CPAG Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits 2015-16 long clip

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• published: 19 May 2015
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BOOK REVIEW WELFARE BENEFITS AND TAX CREDITS HANDBOOK 2015/2016 17th edition By Child Poverty Action Group- 18 contributors CHILD POVERTY ACTION GROUP ISBN: 978 1 90607 695 5 www.cpag.org.uk A MOST VITAL MODERN GUIDE ON WELFARE BENEFITS AND TAX CREDITS An appreciation by Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers The new edition written by 18 experts in their fields, gives lucid tactical information on the common problem areas of the welfare benefits and tax credits system… and how to challenge decisions on entitlement! As Alison Garnham, the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) Chief Executive, says 2015 is “a big year for CPAG” with the new Conservative government setting the “tone of the political debate on social security and poverty for the years ahead”. Yes. And that is why the publications from CPAG are so timely and helpful for the public and advisers alike in their 50th anniversary year as the world of advice changes. The authors have structured the book well, making it easier to use with useful contents at the front to cover “abbreviations” (always useful), “means-tested benefit rates”, “non-means-tested benefit rates” and “tax credit rates” and where to find them in this substantial 1800 page paperback. The contributors continue here with the fine record which CPAG has established publishing their ‘handbook’ series of advice manuals. This title, like others covering all aspects of what are ‘difficult’ areas of welfare law has become well established and highly regarded. It makes a major and certainly vital contribution to the aims of the CPAG, which exists to ‘promotes action for the prevention and relief of poverty among children and families with children.’ Before you do anything else read the introductory chapter one which sets out how to use the book by checking the rules which may affect you and finding out about the relevant law. The biggest single problem both for readers looking for advice and for advisers is that the law determining benefit entitlement remains complex and frequently changing: a problem now covering many other areas of welfare law as well. Produced and updated by this team of 18 experts from CPAG in these ever changing and complex areas of law, we recognize that this particular handbook has become the standard text for any professional adviser. It sets out a systematic approach to the rules in the ten parts (71 chapters) and 14 appendices which are still ridiculously complicated and bureaucratic (as always). It’s still time for rules to be made radically simpler but we fear that is a long way off yet. The final words must go to Garnham which we hope may spur the new government on. She writes that “ultimately, if we are going to have a social security system that is based on the needs of ordinary people, and a system imbued with a culture of support and engagement rather than one of compliance and sanctioning, then this requires a big change in attitude within the DWP”. Well, the new cabinet has the chance to bring this about and CPAG does much of the advice work so perhaps some notice will be taken in the next 5 years as technology changes again. CPAG has so much to be proud of during the last 50 years. Alison Garnham concludes with these words: “the damaging social problems that spurred our founders into action remain, and the prospects for the next few years remain bleak for anyone concerned about the childhoods and life chances of our children. But the evidence on child poverty gives us the confidence to believe that our cause is compelling- and our history gives us the unshakable belief that change is possible”. Yes, it certainly is, and this cornerstone book on welfare benefits and tax credits from CPAG shines the way forward. Thank you, and happy anniversary CPAG.