Decision details

Councillor Lunn, Lead Executive Member for Finance and Resources presented the report which outlined the Council’s approach to support residents and tenants to claim and manage their Universal Credit (UC) entitlement.

It was explained that UC replaced six existing benefits and combined them into one payment that would be paid monthly in arrears. The Executive were informed that as a result of the implementation of UC, and based upon the experience of authorities who had already implemented the UC system, it was expected that there would be a rise in Housing Revenue Account (HRA) arrears and a rise in council tax support claims.

The Lead Executive Member for Finance and Resources explained that each transaction had to be manually inputted as there was no integration between the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the leading revenue and benefits systems. It was noted that this would result in a significant increase in council tax work albeit that each change was minor.

The Customer, Business & Revenues Service Manager further explained that the transition to UC would be incremental over the next 12 to 18 months however the Council had been proactive in their approach to minimise hardship on those claiming UC and minimise any HRA rent arrears.

In response to a query concerning the impact of the Autumn Statement on homelessness and emergency accommodation, the Customer, Business & Revenues Service Manager explained that the Statement had outlined that housing benefit could still be paid to those in emergency accommodation and that the Council would be able to act on behalf of someone who was going to be made homeless.

The Executive agreed to amend the wording of the second recommendation to replace the ‘will’ with the word ‘may’ as from the research conducted with other authorities it was not clear what the impact may be.

RESOLVED:

                             i)        To support the proposals to reduce the risk of hardship to claimants and increasing HRA debt.

                            ii)        To note the impact Universal Credit Full Service (UCFS) may have on HRA rent arrears and additional workload across the Operational Services team.

REASON FOR DECISION

To enable Operational Services to adopt and embed the proposals explained in this report to establish a “Make Every Contact Count” principle in relation to UC, reducing any risk of hardship for those needing to claim UC, and mitigating the possible rise in HRA arrears.