Minutes:
The Assistant Financial Support Manager (Welfare Support), gave the presentation (affixed to the minutes), detailing the impact of changes to welfare support. The presentation made reference to; the Benefit Cap, the Spare Room Subsidy (better known as the Spare Bedroom Tax), Discretionary Housing Payments, Council Tax Support, the Hardship Scheme, Universal Credit, the Essential Living Fund and the work of the Financial Independence Team.
Following the presentation Members raised a number of points and the Assistant Financial Support Manager confirmed that;
· Although Universal Credit did not include Council Tax Support the team was working to ensure that Council Tax Support claims were paid.
· If people were not in receipt of Universal Credit they could still be means tested for Housing Benefit.
· Discretionary Housing Payments were available equally to whoever claimed, including private and Council or registered social landlord tenants. Cases were looked at on an individual basis.
· When considering the spare bedroom subsidy, each case was considered on an individual basis.
· Staff within the team were employed by the Council and not the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
· Some people accessed the food bank on a regular basis but not as often as three to four times a week.
· Where people had been turned down for Employment and Support Allowance and Housing Benefit had stopped, this was not having a huge impact on arrears as the Council would look into the case and could make an assessment even when there was no income.
· The Statutory Housing Team was working closely with eighteen to twenty five year olds and the charities that could support them.
· Issues with the bedroom tax were often raised where parents had split up and the children spent time living separately with each parent during the week. In these cases Officers would base the decision on which parent received Child Benefit. The spare bedroom subsidy could not be divided. If there were two children in the household, Officers would however try to support the situation by considering each of the children as living permanently with each parent.
· The Hardship Scheme, Council Tax Support and the Essential Living Fund provided essential funding to the Council.
· A spare room was determined by a number of factors including its dimensions. Rooms had to be in permanent use.
· Those using services had been referred to in different ways over the years. The term ‘customer’ implied choice, however it also emphasised the need to treat people like customers rather than clients.
The Chief Executive, praised the work of the Welfare Support Team and highlighted the role of the Financial Independence Team which had been commended by the DWP. The Essential Living Fund provided crucial help to communities experiencing difficult times. A key element of the team’s work was to help tenants to independently manage their own budgets.
Members were advised that the Homelessness Reduction Act had been implemented on the 1 April 2018 and this would create significant challenges for the Council. As such Members concluded that it would be appropriate to receive a presentation on this subject and the action taken to implement the recommendations made by the Homeless Task Group in September 2017.
RESOLVED that
the Private Sector Housing Team be invited to attend a future Committee meeting.