You may have seen or heard a lot in recent weeks about reforms regarding welfare benefits, and we have been inundated, and we mean inundated, with claimants who are worried about the changes. Due to this, we wanted to clarify a couple of points to try to provide some understanding and ease some immediate concerns.

The government has published a Green Paper on the reforms. What is a green paper?

A green paper is simply proposals. It is the first step towards getting a policy in place. Green papers aim to launch a debate on a given subject by involving all stakeholders without any commitment to action. Therefore, what you have read is not set in stone. It is what they hope to achieve, but it is yet to be debated and is likely to face many, many challenges.

Should these proposals come to fruition, when do they start? What about my application at the moment? What about my review?

To reiterate, these proposals are not in place. It is likely to take up to 18 months before any changes are made. Your current application or review will not be affected.

If you feel strongly about this and would like to oppose the proposals, please visit the online form and express your views (CLICK HERE). We strongly advise this and suggest that you also contact your local MP and make your feelings known.

If you have further questions, please comment below and we will do our best to answer. However, at this point, we do not know any further information than what has already been published.