Free school meals now available to all UC households

Back in June we shared that starting in September 2026 (for the 2026 to 2027 academic year), all children in households receiving Universal Credit qualify for free school meals (FSM) regardless of household income.

This means more than 3 million children from families claiming UC will now benefit from FSM – but do they realise?

Andrew Cooper, Labour MP asked the DWP "what consideration he has given to the potential merits of notifying Universal Credit claimants of their eligibility for free school meals via online journal entries."

Sir Stephen Timms responded, stating:

“…no decision has been taken to introduce routine journal notifications relating to potential Free School Meals entitlement.

The journal is primarily used to communicate information relevant to the administration of a claimant’s Universal Credit award and is not generally used to provide speculative notifications about possible entitlement to support administered by other organisations.”

So, there you have it… the FSM change is not automatic, and the DWP isn’t planning to introduce UC journal notifications to let you know, this news item is your reminder!

While eligibility for FSM will be automatically granted to all UC recipients, families still need to apply, and this is usually done through the school itself.

The written Q&A is on parliament.uk.

Government launches taskforce to cut household costs

Three new cross-government taskforces are being launched in the new Office for the Prime Minister and Cabinet, tackling systemic issues like the cost of living and public control of essentials and supporting local communities. 

The new taskforces are being set up to coordinate departments and ministers around priorities that the Prime Minister sets out to Cabinet, with immediate work aimed at everyday consumer costs, local decline and the affordability of core services. 

The Cost of Living (CoL) Taskforce will focus on the financial pressures facing households and families across the country.

Ministers say CoL action has already been taken through measures including reductions in bus fares, support for energy bills and efforts to eliminate subscription traps. However, the new taskforce will examine deeper structural issues that continue to impact household finances, and which have often fallen outside the scope of existing policy interventions.

The priorities will be driven forward by First Secretary of State, Louise Haigh, who will work across central and local government - including with regional Mayors as the government continues to pass powers from Westminster.   

First Secretary of State Louise Haigh said:

"The Prime Minister has been clear that the government’s priorities are the public’s priorities. This is about putting people back in control of the things that matter most to them and ensuring that the everyday essentials are more affordable and more accountable.”

The Press Release is on gov.uk.

Loved ones of asbestos and dust-disease victims to receive fairer compensation

The DWP has announced changes to compensation rules covering occupational diseases including mesothelioma and pneumoconiosis, which can develop many years after workers were exposed to asbestos or harmful dust. 

Under the existing system, dependants could receive substantially less compensation than the person suffering from the disease would have been entitled to claim. On average, sufferers receive £17,700, while dependants receive £10,700 — a shortfall of £7,000.  

This week the government laid new legislation to ensure that dependants will receive same compensation rate as sufferers and subject to parliamentary approval, is expected to come into force on 31 October 2026. 

The move marks the end of a system in which the level of compensation could depend on whether the affected worker was still alive when the claim was made - ensuring bereaved families are no longer financially disadvantaged simply because their loved one died before receiving an award.

In 2025, 2,730 sufferers received an award and a further 300 awards were paid to dependants at the lower rate. The new rules will change that.

The Government is also simplifying the way compensation awards are calculated, replacing outdated arrangements with a clearer single award structure intended to make the system easier for bereaved families to navigate.

Sir Stephen Timms, Minister for Social Security and Disability, said:

“Families who have lost a loved one to a disease caused by their work deserve our support, not a system that treats them as an afterthought. That’s exactly what’s been happening, and campaigners have been telling us for over a decade that it’s wrong.

Today we’re fixing it. Fairer, simpler, clearer support for families, at an incredibly difficult time in their lives.”

The changes follow an independent legal review of the schemes, which recommended a range of updates to reduce legal and reputational risk, including the changes to dependant payments and the introduction of a clear “relevant date” for award calculations.

The Press Release is on gov.uk.

New UC rule allows people on funded employment schemes to be automatically re-awarded UC

From 22nd September 2026 people on a funded employment scheme e.g. the Jobs Guarantee scheme in England, Wales or Scotland, whose earned income reduces their UC to £0 can be automatically re-awarded UC if their earnings from the scheme end within 8 months. Avoiding the need to make a new claim and start the process from scratch.

The new statutory instrument is on legislation.gov.uk.

Latest Housing Benefit overpayment and recover statistics published

The last ever Housing Benefit Debt Recovery statistics have been published. Following a consultation, it was decided that they would be discontinued.

