Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016

Reports

Full employment: reporting obligation

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Apprenticeships reporting obligation

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Support for troubled families: reporting obligation

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• (1) Before the start of each financial year, the Secretary of State must issue a notice—

• (a) specifying the descriptions of relevant households as regards which support provided by a local authority may constitute relevant support;

• (b) specifying the matters by reference to which the progress made by a household that receives relevant support from a local authority in that year will be measured.

• (2) The ways in which relevant households may be described under subsection (1)(a) include describing relevant households by reference to problems that they have.

• (3) In each financial year, the Secretary of State must prepare a report about the progress made by relevant households to which local authorities have provided relevant support.

• (4) A report prepared under this section may include material about progress made by relevant households to which local authorities have provided support similar to relevant support in periods falling before the coming into force of this section.

• (5) A report prepared under this section may compare the progress made by such relevant households as are described in subsection (3) or (4) relative to other households in England.

• (6) The Secretary of State must lay before Parliament a report prepared under this section.

• (7) A report prepared under this section must be laid before Parliament before the end of the financial year in which it is prepared.

• (8) For the purposes of this section, support provided by a local authority in a financial year is relevant support if—

• (a) it is provided to a relevant household of a description specified under subsection (1)(a) in respect of that financial year,

• (b) it is directed towards achieving progress in respect of the matters specified under subsection (1)(b) in respect of that financial year, and

• (c) the Secretary of State pays a grant to the local authority under section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003 in respect of expenditure incurred or to be incurred on that support.

• (9) In this section—

• (a) a reference to support provided to a household includes a reference to support provided to a member of a household;

• (b) a reference to support provided by a local authority includes a reference to support provided under arrangements made by the local authority.

• (10) In this section—

• “child” means—a person who has not attained the age of 16;a person who is 16, 17 or 18 and is in full-time education;a person who is 16, 17 or 18, is not in employment or full-time education and is a member of the same household as the person's parent;a person who has attained the age of 16 but not the age of 25 and for whom an EHC plan is maintained under section 37 of the Children and Families Act 2014 or a statement of special educational needs is maintained under section 324 of the Education Act 1996;

• “education” includes training;

• “financial year” means—a period starting with the day on which this section comes into force and ending with the following 31 March;except where paragraph (a) applies, a period of 12 months ending with 31 March;

• “household” means a group of two or more persons who—have the same only or main residence, andshare living accommodation or one meal each day;

• “local authority” means—a county council in England;a district council for an area in England for which there is no county council;a London borough council;the Common Council of the City of London, in its capacity as a local authority;the Council of the Isles of Scilly;

• “parent”, in relation to a person, includes an individual—who is not a parent of the person but does have parental responsibility for the person, orwho has care of the person;

• “relevant household” means a household that includes—a child, anda person who is that child's parent.

• (11) In relation to the first financial year in which this section is in force—

• (a) the requirement in subsection (1) to issue a notice before the beginning of a financial year is to be treated as a requirement to issue a notice after this section comes into force;

• (b) the requirement in subsection (3) may be satisfied by a report that includes only such material as is described in subsection (4).

Children living in low-income households

Publication of data on children living in low-income households

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• (1) Before the end of the financial year beginning with 1 April 2016 and each subsequent financial year the Secretary of State must publish data on the percentage of children in the United Kingdom—

• (a) who live in households whose equivalised net income for the relevant financial year is less than 60% of median equivalised net household income for that financial year;

• (b) who live in households whose equivalised net income for the relevant financial year is less than 70% of median equivalised net household income for that financial year, and who experience material deprivation;

• (c) who live in households whose equivalised net income for the relevant financial year is less than 60% of median equivalised net household income for the financial year beginning 1 April 2010, adjusted to take account of changes in the value of money since that financial year;

• (d) who live in households whose equivalised net income has been less than 60% of median equivalised net household income in at least 3 of the last 4 survey periods.

• (2) The published data must be accompanied by information on how the Secretary of State has approached the following for the purpose of the data—

• (a) the meaning of “child”;

• (b) the meaning of “household”;

• (c) when a child is or is not living in a household;

• (d) what is the income of a household for a financial year;

• (e) what deductions are made in calculating the net income of a household;

• (f) how net household income is equivalised;

• (g) when a child experiences material deprivation;

• (h) how household income is adjusted to take account of changes in the value of money since the financial year beginning 1 April 2010;

• (i) the meaning of “survey period”.

• (3) The published data may be accompanied by information as to how and when the references in subsections (1) and (2) to the financial year beginning 1 April 2010 are to be read as references to a later financial year.

