Officers from Welfare and Benefits have been invited to provide information on Welfare Reform.
Minutes:
Reiza Khan, Welfare Rights, gave a presentation on the proposed changes to the benefits system next year.
During the presentation the following points and issues were mentioned:-
· Council Tax Benefit would be replaced by Council Tax Support from April 2013 and local authorities would receive 10% less government grant for the scheme so recipients would pay more towards Council Tax. It was estimated that this could impact upon 40,000 people in the City.
· There would be a Benefit cap of £500 per week for families and lone parents (£350 for singles) and would affect mainly families with 4 or more children.
· Housing Benefit paid to people of working age would be changed to reduce the level of eligible rent by 14% for 1 extra bedroom that was unoccupied and by 25% if two or more bedrooms were unoccupied. The level of benefit would then be calculated on the lower amount of eligible rent.
· The Disability Living Allowance would be abolished in April 2013 and replaced with a new scheme that would cut out the lowest level of allowances. Current recipients would be gradually re-assessed from the old system to the new points based system.
· A new system of Universal Credits would come into operation in April 2013 and was designed to simplify the current large number of means tested benefits into one payment. New claimants and existing claimants with change of circumstances would transfer to Universal Credits on 1 October 2013. Existing claimants, who could benefit from Universal Credits, would be transferred from April 2014 and everyone else would be transferred from the end of 2015 to the end of 2017.
· Some of the existing premiums, including disability and carers allowances were being abolished. It was envisaged that claimants would not be worse off at the point of change over; but there would be a gradual reduction in the level of benefits over a period of years.
· The qualification rules for Pension Credits were also changing. In future, Pension Credits will only be available when the youngest person in the partnership reaches pensionable age, rather than the oldest person as at present.
· Future Payments will be made monthly and be paid direct to the claimant and only one claimant per partnership. It will then be the claimant’s responsibility to pay their rent and Council tax.
Reiza referred to the appeals process and to the high levels of appeals which had already been received. It was reported that Incapacity Benefit appeals had caused significant pressures, whereby medical evidence was required to process each case. It was also reported that the process undertaken to assess whether people were fit for work had received a large amount of criticism.
In reply to questions Reiza confirmed that details of the proposed changes had been issued to all people that were likely to be affected with their council tax bills.
The need to ensure that information was disseminated effectively was raised and it was noted that many people in the Ward who would be affected did not use English as their first language. The links to the offices of the Department of Work and Pensions were reported.
In conclusion and having regard to the concerns reported above, Councillors and members of the community asked that as well as regular meetings with the Department for Work and Pensions, separate contact be made with them by officers of the Council to ensure that relevant information and support is provided to residents of the Ward.
In closing the report it was noted that further help and assistance could be obtained from the Welfare Right Helpline number - 0116 2568211 or the Revenues and Benefits Service – 0116 2527006. It was noted that the Community Legal Advice Service could also provide advice.