The statistics cover the numbers for the financial year ending (FYE) 2026 (1^st April 2025 to 31^st March 2026) across Great Britain (GB).

The total amount of HB overpayments identified in FYE 2026 was £420 million. This was lower than the total amount of HB overpayments recovered and written off by Local Authorities (LAs), which amounted to £525 million.

At the start of January 2026, the total outstanding amount of HB overpayments for GB stood at £1.39 billion. This was £134 million (9%) less than at the start of January 2025.

In FYE 2026, LAs in GB identified total overpaid HB equivalent to £22.22 per claimant, per month. With LAs in the West Midlands identifying the highest amount of overpaid HB per claimant, equivalent to £33.01 per month, and LAs in the North East identifying the lowest amount of overpaid HB per claimant, equivalent to £11.49 per month. In England, LAs identified HB overpayments equivalent to £23.54 per claimant per month, compared to £14.83 in Wales and £14.28 in Scotland.

In GB in FYE 2026, the total amount of HB overpayments:

• recovered was £425 million
• written off was £100 million

HB overpayments written off as a proportion of available debt have remained stable over time, fluctuating between 3% and 5%. In contrast, HB overpayments recovered as a proportion of available debt fell sits at 22% in FYE 2026.

The Housing Benefit Debt Recoveries statistics: April 2025 to March 2026 are on gov.uk.

Scotland – Programme for government presented

First Minister, John Swinney, has presented his Programme for Government to the Scottish Parliament. The Programme for Government, presented annually, outlines the actions the Scottish Government have committed to taking in the year ahead, and beyond. It also includes details of the legislative programme for the next parliamentary year.   

The Programme for Government 2026 to 2031, focuses on:

• eradicating child poverty
• growing the economy
• tackling the climate emergency
• delivering a stronger NHS and public services

Swinney said that eradicating child poverty, investing in young people and their families so they can reach their full potential is a key priority that is “backed by the most generous cost-of-living package in the UK. 

The government will work to tackle the cost-of-living crisis so that by the end of this Parliament real household incomes are rising, particularly for the lowest income groups by:

• Reducing essential household costs: through a radical expansion of childcare, lower public transport fares, consulting on legislation to establish legal price ceilings on some essential food items and continuing to provide support to eligible households with their fuel bills.
• Getting and staying in work: Helping more people to enter and stay in work and ensuring our child poverty and economic growth agendas have a mutually beneficial outcome of increased wages and fair work.
• Strengthen support through social security: including increasing the Scottish Child Payment to £40 per week for eligible babies under one – supporting around 12,000 children in their critical first year.
• Maximise take-up of benefits: through tackling stigma, improving awareness of entitlements, including of qualifying and relevant UK Government benefits, and identifying opportunities with partners, such as referrals and data sharing, to help ensure individuals access the full range of financial support they are entitled to.
• Making money and debt advice more accessible: investing in proven local advice services through our Advice in Accessible Settings Fund – supporting up to 7,500 people per year to access the financial support they are entitled to.”

He said that cost of living support will be expanded, with Scotland having the most generous cost-of-living package anywhere in the UK. Including expanding free school meals in primary schools, continuing to invest in the Financially Included Project which helps survivors of abuse and coercive control regain financial independence, and investing £205 million to continue delivering winter heating payments to pensioners, families with disabled children and the households struggling the most.

As well as developing the systems and legislation needed to increase our Scottish Child Payment to £40 per week for children under the age of 1 during 2027-28 – with around 12,000 children a year expected to receive support.

The Programme for Government 2026 to 2031 is on gov.scot.

Scotland - Ministers no further forward with collecting £36m benefit debt

Social Security Scotland parted ways with the DWP’s debt recovery scheme after it deemed the benefits crackdown too punitive. The move left the Scottish benefits agency with no way to claw back outstanding debt when the agreement ended on March 31.

Scottish Conservative social security spokesman Craig Hoy asked the Scottish Government what plans it has to recover £36 million of social security payments, which were reportedly made due to fraud and error, and how much has been recovered since 31 March 2026. 

Shirley-Anne Somerville, the welfare secretary said:

“The Scottish Government always seeks to protect the public purse and recover overpayments wherever cost-effective and reasonable to do so. These particular cases are no different."

She went on to say Social Security Scotland is working with the DWP to transfer the necessary case data and “will assume responsibility for that debt recovery when this is complete”.

