Agenda item

The Director of Finance submits a report providing a response to the risks and issues highlighted in an independently prepared report by the Social Welfare Advice Partnership (SWAP).  The Commission is recommended to note the report and comment as appropriate.

The Director of Finance submitted a report providing a response to the risks and issues highlighted in an independently prepared report by the Social Welfare Advice Partnership (SWAP).

The Head of Revenues and Customer Support introduced the report, explaining that the SWAP wanted to increase its profile and alert the Commission to the needs and experiences of people they worked with in the voluntary sector.  In considering the SWAP report, and the Council’s response to it, the Head of Revenues and Customer Support explained that:

·           This would be an annual report and would be presented to the Commission with the Council’s response;

·           The Council had had a contract for the provision of advice services with the SWAP for approximately one year;

·           Benchmarking was undertaken of this Council’s work against that of other authorities.  Most of the authorities comparted to were outside of London;

·           60% of appellants won appeals against the level of Personal Independence Payments awarded.  SWAP specifically monitored these because, as a new scheme, it was likely to generate appeals.  It had been anticipated that, as a result, there would be a higher demand for support for appeals, but this had not materialised;

·           Single people assessed as being ineligible for Job Seekers Allowance were unable to re-apply for it.  Many of these people therefore applied for crisis funding, as they often did not have family, or other support networks, to help them.  The numbers of people applying for crisis funding were fairly evenly divided between males and females;

·           In order to receive Housing Benefit, anyone not on Job Seekers Allowance had to prove they had no income;

·           Monitoring was done of whether people had access to IT and whether they had the knowledge to be able to use it.  All City Council libraries and Customer Service at Granby Street had dedicated IT facilities for public use and a referrals system was used for people needing to be shown how to use it;

·           The Department for Work and Pensions recognised that at least 5% of claimants would find it hard to access the IT help described above, so provision had been arranged to enable people identified as needing more intense support and was provided by Citizens Advice LeicesterShire.  For those who needed a little more help to increase their confidence using computers, one to one tuition could be arranged and referrals made on to adult learning courses;

·           Client behaviour was being monitored, to help Council staff and employees at the Job Centre+ understand what Universal Credit meant to people in real terms;

·           A leaflet was being prepared about debt advice.  This would include information on discretionary funds available from the Job Centre+;

·           The Council used its own experience to identify individuals who could benefit from referral to the Advice Leicester partnership;

·           It was anticipated that there would be approximately the same number of appeals lodged in relation to Universal Credit claims as currently were lodged regarding Job Seekers Allowance claims.  It was felt that the advice sector could cope with this volume of appeals;

·           All claimants had the right to challenge a decision made about benefits and to have advice sector support in doing this.  The sector anticipated a 40% success rate for these appeals, which it was felt would be a good rate; and

·           The first point of contact for someone wishing to appeal against a decision on their benefits claim was the Job Centre+.  All appeals / challenges against decisions were submitted on-line.

Councillor Waddington, Assistant City Mayor for Jobs and Skills, suggested that it would be useful for a representative of SWAP to be present when the next SWAP report and Council response were considered by the Commission.  The Chair undertook to consider this.

Some concern was expressed that the Council was not receiving the level of service it should from the Citizens Advice service.  The Head of Revenues and Customer Support asked Members to pass any concerns to her, as she was the manager of the advice contract that the Council held with that organisation.

The Commission endorsed the authority’s response to the SWAP report regarding the value and contribution of the SWAP to advice provision in the city.

AGREED:

1)    That the report be noted;

2)    That the Chair and Vice-Chair give consideration to:

a)     the most appropriate time for the next report from the Social Welfare Advice Partnership, and the Council’s response to this, to be considered by this Commission, and whether a representative of the Social Welfare Advice Partnership should be invited to the meeting for this; and

b)     including an update on the work of the Citizens Advice Bureaus under the advice contract held with the Council in the Commission’s work programme; and

3)    That, as further reports on welfare reforms and advice are brought to this Commission, the Head of Revenues and Customer Support be asked to consider what training can be given to Members to facilitate their understanding of these reforms and advice.