DWP confirms integrated PIP, Universal Credit and ESA assessment trial to resume next month

Head over to our new Lanarkshire Live Facebook page to make sure you're up to date with the top stories in the regionThe number of people employed in Scotland as a whole currently sits at 2.66 million; a rate of 74.3 per cent.Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said: “We know that the pandemic has had a significant impact on the labour market.“These figures show the scale of the challenge we face to rebuild our economy; and throws into sharp relief just how irresponsible it is of the Scottish

Easter weekend is approaching, and with two bank holidays in a row, benefit claimants may notice changes in when they get paid.

Easter falls on Sunday, April 4 which means everyone in the UK can look forward to the upcoming bank holidays on Good Friday and Easter Monday. The extended weekend from April 2nd to April 5th also means that normal financial transactions will be suspended and as a result, most benefit payments that fall on those dates are changing.

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timetable for lockdown easing published by the Scottish Government. It is currently illegal to leave your local authority area - unless it is for essential purposes - under the current stay at home lockdown restrictions.

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show that there are now around six million people across the UK claiming Universal Credit.The benefit payment is intended to help those out of work or on a low income with the costs of daily living.There are changes coming in April which will see an increase of 0.5 per cent across all DWP-delivered benefits, including Universal Credit.The rise in payments also affects additional elements including child, carer and work capability paid to claimants receiving

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Godzilla Vs Kong will be made available for UK fans to watch next month.Set to be released in US cinemas on March 31, as well as on streaming service HBO Max for a month on the same day, the monster movie has now been given a UK release date of April 1, available as a home Premium VOD rental.Two of cinema’s most legendary monsters clash in this megabucks mash-up of the Godzilla and King Kong franchises, starring Millie Bobby Brown, Alexander Skarsgård, Rebecca Hall and Brian Tyree Henry.A

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) recently confirmed that State Pension will rise by 2.5% and benefits by 0.5% from April this year. The new changes will come into effect at the start of the new financial year on April 6, 2021 and will increase benefit payments delivered by the DWP.

Universal Credit will be abruptly reduced in September.Paul Johnson, the IFS’s director, said “It is, by the way, remarkable that while the chancellor felt the need for a gradual phase out of furlough, business rates support, stamp duty reductions and VAT reductions he is still set on a cliff-edge reduction in UC such that incomes of some of the poorest families will fall by over £80 between one month and the next.

link!"An extension to furlough, assisting the three million excluded from Covid assistance so far and making the £20 Universal Credit uplift permanent and available to legacy benefits are just the start of the support he should be looking at.“At the Budget, the Chancellor must also prioritise investing in the key areas of the economy to stimulate jobs, recovery and wellbeing.

David Linden has called on Chancellor Rishi Sunak to make the Universal Credit uplift permanent as part of a wider post-covid recovery programme.The Glasgow East MP said axing the uplift - worth £1040 a year to claimants - at a time of rising unemployment would be "unconscionable".Linden, the Nationalists' spokesman on work and pensions, spoke out as the Tory Chancellor prepares to deliver a Budget like no other in recent history.The UK Government says it will set out "the next phase of the plan