Agenda item

To consider a report on the impact of welfare reform, including Universal Credit and Benefits Cap.

RECEIVED the report on the impact of welfare reform, including Universal Credit and Benefits Cap, introduced by Jim Brady (Service Manager, Revenue and Benefits Team) as laid out in the report (pages 49-56). 

NOTED that

a.         it was unlikely that Haringey would be included in tranche 1 of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) digital programme for housing benefit payments;

b.         the Council would work with DWP to assist transition to universal credits;

c.         in response to questions:

·         about IT problems (10) – if the Council was invited to move to the digital programme a back-up system would be in place to manage any potential collapse of the Government’s system. There would be a slow transfer to this system by groups of benefit recipients;

·         about who was meant by ‘vulnerable claimants’: the term did not refer to specific groups but could include those who did not have access to the internet or those with disabilities;

·         about local independent agencies/ voluntary groups available to support people: the Council worked with HAVECO and would ensure communication between HAVECO and DWP;

·         about people affected by the benefit cap: large families were hit hardest by the cap.  This group had high rents and already received a large amount of funding from the state.  Families would be further affected when the benefits threshold reduced to £23,000.

·         about people having to move out of the Borough into cheaper accommodation:  the Council would support residents through discretionary housing payments if they wished to stay in the Borough and if they were engaging with the housing benefits team.  This, however, was not a sustainable strategy;

·         about the use of Council reserves: housing benefit was not expected to exceed budget by a large amount but it would be one of the many areas of overspend covered by earmarked reserves.  The Committee were reminded that overspend projections were contained within the Budget Report (second dispatch) here presented at the last meeting;

d.         Councillor Hearn expressed concern that some groups might be opposed to being referred to as vulnerable.  She suggested that an equalities impact assessment be conducted to establish a list of people at risk;

e.         Jim Brady explained that the expectation would be on the DWP to be more explicit about the groups they wanted local authorities to engage with;

f.          Councillor Gideon Bull drew the Committee’s attention to previous work of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Benefits Take Up and Bedroom Tax.  He urged the Committee to review the recommendations that had been made in previous reviews, particularly in relation to Benefit take up; 

g.         in response to Councillor Bull’s request: the Council had not run a benefits take up campaign for some time but the Revenue and Benefits Team engaged with residents to assist with access to benefits;

e.         the Welfare Reform Club had been commissioned to investigate the cumulative impact of the welfare reform.  A report was expected in December and an action plan would be developed and could be reported to the Committee in the future.

ACTION: KATHERYN BOOTH

RESOLVED to note the contents of the report.