Fair Welfare campaign

Do you want to live in a society with a just, efficient welfare benefit system that supports those who need it, when they need it most? So does Citizens Advice. The Fair Welfare campaign is calling for a welfare benefits and tax credits system which:

• acts as a safety net to prevent anyone in the UK living in poverty
• is transparent and flexible, so that everyone can understand what they’re entitled to and how to claim it
• features good decision-making and administration to ensure people get the money they’re entitled to quickly and efficiently
• supports people to move into appropriate work, and makes work pay
• ensures more people receive the benefits and tax credits to which they are entitled
• provides housing benefit that helps give everyone access to affordable, secure homes
• allows for the write-off of old tax credit overpayment debt
• has a social fund that is accessible to all who need it.

How you can help

This is an ambitious vision, so we’re breaking it down into stages. Right now we’re focusing on three things:

1. Getting Government to set ambitious take-up targets for benefits and tax credits

Citizens Advice and 26 other key organisations in the sector are calling on Government to introduce ambitious take up targets for means-tested benefits and tax credits, as an important step towards tackling poverty and providing adequate incomes for all.

The Department for Work and Pensions estimates that £10bn a year of means-tested benefits remain unclaimed, and HMRC figures show that 6.2bn goes unpaid in unclaimed tax credits. We believe take-up targets would ensure that Departments devise action plans and are accountable for their effectiveness, resulting in continuing improvement.

To support this campaign write to your MP to highlight the issue using the template letter below:

• Letter calling for benefit and tax credit take-up targets ( 30kb)

2. Telling the government how to improve its back-to-work programme for people receiving benefits

We want to hear the good, the bad and the ugly side of back-to work interviews so we can tell it to the government straight, and campaign for improvements. If you have been to a back-to-work interview, support this campaign by:

• Completing a survey about your experiences

• Telling us your story in your own words

3. Getting old tax credit overpayment debt written off

Old tax credit overpayment debt is still causing stress and hardship for many.

If you have outstanding tax credit overpayment debt from 2003/04 or 2004/05, you should consider challenging the recovery of your overpayment. Not only could challenging recovery help you personally, but it will support our campaign - if enough people challenge these old debts, we send a message to the government that they cannot get away with ignoring them and are better off writing them off.

If you want to challenge an old tax credit overpayment debt, see the Tax credit overpayments guide on the advicenow.org.uk website (pg. 11-13 deals with challenging an overpayment), or visit your nearest Citizens Advice Bureau for support.

For more information about the campaign, please email Citizens Advice campaigns