120517 Housing Benefit Changes
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Transcript of 120517 Housing Benefit Changes
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7/31/2019 120517 Housing Benefit Changes
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Jobcentre Plus
Jim McGonigle
District Manager
East & South East Scotland
Lyndean House, 199 Commercial Street, Edinburgh, EH6 60P
Telephone 0131 555 8070 Fax 0131 555 8005
Textphone 0845601 6045
www.direct.gov.uk
Kezia Dugdale MSP
The Scottish Parliament
Holyrood
Edinburgh
EH991SP
May 11 2012
Dear Ms Dugdale
Direct payment of Housing Bene it to sele"cted tenants in preparation forthe introduction of Universal Credit
My reason for contacting you is to update you on changes to the way Housing
Benefit will be paid to a small number of tenants in the social rented sector in
your area, as part of a series of demonstration projects run by the Department
for Work and Pensions (DWP) with six volunteer local authorities.
The demonstration projects will look at how tenants can best manage Housing
Benefit monthly payments, ahead of the introduction of Universal Credit fromOctober 2013.
The projects, running from June 2012 until June 2013, will involve payingHousing Benefit directly to a small number of tenants on a monthly basis.
Tenants will then make their rent payment to their landlord themselves.
Advice, support and help in managing payments and budgeting w ill be
provided locally. Up to 2,000 tenants in each area will participate.
The six volunteer local authorities are now contacting the tenants selected to
take part in the demonstration projects. As some of your constituents may
contact you about this I am writing to provide-information to help you with anyenquiries you may receive.
What are the changes?
A number of local authority and housing association partnerships are
volunteering to work with the UK Government on changing the way Housing
Benefit is paid in the social sector. The new projects will see some tenants in
the social rented" sector receiving monthly Housing Benefit payments, paiddirectly to them for the first time.
The projects, running from June 2012 until June 2013, will test how tenants
can manage Housing Benefit monthly payments. This is ahead of theintroduction of Universal Credit from October 2013.
Part of the Department for Work and PensionsINVESTOR IN PEOPLE
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The projects will also look at the appropriate level .of safegu~rds needed tohelp protect a landlord's income if tenants fall behind on their rent as well as
the support tenants also need.
The local authority and social landlord partnerships named for the
demonstration projects are:o The City of Edinburgh Council and Dunedin Canmore Housing
Association, Scotlando Southwark Council (the local authority landlord) and Family Mosaic
Housing Association, London
o Oxford City Council (the local authority landlord) and GreenSquare
Group Housing Association, Southern Englando Shropshire Unitary County Council (the local authority landlord) and
Bromford Group Housing Association, Sanctuary Housing and The
Wrekin Housing Trust, West Midlands
o Wakefield Metropolitan District Council and Wakefield and District
Housing, Northern England
o Torfaen Borough County Council and Bron Afon Community Housingand Charter Housing, Wales. .
The projects will help local authorities and housing associations to prepare for
the introduction of Universal Credit. Tenants will benefit from this also as their
local authorities and housing associations will have the opportunity to developthe support they offer to tenants.
The projects will help Government understand the best ways of:
o Communicating these changes to tenants
o Providing assistance with budgeting to ensure tenants successfully paytheir rent
o Developing appropriate safeguards to protect landlords' financialposition if tenants do get into arrears
o Supporting tenants and landlords experiencing financial difficulties.
How will this affect tenants?
Selected tenants are now being notified by their participating local authority oftheir inclusion in the projects.
Participating tenants have been drawn from the social rented sector in their
respective areas. In selecting people to participate, we have looked to choose
a representative sample of social housing tenants in receipt of Housing
Benefit who are of working age and not currently living in temporaryaccommodation.
Pensioners and some other limited exceptions have not been selected and
will continue to have their housing costs paid direct to their landlord.
There is no option for selected tenants to opt out from participation in the
projects. Local authorities will work with those tenants selected to take part tohelp them prepare for the switch to receiving their Housing Benefit directly.
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An independent external research consortium led by the Centre for Regional
Economic and Social Research (CRESR) at Sheffield Hallam University has
been commissioned to undertake an evaluation of the projects. Other
members of the consortium are the Oxford Institute of Social Policy and Ipsos
MaRl.
Ipsos MaRl will contact a number of the selected tenants to take part in some
initial survey work designed to help DWP understand how well tenants can
manage their own rent payments and what type of support may be best for
them. Any information given by tenants to Ipsos MaRl will be completely
confidential.
Why is this happening?
Monthly direct payments for housing are a key part of Universal Credit,
reflecting the fact that 75 per cent of all those in employment are paid
earnings monthly (Bacs Family Finance Survey 2011). _
The Government is committed to supporting working-age recipients of
Housing Benefit make the transition to a single monthly direct payment as part
of Universal Credit. This change is seen as key to helping people develop the
financial management skills required to move with ease from benefits into
work by mirroring a regular salary. Maintaining single payment is also
important so that claimants can see clearly the effect of their decisions aboutwork on total household income.
Although most of those in the private rented sector are already used to
receiving their payments directly and managing their finances accordingly, it is
recognised that for others, including many in the social rented sector, thechange may raise additional challenges.
I hope that this information is helpful to you. Should you require any further
information, please do not hesitate to contact me. My details are at the top ofthis letter.
Yours sincerely
J McGonigle
District Manager