Agenda item

An Officer from Revenues and Benefits will be present to discuss benefit changes with residents.

Suzanne Collins (Property Lettings Manager, Housing) and Mike Watson (Income Collection Manager, Housing) delivered a presentation on government changes to welfare benefits, which is attached to the minutes for information. They reported that working age people would be affected but not pensioners. The content of the presentation covered the following areas:

·         Overview of the charges

·         Which services offered advice

·         What the City Council were doing to help

·         Advice and communication

·         Consultation on the new Council Tax Support scheme

Mike reported from April 2013 changes would be made to the following:

·         Council Tax would be abolished and a local scheme of Council Tax Support introduced. Suzanne said that a saving of 10% off the current spend of £3.1 million would have to be made up by working age people, as pensioners would be protected. Suzanne added that Leicester City Council would need to prioritise vulnerable groups to receive the benefit.

·         There were some exceptions to the changes, which included Working Tax Credit and Disability Living Allowance (moving to Personal Independent Payments).

·         Benefit Income Capping – combined benefits such as jobseekers allowance, housing benefit and council tax benefit would be capped, and would affect working age people.

·         Under occupation (bedroom tax) on housing benefit – would affect households (including pension credit age but not state pension age) where people lived in homes bigger than required, which equated to a 14% reduction for one extra bedroom, and 25% reduction in benefits for more than one extra bedroom. Some protection was in place for foster carers and 24 hour overnight care.

The meeting was informed the City Council had a fund for Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) to assist people in genuine hardship. The payments would be time limited and the DHP policy was due to be reviewed and a new claim route would be developed for welfare assistance. Mike stated the changes to the welfare benefits would result in an additional burden for Local Authorities.

From October 2013, changes would be made to the following:

·         Universal Credit would replace;

o   Income support

o   Job seekers Allowance

o   ESA

o   Housing Benefit

o   Tax Credits

·         It was reported there would be no front-facing service, and claims would be made online, though there would be telephone support, though details were not clear how much support there would be.

·         Benefits would be paid directly to claimants monthly in arrears.

·         Housing Benefit payments would be made to the tenant and not the landlord, though there would be exceptions for people classed as vulnerable. Meeting attendees voiced concern that people would have to budget a large amount of money for the month, and private landlords would be reluctant to house people on Housing Benefit.

·         The Homelessness Review proposed to close hostels which would bring additional pressure to the benefits system. 

Suzanne reported work would continue with the Housing Benefits section to develop an action plan to contact and offer help to customers affected by the benefits cap in April 2013. It was hoped that more RSLs (Registered Social Landlords) could be attracted to join the Council’s scheme.

Suzanne highlighted some of the issues that could be faced by customers:

·         There would be difficulties moving people who resided in properties with adaptations, and if people could not move, they would still have to pay the bedroom tax.

·         The new regulations would not allow Leicester City Council to put people in an unaffordable position, for example, people could not be placed in a three-bedroomed property if not required. A short-term solution would be to offer DHPs, but Leicester City Council was trying to promote mutual exchange.

·         An options leaflet will be sent to customers on housing benefit, offering advice and suggestions, for example, tenants could take in a lodger to use an extra bedroom.

·         Housing were working with Customer Services, and Revenues and Benefits as inevitably the Council would see a significant increase in the number of callers, both face to face and via telephone.

Councillor Westley asked what would happen to single people in shared accommodation. Suzanne responded that they used to get the one-bedroom rate, but would now get less. She added that if people had access to children, they would not get the an additional bedroom in a property and would have to pay bedroom tax if they had an extra bedroom. Mike said that people renting in the private sector would see a decrease in benefit from £91 to £55 per week if under 35 years of age (used to be 25). He said there was not much private renting stock now and people wouldn't find much for £55 per week.

The Chair said the new Government policy would bring extra budget risk to the Council, and the amount of Council reserves would have to increase to cover the risk, which would threaten services that would have to be cut to build reserves.

The Chair thanked officers for the update.