• (4) In this section—

• “equivalised”, in relation to household income, means adjusted to take account of variations in household size and composition;

• “financial year” means the 12 months ending with 31 March;

• “relevant financial year”, in relation to a financial year in which data is to be published, means the most recent financial year for which the data is available.

Life chances

Workless households and educational attainment: reporting obligations

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In the Child Poverty Act 2010, before section 1 insert—

(A1A) (1) The Secretary of State must publish and lay before Parliament a report containing data on— (a) children living in workless households in England; (b) children living in long-term workless households in England; (c) the educational attainment of children in England at the end of Key Stage 4; (d) the educational attainment of disadvantaged children in England at the end of Key Stage 4. (2) The report must set out how the Secretary of State has interpreted the following terms for the purposes of the report— (a) child; (b) household; (c) worklessness; (d) long-term worklessness; (e) educational attainment; (f) disadvantage. (3) The data contained in the report, and the provision about how the terms used in it are to be interpreted, must, so far as practicable, be derived from any relevant official statistics. (4) The first report must be published before the end of the financial year ending with 31 March 2017. (5) Later reports must be published before the end of each subsequent financial year. (6) In this section— - “Key Stage 4” means the fourth key stage, within the meaning of Part 6 of the Education Act 2002; - “official statistics” has the meaning given by section 6(1) of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Social Mobility Commission

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• (1) After section A1A of the Child Poverty Act 2010 (inserted by section 5) insert—

(A1B) (1) The body established by section 8 of this Act continues in existence. (2) On and after the commencement date the body is to be called the Social Mobility Commission (in this Act referred to as “the Commission”). (3) “The commencement date” is the date on which section 6 of the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016 comes into force. (4) The Commission's functions are those conferred on it by or under this Act. (5) Schedule 1 contains further provision about the Commission. (A1C) (1) The Commission must promote social mobility in England. (2) The Commission must on request give advice to a Minister of the Crown about how to improve social mobility in England. (3) Advice given under subsection (2) must be published. (4) The Commission must publish a report setting out its views on the progress made towards improving social mobility in the United Kingdom. (5) The report must also describe, in the case of a report made after the appointed day for Northern Ireland, the measures taken by the Northern Ireland departments in accordance with a Northern Ireland strategy. (6) The report may be published as one or more documents as a Minister of the Crown may direct. (7) The first report must be published before the end of the financial year ending with 31 March 2017. (8) Later reports must be published before the end of each subsequent financial year. (9) A Minister of the Crown must lay a report under this section before Parliament. (10) A Minister of the Crown may direct the Commission to carry out any other activity relating to improving social mobility in England or Northern Ireland.

• (2) In Schedule 1 to the Child Poverty Act 2010, for the title substitute “ Social Mobility Commission ”.

Other amendments to Child Poverty Act 2010

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• (1) Sections 1 to 11, 15, 17 and 19 to 25 of, and Schedule 2 to, the Child Poverty Act 2010 are repealed.

• (2) In the italic heading before section 11, omit “Scottish Ministers and”.

• (3) In section 12 (Northern Ireland strategies)—

• (a) in subsection (2), omit paragraph (a) (and the “and” immediately after it);

• (b) in subsection (3), for “after the beginning of the target year” substitute “ after 31 March 2020 ”;

• (c) in subsection (4)(a), for “before the end of the target year” substitute “ before 1 April 2021 ”;

• (d) in subsection (4)(a), omit sub-paragraph (i);

• (e) in subsection (4)(a)(ii), omit “other”;

• (f) in subsection (4)(b), for “by the end of the target year” substitute “ by 31 March 2021 ”;

• (g) in subsection (4)(b), omit “otherwise than by contributing to the meeting of the targets”;

• (h) in subsection (5), omit paragraph (b) (and the “and” immediately after it);

• (i) in subsection (5)(c), for “other” substitute “ the ”;

• (j) in subsection (7), omit paragraph (b) (and the “and” immediately after it);

• (k) in subsection (7)(c), for “other” substitute “ the ”;

• (l) in subsection (8)(b), for “after the end of the target year” substitute “ after 31 March 2021 ”;

• (m) in subsection (9)(a), for “before the beginning of the target year” substitute “ before 1 April 2020 ”;

• (n) in subsection (9)(b), for “ending with the target year” substitute “ ending with 31 March 2021 ”.

• (4) In section 13 (consultation: Scotland and Northern Ireland)—

• (a) in subsection (3), omit “a Scottish strategy or”;

• (b) in subsection (3), for “devolved administration”, wherever occurring, substitute “ relevant Northern Ireland department ”;

• (c) omit subsection (3)(a);

• (d) omit subsection (4);

• (e) in the section heading, omit “Scotland and”.

