CPAG IN SCOTLAND CONFERENCE
Annual Conference:
Welfare Rights 2009
Friday 26 June 2009, 10am to 4pm
£100 per delegate
Glasgow
Caledonian University
70 Cowcaddens Road
Glasgow G4 0BA
With recession biting and more people looking to the welfare system for vital financial support, this conference is a timely opportunity to find out about the latest developments in benefits and tax credits. It is also an opportunity to join debate with leading politicians and commentators on whether Scotland’s advice sector is adequately resourced to help families get the advice they need and to discuss whether the latest UK welfare reforms will help or hinder efforts to end child poverty.
This conference is for welfare rights workers, other advisers and policy workers. It offers the opportunity to hear about the latest developments in benefits and tax credits.
Programme (subject to change)
09.30 Arrival, registration and coffee
10.00 Keynote speaker
- Jim Murphy MP, Secretary of State for Scotland
Setting the scene
- John Dickie, Head of CPAG in Scotland
10.50 Coffee
11.10 Workshops – morning session
12.30 Lunch
1.30 Workshops – afternoon session
2.45 Coffee
3.00 Question Time: key speakers include
4.00 Final remarks and close
Workshops
Experiences of employment and support allowance (Room A303a)
Judith Paterson and Angela Toal, Welfare Rights, CPAG in Scotland
Employment and support allowance (ESA) has now been operating since October 2008, with claimants being assessed under the new work capability assessment from December. What problems or benefits are people experiencing with ESA? How is the new assessment working in practice? Are more claimants failing the new assessment? Are the tougher work-related conditions beginning to bite? Looking at these questions, this workshop aims to share the experiences of participants, and ask what advisers can do to help claimants under this new regime.
Kinship care update (Room A303b)
Alison Gillies , Welfare Rights Worker, CPAG in Scotland
Over a year since the Scottish Government announcement on kinship carer allowances, the issue remains a difficult one for advisers. The new Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations are due to come into force in June 2009 and are expected to introduce a formal kinship carer allowance. This workshop takes stock of the situation and provides an opportunity to consider the benefit and tax credit implications of the new Scottish regulations.
Medical evidence and the First-tier Tribunal (Room A313)
Simon Osborne, Welfare Rights Worker, CPAG
Tribunals hearing DLA and incapacity/limited capability for work appeals often have to consider differing opinions from the claimant, their GP or specialist, and an examining medical practitioner or approved disability analyst concerning the effects of a claimant’s condition. Representatives need to be aware of how reports that they have obtained will be considered in light of issues that have arisen around independence and admissibility. This workshop examines the development of caselaw in the way evidence should be treated by tribunals.
New tribunal rules (Room A423)
Alan Gamble, Judge of the Upper Tribunal
November 2008 saw a major overhaul of the social security tribunal system. Judge of the Upper Tribunal, Alan Gamble, will provide an inside view of how the new rules are bedding in. He will focus particularly on the role and responsibilities of the representative in both First-tier and Upper Tribunals.
Tax credits overpayments – getting to grips with COP26 (Room A426c)
Mark Willis, Welfare Rights Worker, CPAG in Scotland
Overpayments of tax credits continue to be a major headache for claimants and advisers. The Revenue’s code of practice on recovering overpayments (COP26) has been regularly revised and is still the subject of much controversy. This workshop examines the responsibilities of the claimant and the Revenue, and when an overpayment can be written off under the latest version of COP26. It will also explore how overpayments can be avoided or reduced in cases of changes of circumstances, errors and hardship.
Keeping your home – benefit issues around eviction/repossession (Room A426f)
David Kelly, Welfare Rights Worker, CPAG in Scotland
Alexis Camble, Policy Officer, Shelter
Repossessions and evictions are running at their highest level in five years. Getting the right amount of housing benefit or housing costs may make the difference between keeping or losing your home. Recent reform of the housing costs scheme has resulted in winners and losers. Radical changes to the rules on backdated housing benefit have limited help to those in arrears with further restrictions being considered. This workshop looks at recent changes to the rules and what can be done to help those who are struggling financially to keep their homes.
Key speakers
Patrick Harvie MSP
Patrick Harvie has served as a Scottish Green MSP for Glasgow since 2003, and has taken particular interest in environmental issues like climate change, as well as equality and civil liberties, food, energy, IT, and more. Perhaps the best thing about this job is the wide range of issues to get involved in no - two days are the same.
Johann Lamont MSP
Johann Lamont is Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in the Scottish Parliament and has been the MSP for Glasgow Pollok since 1999. She served as Deputy Minister for Communities from October 2004 until November 2006 and as Deputy Minister for Justice from November 2006 until May 2007. Prior to being elected she worked as a teacher for 20 years, her last post based in the Education Social Work Project in the Castlemilk area.
John Mason MP
John Mason has lived in the east end of Glasgow for 18 years. After training in Glasgow, he worked for various not-for-profit organisations, and also spent three years in Nepal with an NGO representing churches from all over the world. He was elected councillor in 1998 and SNP MP for Glasgow East in 2008.
Jim Murphy MP, Secretary of State for Scotland
Jim Murphy first entered Parliament in 1997 and is MP for Renfrewshire East. He was Parliamentary Secretary to the Secretary of State for Scotland from 2001 until 2002 when he was first appointed to government as a whip. Jim was appointed Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office in 2005 before joining the Department for Work and Pensions in 2006 as Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform. He is now serving as Secretary of State for Scotland.
Agnes Tolmie, Chairperson, Scottish Women’s Convention
Agnes Tolmie has been an active campaigner in the women's movement for over 30 years. She is currently Chairperson of the Scottish Women’s Convention, a member of the STUC General Council and Women's Committee, and Board Member of Scottish Union Learning and Poverty Alliance. Agnes is also on the trade union Unite’s Executive Council and National Women’s Committee. She currently works for the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Details of the venue
The conference will be held at the Govan Mbeki building at Caledonian University. This is across the road from Buchanan Street bus station and a 5 minute walk from Glasgow Queen Street train station. View travel directions.
Booking a place and further information
To book a place please print off our conference programme and complete the booking form or you can email Betty Kelly at bkelly@cpagscotland.org.uk with your contact details, details of where the invoice should be sent, as well as your workshop preferences – both morning and afternoon.
This conference is the only one of its kind in Scotland and places are limited. Please book early to avoid disappointment.
CPAG in Scotland
Unit 9, Ladywell,
94 Duke Street,
Glasgow,
G4 0UW
Tel: 0141 552
3303
Fax: 0141 552 4404
Email:
bkelly@cpagscotland.org.uk
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