sums. The injury is given a tariff ranging from one to 15 depending on its severity - one is awarded to the most serious injuries, and 15 for the least serious. The amount of payment is linked to the tariff ie £300,000 for a tariff one injury, and £1,000 for a tariff 15 injury. Tariff payments are full and final. In other words, the calculation takes into account the expected deterioration of the injury. In addition, injures graded between one and 11 attract a guaranteed income payment (more like the traditional pension scheme), which becomes payable on leaving service and is intended to compensate for loss of earnings. Both tariff and income payments are tax free.

Claimants have six months to appeal. Within the first three months of receiving their decision they also have the option of asking for a reconsideration, thus avoiding the whole appeal process.

Criteria for adult dependents have widened, and unmarried partners and partners of the same sex are now entitled, as long as a substantial relationship can be proved. A £20,000 bereavement grant is also available.

Minutes of the previous meeting
Minutes of the meeting held on 9 May 2006 were agreed as an accurate record.

Matters arising

Update on the Scottish Campaign on Welfare Reform
Lindsay explained to the group that the campaign was in a fairly natural pause between the Bill being published in July and it going to Committee stage, which will happen in October after the Parliamentary recess. Things that have happened thus far include:

• Original letter to all Scottish MPs: SCoWR has received responses from 18 MPs, including a very lengthy response from Danny Alexander who is very supportive. However, the line from most MPs is consistent - that the reforms are about helping people back into work, and not intended to be punitive ie the same as the responses received from Jim Murphy and John Hutton.
• Postcard campaign: These were reprinted and so we know that lots were distributed to member organisations. However, we need to evaluate how effective the campaign was - how many were actually sent to MPs, and did MPs respond? The group was asked to contact SCoWR with any ideas for evaluation, and also agreed to contact members to try and get a feel for the campaign's success.
• The CAS report into sickness and disability was launched on18 July at an MPs briefing in Westminster. Kate Higgins from Capability Scotland attended to provide a SCoWR perspective on the findings in the wider context of welfare reform.
• Various members of SCoWR have discussed the campaign's key concerns in various contexts:

  * Scottish Local Government Forum Against Poverty's AGM, July
  * CAS annual conference panel on welfare reform, August
  * Meetings with John Robertson,MP for Glasgow West and Jim Murphy, Minister for Welfare Reform, both August

Things coming up for SCoWR include:

• Representatives are hoping to attend the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) meeting on 10th October, and awaiting confirmation
• Amendments during the committee stage. SCoWR does not have the resources to do much here, so we need to be very targeted and focused. Any suggestions for suitable issues on which to suggest amendments will be gratefully received.
• Closer working with MSPs and the Scottish Executive, in relation to how the welfare reforms will play out in Scotland. David McNeish of CAS has contacted the SE's welfare reform team (in charge of the Workforce Plus initiative) to suggest a seminar, and is waiting for a response.
• Possible targeting of certain MPs, e.g. those with high levels of IB in their constituencies
• Looking at the possible impact of the city strategies - representatives from the three Scottish Councils that have been awarded the City Pilots (Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow) are being invited to the November meeting of the group.

Information Exchange

Allison Gillies reported on CPAG in Scotland's tax credits project, which is progressing well. There has been an evaluation the first phase of the project, which involved a questionnaire and several focus groups.

• Training is a key strand of the project, and they have already delivered several events and workshops. The project plans to develop courses specifically aimed at meeting the needs of non-welfare rights practitioners, who still require a basic understanding of the tax credit system.
• In terms of information provision, they have been updating a number of fact sheets, available on the CPAG in Scotland website. These are mostly aimed at advisers, rather than clients. The group discussed possible ideas for future information sheets, such as tax credits for A8 migrant workers and the effect of hospital stays on tax credits.
• The advice line for advisers is continuing.
• An e-bulletin or e-newsletter might be developed in the future.

Lindsay Isaacs from CAS then reported on tax credit issues arising from the Tax Credit Consultation Group meeting she attended in London on 19 September.

• There will be a new version of COP26 (What happens if we've paid you too much tax credit?) issued in Nov 2006
• There is planned downtime for upgrading software in October.
• In July, the Paymaster General made a statement in Parliament about providing claimants with a ready reckoner. This is easier said than done, and HMRC is currently producing two different draft versions. A CAB adviser had questioned whether this could be used against claimants as evidence they should have known they were receiving an overpayment. Lindsay has contacted HMRC for clarification, and will report back at the next meeting of the group.
• In trying to fight fraud, in future HMRC will only issue tax credit packs to advice organisations through one source (the HMRC orderline) to reduce the numbers of blank packs organisations have. Advisers will be encouraged to fill in names and addresses for clients before sending them away with the forms, and to write 'sample' across display copies.

Topics for future meetings
As noted earlier, the next meeting (November 20) will focus on the City Pilots aspect of the Welfare Reform Bill.

Possible future topics were suggested:

• Integration loans for refugees
• A visit from Graham Gould and Linda Prattis of External Relations, JCP in Scotland (Lindsay to invite)

AOB
There was no other business.

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For more information contact:
Judith Paterson
Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland,
Unit 9, Ladywell
94 Duke Street,
Glasgow G4 0UW
0141 552 3303
email jpaterson@cpagscotland.org.uk

Abigail Bremner
Citizens Advice Scotland
Spectrum House
2 Powderhall Road
Edinburgh EH7 4GB
0131 550 1000
email bremnera@cas.org.uk