Agenda item

The Director of Housing submits a report to Members of the Housing Scrutiny Commission of progress on rent arrears from April 2017 to March 2018.

The Director of Housing submitted a report to Members of the Housing Scrutiny Commission of progress on rent arrears from April 2017 to March 2018.

Charlotte McGraw, Head of Service, Housing who had recently become manager of the Income Management Team (IMT) presented the report and Zenab Valli, Income Collection Manager, Housing assisted in responding to Members queries. The following was noted;

·         Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP’s) in relation to those affected by bedroom tax this year which had decreased in comparison to the previous year.

·         There was a decrease in the number of evictions compared to the previous year.

·         An update on the roll-out of Universal Credit (UC) would be provided to the Commission in the Autumn.

·         This year some further works would include the introduction of paperless direct debit facility, developing a web based rent self-service facility and developing smarter ways of contacting customers/ tenants.

Following questions and comments from the Committee, the subsequent points were made:

·         The Committee were informed of the places where people with debts were directed to, including Money Management Advice, Welfare Rights and the in house rent management advisors. The biggest issue with debts was that tenants needed to inform officers of their debt issues.

·         Four rent management advisors had now been appointed for two years and their role would be to support vulnerable clients in relation to UC. Councillors were informed of various methods for contacting the team directly if they had concerns.

·         In preparation for UC, the team were;

o   Working closely with the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and job centres. In addition, officers would have enhanced skills to give correct advice.

o   A pilot would take place for officers from the IMT to be located in job centres. Works were taking place to also have an officer from the Homeless Team located at the job centres.

o   Strong relationships with Leicester City Council Income Managers had also been developed with the Derby Service Centre where the UC claims would go. If there were arrears or delays easy contact could be made with them.

·         Due to some Members concerns about the call centre and long waiting times for telephone calls to be answered, the Head of Service, Housing agreed to provide additional performance data. It was also noted that many calls were answered within a timely manner and individual call issues could be investigated.

·         There were queries as to where people who went through the eviction process ended up. Caroline Carpendale, Head of Service, Housing noted that it was possible to monitor if evictions lead to homelessness i.e. if people came back to access services. The Head of Service had this information and would share.

·         Assistant City Mayor for Housing Councillor Connelly thanked the Income Management Team for doing an extremely difficult job and reaching their key performance target.

AGREED:

1.    That further information be provided about the 37 evictions and whether they were in receipt of DHP.

2.    That further information be provided on the Bedroom Tax issues in relation to the 68 tenancies affected by the bedroom tax.

3.    That additional performance data be provided in relation to telephone system calls.

4.    That details of a number of eviction cases be mapped up to determine what happened to the evicted tenants and to assess the costs of actions taken.

5.    That the report be noted.