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      Spring 2018 Release

      In response to customer feedback and following policy changes from the DWP we have added the following enhancements to the eClaim:

      Enhancement 1 - Catering for more exempt UC claim types

      The DWP have changed their rules again on which claims types should be treated as normal housing benefit claims when a person is in receipt of (or has claimed) Universal Credit. Therefore meaning that in the eClaim you should ask all of the tenancy/landlord/payment etc. questions.

      Previously our code would look for the following:

      Private_HostelOrSupportedHousing

      Within the configuration/livingsituation.xml file which can be accessed in:

      System Management > Files and then the eClaim is selected. I.e. here:

       

      This means that the living situation of supported accommodation specifically would be treated differently and exempted from the normal UC rules that hide the tenancy/landlord etc. pages.

      As the DWP have effectively added these two living situation types to the exempt categories:

      - I live in a hostel or temporary accommodation

      - I am homeless and in council arranged accommodation

      We have made it possible for a council to set any living situation type to be able to exempt from the normal UC behaviour or not. Thereby future proofing the software by having the means to add / change this adhoc for any living situation the customer may choose.

      In order to make a living situation behave like supporting people did previously the following tag needs to be added to the living situation section for that type:

      <UCBehaviour>true</UCBehaviour>

      To illustrate this, the following is the item for one of the newly exempted living situation types:

       
      <Item>
      <name>I am homeless and in Local Authority temporary accommodation</name>
      <value>Private_LicensedTemporaryAccomodation</value>
      <applyForHB>true</applyForHB>
      <householdType>ROReferral</householdType>
      <paymentType requireLandlordAccount="true" requireClaimaintAccount="true">HousingBenefit</paymentType>
      <landlordDetailsRequired>true</landlordDetailsRequired>
      <rentDetailsRequired>true</rentDetailsRequired>
      <propertyDetailsRequired>true</propertyDetailsRequired>
      <propertyRoomDetailRequired>false</propertyRoomDetailRequired>
      <propertyMiscDetailRequired>false</propertyMiscDetailRequired>
      <rentServiceDetailsRequired>true</rentServiceDetailsRequired>
      <rentReferenceNumberRequired>false</rentReferenceNumberRequired>
      <UCBehaviour>true</UCBehaviour>
      </Item>
       

      You can see that this tag has been added. You need to do this for each living situation where you want this behaviour. To illustrate a type which will not show this exempt behaviour here is the section for a private landlord:

       

      <!-- I rent my home from a Private Landlord  -->
      <Item>
      <name>PrivateLandlord</name>
      <value>Private_Landlord</value>
      <applyForHB>true</applyForHB>
      <householdType>Private</householdType>
      <paymentType>LHA</paymentType>
      <landlordDetailsRequired>true</landlordDetailsRequired>
      <rentDetailsRequired>true</rentDetailsRequired>
      <propertyDetailsRequired>true</propertyDetailsRequired>
      <propertyRoomDetailRequired>true</propertyRoomDetailRequired>
      <propertyMiscDetailRequired>true</propertyMiscDetailRequired>
      <rentServiceDetailsRequired>true</rentServiceDetailsRequired>
      <rentReferenceNumberRequired>false</rentReferenceNumberRequired>
      <UCBehaviour>false</UCBehaviour>
      </Item>
       

      Important - for each Item you need to add this tag and set the behaviour that you wish. This could not be done as a part of the upgrade process because every site has different living situation options.

       

      Enhancement 2 - Additional Questions for Tenancy Start/Move In Dates for UC claims

      Because Universal Credit claims do not, except in exempt cases, show the tenancy pages, such cases previously did not ask for details of when the person's tenancy started and when they moved in.

      An enhancement has been done such that now where a person receives (or has claimed) Universal Credit they will now be asked, on the About Your Claim page, when their tenancy started and when they moved in:

       

       

      Enhancement 3 - Additional Questions where only one adult is present on the claim

      To ensure that officers do not need to write out to claimants where they live alone, we have added new questions, which will only appear when:

      The claimant does not have a partner or any non-dependants.

      These questions are illustrated below but the logic is to show this question when the claimant is the sole adult present:

      • Has anyone recently moved out?

      If yes then two further questions will be asked:

      • When did they move out?
      • Please give details of who has moved out and where they've moved to

       

       

      Bug Fix - Pensioner Backdating rules were using the LCTS Setting for number of backdating months

      It was noticed by a customer that Pensioners were not having the backdate period set to 3 months but instead was using the value for LCTS and therefore working age claims.

      This has been corrected such that it will now ensure Pensioners always have a maximum of 3 months.

      As the age of the person needs to be checked, which needs a page load, the validation error will be presented to the user when they attempt to leave the page.