Agenda item

6.1

The Committee received a report of the Director of Policy, Performance and Communications, which provided Members with a summary of the key Welfare Reform changes, together with an analysis of the impact of these changes on Sheffield residents, an update on the work that the Council and its partners were undertaking to support affected residents and an analysis of responses from other local authorities to Welfare Reform.  Appended to the report was a table of Welfare Reform key changes and a series of case studies.

6.2

In attendance for this item were Councillor Mazher Iqbal, Cabinet Member for Communities and Inclusion, James Henderson, Director of Policy, Performance and Communications, Nicola Rees, Policy and Improvement Officer, Maxine Stavrianakos, Income Management Unit, and John Squire, Revenues and Benefits Client Team.

6.3

Members made various comments and asked a number of questions, to which responses were provided as follows:-

·                     880 tenants across the City had been identified as being potentially affected by the exemption from the Under-Occupancy provisions (Bedroom Tax), which applied to tenants living in their property since 1990, with around 450 of these being Council tenants and the remainder being with social landlords.  Work was ongoing to identify the actual numbers affected.  It should be noted that the Department for Work and Pensions was looking to amend the regulations to remove this exemption.

·                     In 2015/16 the Local Assistance Scheme funding was to be included in the Revenue Support Grant.

·                     A Project Group had been established in the Council to prepare for the introduction of Universal Credit.  One of the areas of concern about the introduction of Universal Credit was that payments would be made directly to residents, rather than landlords, so that individuals would have to manage their own budgets and take responsibility for paying their own rent.

·                     Nationally, pilots were showing that there were huge problems with the introduction of Universal Credit.  The pilots had focused on tenants in receipt of benefits in social housing and there had been little work nationally on how the introduction of Universal Credit would affect private tenants.  Any provisions which would safeguard payments to vulnerable tenants would be transferred across and so would also apply to private tenants.

·                     Steps were being taken in Sheffield to proactively help residents with budgeting, for example by enabling those who needed assistance with managing their finances to set up budgeting or ‘jam jar’ accounts.

·                     A network of Work Clubs operated across the City and a list of these would be sent to the Committee’s Policy and Improvement Officer for circulation to Committee Members.

·                     The Council had been approached by a private company to set up a self-service website, like the one operated by Manchester City Council, which brought private landlords and people looking for a home together and enabled potential tenants to calculate their likely benefit entitlement to see which properties they could afford, so they could then choose from a list of homes that matched their circumstances.

·                     Tenants in social housing were being encouraged to consider moving to private rented accommodation, as the Council did not have enough one-bedroomed properties.

·                     Approximately 30% of those in private rented accommodation now had their benefits paid directly to their landlord.  This represented a big shift from the 90% figure in 2008. 

·                     The Council helped to administer the Mortgage Rescue Scheme, which assisted households which were struggling to make their mortgage payments, by transferring ownership of the property to a Housing Association whilst allowing the resident(s) to continue living there.  It was important to note that this scheme, which was a Government scheme, was due to cease at the end of March 2014.

6.4

RESOLVED: That the Committee:-

(a)       thanks the Cabinet Member and attending officers for their contribution to the meeting;

(b)       recognises the excellent work undertaken by the Revenues and Benefits Client Team in supporting Members with regard to this complex area of work;

(c)        notes the contents of the report and the responses to questions;

(d)       acknowledges the transition to Universal Credit and requests that the Committee be provided with a quarterly update on progress;

(e)       notes the aspects of good practice operating in Bristol and Manchester and requests that consideration be given to adopting these measures in Sheffield;

(f)        requests that the report be circulated to all Council Members and all Sheffield Members of Parliament, with a request for their comments;

(g)       agrees to wait for further information on the ending of the Mortgage Rescue Scheme before writing to the appropriate Government Minister in this regard; and

(h)       requests that a further report on the Impact of Welfare Reform on Sheffield’s Residents, be presented to the Committee in 6 months’ time.