Agenda item

This report provides Members with a progress report regarding Universal Credit and welfare reforms as  agreed by Cabinet in September 2014 and also the work of the Welfare Reform Officers Working Group, including a revised action plan developed by the Group.

Discussion:

The Chief Finance Officer introduced this report which provided Members with a progress report regarding Universal Credit and welfare reforms and also the work of the Welfare Reform Officers Working Group, including a revised action plan developed by the Group

With regard to the contract for Local Welfare Provision, a Member asked when the review of the contract arrangements would be completed and what the maximum period was for extending this contract. The Chief Finance Officer advised that the Council was looking to package together a number of contracts for services such as debt advice and advocacy and this would include local welfare provision. The contract for the latter had been extended until September 2017 as more time was needed to finalise the procurement process. A new contract would be in place from September 2017. A Member queried whether this approach regarding procurement was suitable as some organisations would be prepared to bid for debt advice and advocacy contracts but not for local welfare provision, which was a very specific and distinct service.  Officers clarified that the Council recognised local welfare provision was a distinct service and the procurement process allowed for organisations to bid for contracts within the overall package where they felt particular services worked well together. A Member made the point that the uncertainty the extensions created for people was unhelpful and decisions should be made sooner rather than later. The Chief Finance Officer acknowledged the concern but felt that it was better to extend the contract and get it right and not rush into a decision.

A Member referred to the 572 people in Medway expected to be affected by the introduction of the benefit cap and, noting that awareness raising roadshows had not been well attended, asked what could be done to individually target people. The point was also made that the Government was now reviewing the welfare reform and universal credit programme and therefore the Council should be flexible in its approach, given the possibility of changes. The Head of Housing Management advised that the Department for Work and Pensions had provided the Council with the details of 23 Council HRA tenants likely to be affected by the benefit cap and officers would visit them to explain the changes The Chief Finance Officer added that the Council was looking to identify those affected and decide how best to provide support, given the risk that some could end up applying to the Council for statutory services. There were web based tools available, at a cost, which allowed people to input their personal information and find out how they were affected by the reforms.

More generally the Council was raising the profile of the changes with key partners and helping them so they were confident in providing advice to people affected and there was more of a one stop shop approach in Medway.

In response to a question about how to access Taktix, the directory of support and advice used within the Council to make vulnerable people aware of the services available, officers advised that this could only currently be accessed within the Council but as part of the digital transformation programme it was likely to be possible that access would be extended to partners.

A Member referred to paragraph 5.2 which stated that there had been an increase in larger households approaching the Council for housing advice and facing homelessness due to not being able to afford rents and asked if this was evidence of an unintended consequence of the reforms which could lead to the overall welfare bill increasing. Officers undertook to provide information outside the meeting on the significance of the reference to larger households.

Officers also undertook to provide information on how many people in Medway would have been affected by the benefit cap when the threshold had been set at £26,000 and also what benefits were included and excluded from the cap.

Decision:

The Committee agreed to note the revised action plan at Appendix 1 and also

the progress made to date.