• (5) In section 16 (economic and fiscal circumstances)—

• (a) omit subsections (1) and (2);

• (b) for subsection (3) substitute—

(3) In preparing a Northern Ireland strategy, the relevant Northern Ireland department must have regard to— (a) the resources that are or may be available to the Northern Ireland departments, and (b) the effect of the implementation of the strategy on those resources.

• (6) In section 18 (interpretation of Part 1)—

• (a) for subsection (1) substitute—

(1) In this Part— - “child” means— 1. a person under the age of 16, or 2. a person who is a qualifying young person for the purposes of Part 9 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 (child benefit); - “parent” means— 1. any individual who has parental responsibility for a child, or 2. any other individual with whom a child resides and who has care of the child.

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• (b) after subsection (1) insert—

(1A) In paragraph (a) of the definition of “parent” in subsection (1), the reference to “parental responsibility” is to be read in accordance with the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995.

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• (c) omit subsections (2) and (3).

• (7) For the heading to Part 1 substitute “ Strategies: Northern Ireland ”.

• (8) For section 27 (general interpretation) substitute—

(27) (1) In this Act— - “the Commission” means the Social Mobility Commission; - “financial year” means the 12 months ending with 31 March; - “Minister of the Crown” has the same meaning as in the Ministers of the Crown Act 1975; - “Northern Ireland strategy” has the meaning given by section 12(2); - “the relevant Northern Ireland department” means the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister. (2) In this Act “appointed day for Northern Ireland” means such day as a Minister of the Crown may by order with the consent of the Northern Ireland Assembly appoint (and different days may be appointed for the purposes of different provisions of this Act).

• (9) In section 28 (regulations and orders)—

• (a) in subsections (1), (2) and (3), omit “regulations or”;

• (b) omit subsections (4) and (5);

• (c) in the section heading, omit “Regulations and”.

• (10) In section 30 (extent)—

• (a) omit subsection (2);

• (b) in subsection (3), for “Section 12” substitute “ Part 1 ”;

• (c) in subsection (4), for “Part 2 and section 26 extend” substitute “ Section 26 extends ”.

• (11) In Schedule 1 (Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission), in paragraph 1(1) (membership), omit paragraphs (b) and (c).

• (12) The Child Poverty Act 2010 may be cited as the Life Chances Act 2010, and accordingly, in section 32 of that Act (short title) for “Child Poverty” substitute “ Life Chances ”.

Welfare benefits

Benefit cap

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• (1) Section 96 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 (benefit cap) is amended as follows.

• (2) For subsection (5) (meaning of the “relevant amount”) substitute—

(5) Regulations under this section may make provision for determining the “relevant amount” for the reference period applicable in the case of a single person or couple by reference to the annual limit applicable in the case of that single person or couple. (5A) For the purposes of this section the “annual limit” is— (a) £23,000 or £15,410, for persons resident in Greater London; (b) £20,000 or £13,400, for other persons. (5B) Regulations under subsection (5) may— (a) specify which annual limit applies in the case of— (i) different prescribed descriptions of single person; (ii) different prescribed descriptions of couple; (b) define “resident” for the purposes of this section; (c) provide for the rounding up or down of an amount produced by dividing the amount of the annual limit by the number of periods of a duration equal to the reference period in a year.

• (3) Subsections (6) to (8) (provision about estimated average earnings) are omitted.

• (4) In subsection (10), in the definition of “welfare benefit”, for the words from “means” to the end substitute

means— (a) bereavement allowance (see section 39B of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992), (b) child benefit (see section 141 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992), (c) child tax credit (see section 1(1)(a) of the Tax Credits Act 2002), (d) employment and support allowance (see section 1 of the Welfare Reform Act 2007), including income-related employment and support allowance (as defined in section 1(7) of the Welfare Reform Act 2007), (e) housing benefit (see section 130 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992), (f) incapacity benefit (see section 30A of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992), (g) income support (see section 124 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992), (h) jobseeker's allowance (see section 1 of the Jobseekers Act 1995), including income-based jobseeker's allowance (as defined in section 1(4) of the Jobseekers Act 1995), (i) maternity allowance under section 35 or 35B of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, (j) severe disablement allowance (see section 68 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992), (k) universal credit, (l) widow's pension (see section 38 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992), (m) widowed mother's allowance (see section 37 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992), or (n) widowed parent's allowance (see section 39A of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992).

• (5) Subsection (11) (benefits that regulations may not prescribe as welfare benefits) is omitted.