Event Details

Overview

The Welfare Reform Act gained Royal Assent on 8 March 2012. The Act intends to bring about radical social change and heralds the biggest overhaul of the welfare system for over 60 years.

Believing that the welfare system can better enable people to be independent, self-reliant and improve their wellbeing, the new legislation follows the ‘Universal Credit: welfare that works’ White Paper. This set out the Coalition Government’s proposals for reforming welfare to improve work incentives, make the benefits system simpler and address the complex administrative framework.

With many of the reforms to be introduced from April 2013 and with plans for the localisation of support for council tax to be in place for the end of January next year, planning and preparation starts now to assess the challenges ahead for local authorities and the community and voluntary sector to work together to deliver the package of reforms aimed at transforming our communities.

Central to the new legislation is the commitment made in the Coalition Agreement to make the benefits and tax credits systems simpler and fairer by:

• Creating the right incentives to get more people into work
• Protecting the most vulnerable in our society
• Delivering fairness to both benefits claimants and to the taxpayer

This special symposium provides an invaluable opportunity to examine the new legislation and explore how local government and their key partners can best plan and prepare to deliver a welfare and benefit system that is fairer, more affordable and better positioned to reduce poverty, worklessness and welfare dependency.

Delegates will:

• Explore the Welfare Reform Act’s contribution to making the benefits and tax credits system simpler and fairer
• Discuss key elements of the Act and the implications for local government and other key stakeholders
• Evaluate the preparedness of local authorities and their partners to deliver the reforms and adopt organisational change

Programme

Who Should Attend?

• Local Authorities
• Welfare Advisers and Officers
• Welfare Policy Leads
• Voluntary, Community and other Third Sector Organisations
• Benefits Advisers
• Benefits and Financial Support Representatives
• Benefit Fraud/Investigation Managers
• Heads of Revenues and Benefits
• Housing/Social Housing Staff and Landlords
• All Housing Sector Professionals
• Policy Managers
• Income Managers
• Neighbourhood Services Staff
• Directors of Funding and Finance
• Social Inclusion Officers
• Social Services Representatives
• Heads of Organisational Change
• Heads of Equality and Diversity
• Adult and Children Services Leads
• Welfare Groups
• Career Development Organisations
• Recruitment and Employment Professionals
• Jobcentre Plus Representatives
• Business Enterprise and Support Representatives
• Learning and Skills Councils Representatives

“ The Welfare Reform Act sets out how we will transform the welfare state and ensure that work pays for the millions of people now trapped on benefits.”
— Lord Freud, June 2012

“ …All the changes happening mean that local authorities will take on a breadth of new powers and responsibilities. And the community and voluntary sector will have an even more important role to play. I know there are challenges ahead too…I fully understand the funding challenges that local authorities will face. But I want to start by setting out what our reforms are really about: providing a lever for social change. Helping people regain the independence and self-reliance they have lost because our welfare system kept them trapped down in dependency. And how I see welfare reform changing the social ecology of communities throughout the country…”
— Lord Freud, July 2012