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SSAC: Passported benefits under universal credit

2 August 2011

Introduction

Passported benefits under universal credit (Adobe Acrobat Document 78kb)

Citizens Advice welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) consultation on the future of passported benefits.

Benefits in kind play a very important role in helping low income families access necessities such as food and good health.  

Different passported benefits are of different value to different households:  For families with two or more school age children, free school meals have the highest monetary value and play a very important role in ensuring children have access to a hot, healthy meal each day.  

Access to help with health costs is vital for people with poor health or who need dental treatment.  The current rules for receiving support with health costs are complex, and the provisions are inadequately publicised.  CAB evidence shows that some people do not receive the help to which they are entitled and therefore go without the medication or dental treatment they need because they cannot afford the charges.  

Some other benefits in kind may not be of critical value to an individual or family in the long term, but can of prime importance at a particular point in time – such as when they need access to legal aid for a benefit, housing or education issue for example.

The value of free school meals and health costs are so significant that we believe the universal credit must deal with them appropriately, otherwise there is a risk of undermining the government’s central aims of reducing complexity and making work pay.  We have therefore considered these issues in more depth and will submit separate, detailed responses on these issues, jointly with other organisations.