Agenda item

Officers from Welfare and Benefits have been invited to provide information on Welfare Reform.

Darren Moore, Advice Services Team Manager in Adult Social Care and Safeguarding, explained that the Government was making significant changes to the welfare system, in order to streamline it and save over £20 million.  A guide to these changes was available on the Council’s website, along with a guide to where advice could be obtained.

Darren Moore then drew particular attention to the following points:-

·           The changes being made under these reforms were specifically aimed at working age people, but full details of these changes were not available yet;

·           Everyone probably would now have to pay some of their Council Tax bill.  For a Band A property, this could be approximately £3 per week, (or £2.75 for a single person);

·           Those affected by the changes had been notified, but there were concerns that Housing Benefit would be spent on things other than rent;

·           If people receiving benefits had problems paying their rent and Council Tax, it was important that they engaged with their Housing office as soon as possible.  To avoid this situation arising, it was recommended that money for rent and Council Tax was ring-fenced;

·           A fund would be set up from which discretionary payments could be made to vulnerable people within set categories;

·           Approximately 17,000 people currently claimed Disability Living Allowance (DLA), of which approximately 10,000 were of working age.  Those currently awarded DLA would be assessed for the new Personal Independence Payments from October 2015 onwards;

·           Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) had already been introduced.  Many people were failing the qualifying test for ESA and there was a large backlog of appeals waiting to be heard.  As a result, there could be a long wait for the results of assessments;

·           If those receiving ESA did not comply with conditions imposed on the Allowance, open-ended sanctions could be applied, including loss of benefits.  However, the sanctions currently were not being applied correctly.  Approximately 50 sanctions had been challenged in the last year and the Council had won all of those cases;

·           The “Bedroom Tax” could result in some Housing Benefit recipients having to pay quite high additional sums of money.  No provision was made within this tax for the shared care of children.  It was anticipated that the tax would affect between approximately 3,000 and 6,000 people in the city;

·           Many of the people affected by the “Bedroom Tax” did not want to move.  For those who did want to move, the Council was approximately 40% short of the number of properties needed to enable everyone to move;

·           Under the reforms, all means tested benefits would be paid together in one payment, known as Universal Credit.  Contributory benefits and Child Benefit would not be included in Universal Credit;

·           There was concern nationally that the IT system being used to administer the new welfare system would not be ready in time;

·           Payments would be made monthly under the new system, rather than fortnightly as at present;

·           Under the new system, all benefits would go to one person in a couple.  This raised concerns for people in abusive relationships;

·           The Government wanted everyone to claim their benefits on-line, but other ways of claiming also would have to be available;

·           Transitional credit payments would be available, but this would not counter the fact that a lot of claimants were likely to receive a lot less money; and

·           Legal aid would be abolished from April 2013, so significantly less advice would be available from national sources.  However, the Council was still putting money in to advice services.