Www.southwark.gov.uk 1 Southwark Direct Payment Demonstrator Project 31st July 2013 1.
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www.southwark.gov.uk 1 Southwark Direct Payment Demonstrator Project 31st July 2013 1
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Transcript of Www.southwark.gov.uk 1 Southwark Direct Payment Demonstrator Project 31st July 2013 1.
www.southwark.gov.uk
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Southwark Direct PaymentDemonstrator Project
31st July 2013
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www.southwark.gov.uk
Southwark’s vital statistics!
• Council Tax households 122,000– CTRS 24,000 of which 19,000 paying for first time
• HB Caseload 42,000– 30,000 council tenants– 4,000 private LHA– 5,500 RSL
• Benefit Cap 300 starts Aug• Under-occupancy 4500
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www.southwark.gov.uk
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Demonstrator project overviewCurrent set up• 6 Demonstrator LA’s across the country
– Southwark, Wakefield, Oxford and Shropshire– Torfaen - Wales– Edinburgh – Scotland
• 3 LA landlords• 9 Housing Associations/providers
• What we are doing and who it affects– 1,474 Southwark Residents (LBS)– 525 Family Mosaic Residents
• Potential to inform and influence:– Universal Credit design to help our customers– Voluntary and 3rd sector support agencies
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www.southwark.gov.uk
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Our approachFebruary 2012
– Mapping existing support provision
March 2012 – 2,000 tenants advised of selection
• Exceptions planned – Pensioners exempt from selection
– Request for bank details and completion of a ‘self-assessment’ support needs survey
May 2012 – Advice Days provided
June 2012 – First tenants switched onto DP
June 2013– Project extended by 6 months to investigate Welfare Reforms
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www.southwark.gov.uk
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‘Scores on the doors’
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To date over £3.5 million has been paid in Housing Benefit directly
Total number of tenants in scope for the Demonstration Project at inception 1999Total number of tenants paid by Direct Payment period 9 1001HB cancelled as tenant has vacated 25HB cancelled for any other reason than vacated 59Switchback 178Require further work - referred for support 223Payment Exceptions (starting to record exceptions where support has failed) 7Refusals to participate/insuffi cient data sent 154Non-engagers 208Others 144
www.southwark.gov.uk
• Support to those affected by DP…– 191 referrals from Southwark
• Unknown risk and needs
• Offered a total of 16 separate drop-in sessions
• 30% of those referred were assessed – of these;– 28% felt able to manage DP without support– 27% felt able to manage DP with support– 16% felt unable to manage DP and accepted support– 22% felt unable to manage DP and refused the offer of support
• BUT: Overall 80% of those referred have not taken up offer
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Referred ……
www.southwark.gov.uk
Intensive engagement– Gathering a snapshot of
needs -15 people– Four door-stop visits each at
a different time of day
Outcomes– 9 assessments completed –
of these;• 4 were willing to engage
with support
• all had an awareness of DP
• 3 were unaware of upcoming welfare changes
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Outcomes……
FindingsSupport needs (clients may have
been assess with more than one support need)
– 41% Debt/budgeting – 28% Mental ill health– 14% Literacy/ Learning
difficulties– 18% Benefit issues– 16% Physical health– 10% Employment– 9% Substance use– 7% No bank account
Resource intensiveMajority of those assessed were not known to services
www.southwark.gov.uk
Observations• Support is resource intensive
– getting people to engage takes time
• People prefer face to face contact• People prefer one to one advice• Drop in ongoing advice sessions / open days not always a
success• Income Officer patch increases
– From 900 (LBS) /750(FM) households to 500 • And in practice only half of the 500 are actually on DP
The switchback process has revealed more support needs where people have found themselves
struggling to manage
www.southwark.gov.uk
Key challenges for us
• Rent arrears rise in spite of extra costs– How will the extra costs be funded?
• Not clear how UC will manage the switchback process– Lack of automated links with UC will make process unworkable – Key learning from DPDPs is that the close relationship between
Landlord and LA is vital to process operation
• Data sharing still unresolved• Effective delivery of support, with an outcome that
reduces arrears– Levels of support in project are not scalable to BAU
Q. What is the perception of support?
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