Demand for discretionary housing payments in Cardiff has rocketed since the start of welfare reform. Cabinet member for community and neighbourhood regeneration and social justice, Cllr Lynda Thorne, explains how Cardiff Council has developed a comprehensive policy to help those claimants who are prepared to help themselves
In Cardiff we have been very much on the front foot when it comes to welfare reform, anticipating that the changes would have a detrimental affect on a number of households in the city and seeking to help where we could.
A designated welfare reform team was set up and a considerable amount of preparatory work was carried out, working with people whose income would be reduced, by giving advice and assistance with budgeting and managing debt as well as help to find work where appropriate.
Our open and transparent approach to discretionary housing payments (DHPs) has been well received, attracting praise from partners as well as the Welsh and UK Governments, which is extremely satisfying and testament to the hard work that has gone on here.
As each aspect of the welfare reform agenda has been introduced in Cardiff, we have identified those likely to be affected and invited them to engage with us to explore options that may be open to them or ways we can offer assistance.
A number of distinct schemes have been set up aimed to help claimants from a wide range of groups and we aim to tackle people’s issues, wherever possible and appropriate, so we can achieve a long- term outcome that isn’t just a stop gap to simply postpone a problem. We don’t just pay, because that way the problem won’t go away. We pay if the person engages with us. Our schemes aim to prevent homelessness in the city by helping people help themselves.
The whole ethos of our discretionary housing payments scheme is based on conditionality and placing expectations on those we are trying to help, for example, making an award on the condition a claimant looks for cheaper or smaller accommodation or seeks budgeting advice.
If we paid DHP to everyone affected by welfare reform we would need a fund in the region of £3 million. As our total DHP funding from the DWP and Welsh Government for this financial year was almost £1.5 million and, with demand rising, we have to be very careful how we do allocate these payments, looking for financial hardship, exceptional circumstances and those in the greatest need.
The process of developing our schemes has been organic, as we have adapted to circumstances we have experienced in our day-to-day dealings with customers.
We have a scheme that helps with rent shortfalls where claimants must demonstrate they are unable to pay the shortfall but also have some exceptional reasons for an award. Another rent shortfall scheme seeks to help those affected specifically by the bedroom tax when claimants must display that they are unable to afford any shortfall but also agree to downsize and join a priority downsizing waiting list.
We have attempted to break down the barriers preventing people who are happy to downsize from moving with our moving costs scheme while social tenants affected by bedroom tax with pre-existing rent arrears can seek assistance through the rent rescue initiative.
The council’s rent in advance and bond scheme helps people who have good reasons for moving move to safe, affordable accommodation within Cardiff.
And in exceptional circumstances we also consider one-off payments to clear rent arrears, if there are compelling reasons to do so.
Our range of initiatives also includes a transition to work scheme to help those who cannot access the extended payments scheme, help for people in temporary accommodation affected by the benefit cap and help for foster carers and people providing supported lodgings.
All these schemes are part of a holistic way of working and looking at the bigger picture of Cardiff Council as a whole. The focus is on getting the customer to help themselves and we will pay them during that transition period, to do what we can to help them.
We have also worked with other service areas in the council, for example, children’s services, so that we can cross reference their records with ours to identify someone in hardship and make sure people doing a great job like our foster carers aren’t affected by the bedroom tax.
It has been a very resource intensive exercise for the welfare reform team and it has been very challenging to keep on top of the work due to the increased numbers of people claiming DHP.
We are constantly reviewing ourselves though, evaluating the success of schemes and monitoring to show how the spend is progressing throughout the year. Senior managers meet regularly to discuss the ongoing DHP spend and any changes that need to be made to our schemes to ensure we remain within budget. The situation is constantly changing in response to people’s needs.
Our partners are also very much involved in the work we do with DHPs – housing associations, hostels, our advice hub and the DWP – particularly when we are devising a new scheme.
The city centre advice hub @Marland House has been a key facility as people in Cardiff come to terms with changes to benefits. The hub has been a resounding success, offering a wide range of services but focussing particularly on money and financial advice. People affected by the welfare reforms can go into the hub and complete a common financial statement, find out about budgeting, debt management,
benefits they might be eligible for, and savings they can make on household bills.
The advice hub will be playing a big role in the digital inclusion project. As welfare reform moves forward and universal credit is introduced, people will have to apply and notify changes to benefits online so there is work going on at the moment because we know that a lot of our clients are vulnerable and don’t have access or the know-how to get online. We are looking at ways to overcome that hurdle and improve digital inclusion for those groups.
All in all, it has no doubt been a challenging year as we adapt to the UK Government’s benefit changes and there is of course, more work to be done in the future but I am confident that in Cardiff we are exploring new ways of working, developing innovative ways to minimise the impact of benefit changes on those affected while actively seeking to help them help themselves.
CASE STUDIES
The benefit cap
Mrs H and her partner are affected by the benefit cap. She has five children under the age of 10 and her housing benefit had been reduced by £58.37 per week. Mrs H and her partner engaged with the Marland House advice hub where a financial assessment was carried out to assist them with budgeting and looking at any utilities bills they could reduce or debt management.
Mr H was already on a work programme, the advice hub referred him to one of our into work advisors who will work with Mr H to get him job ready over a period of time and authorised payment of a DHP to cover the shortfall.
Mrs H is now able to concentrate on clearing her debts and budgeting her money for when her husband does return to work.
We also agreed to clear rent arrears of £629.03 as Mrs H was at risk of losing her home due to non-payment of rent.
Foster parents
Mr and Mrs G live in a three-bedroom house. They currently foster one child and are waiting for another. Government regulations only allow a maximum of one extra bedroom for foster carers, to be paid for by housing benefit, so Mr and Mrs G would have an under-occupation charge of £14.39 per week.
Mrs G applied for a discretionary housing payment in order to meet the shortfall and keep her property for the purpose of fostering more children. She provided evidence that she had been approved to foster up to three children.
Therefore we agreed to pay a DHP to cover the shortfall and allow Mrs G to continue the valuable service of providing foster care.
The council has successfully bid for additional funds from both the Welsh Government and DWP totalling £380,000 so even more help can be given to our residents.
Downsizing
Mr C lives alone in a three-bedroom council house and his only income is employment support allowance, due to his poor health. Mr C is classed as having two spare bedrooms, which resulted in his housing benefit being reduced by £23.50 per week.
Mr C had been trying to move to a smaller property but had so far been unsuccessful in his attempts. As Mr C was on the downsizing list and had shown he could not afford his current rent, we agreed to pay the shortfall in his rent while he was waiting for a suitably sized property.
Discretionary housing help in Cardiff: the figures
• The council provides housing benefit and council tax reduction for 40,000 people in Cardiff.
• The council’s budget for DHPs for 2013/14 is £1.48 million
• Since the introduction of the under-occupancy or bedroom tax in April, we have processed over 1,900 claims for discretionary housing payments. Over 1,200 claims have been accepted with £526,957 paid and £433,221 committed as at February 1.
• 279 claims have been processed for removal costs amounting to £69,250
• £30,604 worth of DHPs for those affected by the benefit cap have been made with a further £83,812 committed.
• The council’s DHP budget for 2014/15 is £1.175 million. The council has successfully bid for additional funds from both the Welsh Government and DWP totalling £380,000