Agenda item

This report provides an update on Universal Credit following a verbal briefing received in January.

The Committee received a report on Universal Credit, which provided an update from the verbal briefing received in January. The report was introduced by Jim Brady, Service Manager for SSC – Benefits, Training & Quality as set out in the report pack at pages 37-54. Also in attendance at the meeting were Daniel Blake - CEO at Haringey CAB, Phylis Fealy from the DWP and Julie Stevens, also from the DWP, and who was the overall manager for the Tottenham Job Centre. Cllr Amin, the Cabinet Member for Corporate and Civic Services was also present, along with Andy Briggs the AD For Customer Services and Libraries. The following was noted in discussion of the report:

a.    Haringey CAB advised that Universal Credit required a lot more interactions and engagement from his organisation with members of the public than any of the previous benefits that it was designed to replace, resulting in significant resource implications. The DWP set out that that relationships were a key factor in administering Universal Credit and that it required the development of clear pathways for support.

b.    In relation to a question around the number of landlords that had asked for rent payments to be made to them directly, officers advised that the introduction of Universal Credit had increased overall rent arrears and that it was likely to be a significant number of landlords. Officers agreed to come back to the Committee with the number of landlords in Haringey that had asked for rent payments to be made to them directly, following rent arrears. (Action: Jim Brady).

c.    In response to a question around the training and support offered to staff to help them assist claimants, officers advised that DWP staff had been sent into libraries to talk to staff and to go through all of the information that staff members needed to know. Officers acknowledged that the library staff were not experts and that their role was largely to assist those people to make a claim.

d.    In response to a request for feedback from frontline staff, officers advised that there had been very few problem claims or significant issues so far and that on the odd occasion were a problem had arisen, they had been able to speak to the Job Centre quickly and get the problem resolved. Haringey CAB advised that the biggest issue they had come across was that it required much more access to IT and online services. The DWP had provided public access computers to CAB for this purpose. The Committee noted that Haringey CAB staff provided a dedicated advice service in Marcus Garvey Library on a Monday.

e.    In relation to staff resources available, Haringey CAB advised that they had a dedicated service to support people up to the point of their first successful claim. The service comprised of six staff and any queries outside of this would be picked up by generalist help and advice staff. Daniel Blake advised that since the introduction of Help to Claim, the number of queries had gone down. The DWP advised that they had around 58 staff working on claims in Tottenham, with 48 working on Universal Credit and 10 on legacy benefits. There were 45 staff in Wood Green, with a similar split in relation to Universal Credit and legacy benefits.

f.     In response to a question, respondees advised that there were no major language barrier issues and that both libraries and CAB had adequate existing resources in place to deal with language and translation issues that arose.

g.    The Committee sought further information in relation to the national timeframe. Officers responded that Haringey would be subject to the national rollout and could well see further drift in relation to the implementation date. Phylis Fealy advised that the rollout was heavily dependent upon the outcome of a pilot scheme and that they were hoping to have 100 people migrate across to the system by December. Further rollout was dependent upon whether any issues were identified as part of the pilot.

h.    The Committee sought assurance about whether there was an IT system in place that was able to track people throughout the benefits process and that could be used to flag up residents who got in trouble when they migrated to Universal Credit. In response, officers advised that there was no dedicated benefits IT system that fulfilled that role, however the team did do some work to pull together a number of different data sources to try and identify people who were likely to have problems and try to proactively engage with them. The Committee also noted that the Community First programme was in place and was set up to track those people at risk of falling into debt. Officers agreed to bring back some further information around the Community First programme. (Action: Andy Briggs).

i.      The Committee raised concerns about the impact of delays causing rent arrears to HfH and questioned what mechanisms were in place to coordinate this. The Chair sought details of how the impact of Universal Credit was being monitored across the Council, including its impact across Council services. In response, officers suggested that HfH were on top of Universal Credit and closely monitored cases internally. It was suggested that the majority of issues and arrears occurred due to the 5 week delay in receiving the first payment. Officers advised that there was no coordinated approach across the Council and that main access point for information for people who were financially vulnerable was likely to be Community First. The Committee highlighted information that set out that there was around £636k worth of arrears to HfH as a result of Universal Credit. The Chair agreed to follow  up the issue of arears with HfH directly. (Action: Chair).

j.      In response to a request for further information about some of the key issues from a CAB perspective, the Committee was advised that the service had multiple points of entry and could occur as a result of walk-in or a referral by Job Centre Plus. Overall, CAB advised that the system tended to work quite well once the claimant had been in touch with, and supported by, CAB. One of the main advantages in relation to using CAB, was that it offered other wraparound services and could signpost claimants to a variety of other services. The key concerns from CAB related to IT access and the level of engagement required to complete a claim. CAB also highlighted issues around being able to satisfactorily evidence child care costs.

k.    In response to a question about whether the process was online only, the DWP advised that although people were encouraged to use the online system, there was also telephone system available.

l.      The Committee questioned whether the deferred payment system had led to an increase in evictions. In response, it was noted that although advance payments were available to people, officers advised that they were not aware of many cases of people being evicted as a result. The DWP advised that they prioritised first claims, which had a five week delay, specifically to prevent evictions. In response to a further question the DWP advised that although a 100% advance was available, they dissuaded people from taking the full amount due to the risk of falling into debt.

m.  The Committee requested some further information in relation to ward level mapping data for Universal Credit claimants. (Action: Phylis Fealy).

n.    The Committee sought clarification around the 10-14% of claims that were not paid in full, as set out in the report. In response, the Committee was advised that the majority of cases was as a result of not having enough information to verify the claim. The DWP assured the Committee that if the payment was not made in full, they would at least process the personal allowance payment and would then seek to resolve the rest of the claim as quickly as possible. In response to a further question, the Committee noted that the amount of the personal allowance payment would depend on the household in question.

o.    The Committee sought clarification around whether the different partners met regularly to resolve issues and develop a coordinated approach. In response, officers advised that there was a Haringey welfare reform forum that met to discuss a range of issues, including Universal Credit. The Committee commented  that this form needed to meet more regularly than at its current frequency of every four to six months.

p.    In summary, the Chair commented that two of the main issues that had arisen were: The need for coordination and visibility within the Council, so that the impact, over time, on a variety of Council services was better understood;  as well as the need for connectivity between different IT systems to help identify and coordinate responses better over the medium to long term.

RESOLVED

That the Committee noted the report.