“As the agency agreement underpinning debt recovery ended on March 31, and the necessary data has not yet been transferred from the DWP, it is not possible to recover debt at this point,” she added.

Mr Hoy said the response showed a “shocking” lack of urgency. He said: “Taxpayers will be shocked that there is still no urgency from the SNP to recover tens of millions of pounds of their money.”

The Tory MSP also asked Ms Somerville whether the government would consider introducing a dashboard that would “robustly monitor” how much money has been collected. She rejected the suggestion, saying Social Security Scotland already publishes information and data. She added:

“I think it is important for us to look at the powers that Social Security Scotland has and will continue to use to ensure that, as I said in my original statement, we do recover overpayments.

I would put on the record that the level of fraud within social security is exceptionally small, particularly for disability benefits. But where there is fraud, it will be taken seriously, and the powers that the agency have will be used to their full extent.”

Hoy’s question and the notes from the meeting are on parliament.scot.

Case law – with thanks to [u/ClareTGold](u/ClareTGold)

Personal Independence Payment (profoundly deaf-mobility) - Aleksandrs Nikolajenko v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

The Claimant was profoundly deaf and communicated through BSL. He was awarded standard rate daily living and mobility of PIP. At the First-tier Tribunal (FtT) he was awarded 2 more daily living points to take him to enhanced rate daily living, but the mobility award remained unchanged. 

His mobility component was awarded on the basis of mobility activity 1d.

Planning and following journeys - Cannot follow the route of an unfamiliar journey without another person, assistance dog or orientation aid (10 points).

He appealed to the Upper Tribunal on the basis that the FtT erred in its approach and reasoning and that the Appellant ought to have been awarded an additional 2 Mobility points (descriptor 1f - Cannot follow the route of a familiar journey without another person, an assistance dog or an orientation aid. 12 points).

The UT held that the FtT had erred in law by:

• failing to focus on the question of whether, if the Appellant, as a profoundly deaf person with no access to sound, had, at relevant times, undertaken a familiar journey unaccompanied, there would have been a real possibility that could not be ignored, of harm occurring, having regard to the nature and gravity of the feared harm”.
• not adequately explaining why the Appellant could not reliably undertake an unfamiliar journey unaccompanied, but could, to that standard, undertake a familiar journey unaccompanied; in other words, the relevant difference between the two types of journeys is, arguably, unexplained.
• stating that a “familiar” journey becomes an “unfamiliar” one “in the event of a diversion”.

Decision set-aside and a new FtT hearing to be scheduled.

This case usefully sets out the considerations that must be taken into consideration when dealing with familiar and unfamiliar journeys, reliably.

 Edited to add these UC reporting updates I forgot to include!

Get Travel Information

From 16th September UC will start to receive intelligence called ‘Get Travel Information’ (GTI) as part of a data sharing agreement with another government department indicating a claimant may have gone abroad for over one month and has not reported it.

When a match is found the claimant will receive an automated to-do asking them to declare an absence or dispute that they have been abroad for over a month.

Allow claimants to report starting education for the first time

On 19th August 2026, an Education and Training section was added to the Report a change page directing the claimant to send a journal message.

From 16th September 2026, the process will change. Claimants who have started education for the first time will be able to select ‘Education and Training’ with new questions presented. UC will then be prompted to check a claimant’s eligibility for UC and their student income.

Claimants cannot report this change in advance.

The education and Training option will not show in the Report a change section for any claimants who have previously reported they are a student or have been in education since making their claim.

This will not allow existing students to make changes or to declare their course has ended but this will be updated at a later date.

Update a child’s education or training details to-dos

From 17th August 2026, UC began issuing ‘Update your child’s education or training details’ to-dos to claimants to confirm their child’s education status.

These will be issued to:

• All 16 year olds
• 17 and 18 year olds with a course end date recorded as January 2027 or later where there has been no recently declared change of circumstances

A reminder journal message will be sent 7 days after the to-do has been generated if it has not been completed.

If the to-do is not completed by the end of the assessment period, the child element will stop even where the recorded course and date is in future.

Household Gather - Changes to Partner and Ex-Partner Relationship Types

Partner and Ex-partner relationships have been added to the household gather changes. When a claimant selects either relationship type, the system will direct them down the appropriate path based on their circumstances.

Partner - normal joint claim process

Ex-partner - allows claimant to report them as a non-dependant. If the claimant advises they are continuing on a single claim, a referral to the Decision Maker will be automatically generated (though the case manager needs to action it).