(Pat Leybourne)
Minutes:
Pat Leybourne, Head of Customer Services, Revenues and Benefits delivered a Presentation on Universal Credit and explained that this is a new monthly payment for people of working age who are on low income or out of work. For the Lichfield District the roll out of Universal Credit was to be in four stages with the bulk of the District being affected from 29 November 2017. Mrs Leybourne gave an overview and said as time has gone on it has become more and more refined. In Lichfield it is linked to the post codes of the Job Centres. Mrs Leybourne confirmed that the Lichfield District Council will still administer Housing Benefit exceptional claims – i.e. pensioners, people in supported accommodation, people with three or more children – detailed in the Presentation attached. Mrs Leybourne said there was a lot of support from DWP and our Revenues & Benefits Officers had had training to help claimants if they have any queries or questions. Our Customer Services Teams have also informally started digital support. Mrs Leybourne explained that the claimants have a journey and must apply on-line initially; they will then be called within 7 days for an interview and must take all evidence requested to that interview; interaction with the Job Centre/DWP throughout is a must. A heavy emphasis has been put on to the on-line claiming which may be problematic for some but phone or face-to-face is another option. Mrs Leybourne explained that Universal Credit is intended to mimic a monthly salary payment and the expectation is to move to one monthly payment from perhaps three or more payments coming through. From April 2018 anyone moving from housing benefit to Universal Credit will get their housing benefit paid for an additional two weeks, that will overlap with their housing costs paid with their first payment of Universal Credit and there was an opportunity for claimants to apply for an advance payment. Mrs Leybourne said there was additional support for landlords detailed in the Presentation also and landlords can ask the DWP for a “managed” payment. Full details can be found at www.gov.uk and www.lichfielddc.gov.uk/residents/benefits/Universal-Credit.
A question and answer session then followed:-
Q. In relation to the advanced payment - do claimants have to pay it back in one payment or can it be taken out of their monthly allowance?
A. The claimants can have up to 100% of their first payment and pay it back over the year and pay it out of their monthly allowance by agreement with DWP.
Q. Do claimants get referred to a Food Bank by either LDC or Job Centres?
A. Anyone going to a Food Bank must have a voucher and these are available from the Doctors, Citizens Advice Bureau, Social Workers, Job Centres and in certain circumstances our Housing Team. Front line staff here at LDC give out the phone numbers and useful website addresses to people who need support.
Q. If a Landlord is worried and asks for support from DWP to have their rent collected direct will this be with the claimant’s permission?
A. Assumingly the landlord will need to talk to the tenants (claimants) first and if the landlord then contacts the DWP for direct payments they wouldn’t give out this information with the tenant’s (claimant’s) permission.
Q. What about people who are unable to manage their money who may have additional problems and this could lead to homelessness, especially people who have children.
A. The DWP are very keen to identify vulnerable people to make sure they get the correct support, especially around budgeting and assure us that if people are vulnerable they will do all they can to help.