The National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers (NAWRA) is a professional membership organisation for

Welfare Rights Welfare rights means the rights of people to be aware of and receive their maximum entitlement to state welfare benefits, and to be treated reasonably well by the welfare system. It has been established in the United Kingdom since 1969 and has als ...

advice providers across the UK
Membership
of NAWRA is available to groups or individuals working in the welfare rights field and/or who support the organisations aims and objectives. It has twin aims: * To challenge, influence and improve welfare rights policy and legislation; * To promote NAWRA as the national voice of welfare rights advisers. Alan Markey, of Coventry Independent Advice Service, is chair of the Association. It holds four conferences each year that are free for members to attend. Conferences are usually held across England, Wales and Scotland. Conferences have been held online during the COVID-19 pandemic. NAWRA maintains
public website
and makes recommendations to policy makers. NAWRA has been vocal about problems encountered in the introduction of

Universal Credit Universal Credit is a United Kingdom social security payment. It is means-tested and is replacing and combining six benefits for working-age households with a low income: income-related Employment and Support Allowance, income-based Jobseeker's ...

and submitted evidence to the

Work and Pensions Committee The Work and Pensions Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the committee is to examine the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Department for Work and Pens ...

on Universal Credit in March 2017.

Shirley-Anne Somerville Shirley-Anne Somerville (born 2 September 1974) is a Scottish politician who has served as Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills since 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament ...

addressed the association's conference in Glasgow in 2018 and called on the UK Government to halt the Universal Credit roll out. It is particularly opposed to the sanctions regime, which they say disproportionally affect vulnerable groups. It lobbies the

Department for Work and Pensions , type = Department , seal = , logo = Department for Work and Pensions logo.svg , logo_width = 166px , formed = , preceding1 = , jurisdiction = Government of the United Kingdom , headquarters = Caxton House7th Floor6–12 Tothill Stree ...

and politicians about problems with the benefit system. In 2014 it identified systematic errors in moving claimants from

Incapacity Benefit Incapacity Benefit was a British social security benefit that was paid to people facing extra barriers to work because of their long-term illness or their disability. It replaced Invalidity Benefit in 1995. The government began to phase out Inc ...

on to

Employment and Support Allowance Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group o ...

. This error was condemned by the Public Accounts Committee in 2018 who said it stemmed from a string of avoidable management failures. The Association told the committee that the department could be “unconstructive” when confronted with legitimate concerns by outside organisations.

References

{{reflist Welfare state in the United Kingdom Professional associations based in the United Kingdom