Update from Dundee City Council on Welfare Reform Action

          

                            Gregory Colgan, Finance and Corporate Services Manager, Housing Department, DCC

 

Scottish Welfare Fund – Implemented 1^st April 2013

The Scottish Welfare Fund commenced from 1 April, 2013.  The administration of Crisis Grants and Community Care Grants is now through Local Authorities for an interim period of two years.

 

Applications to the Scottish Welfare Fund are through either the Council’s website or a dedicated telephone number 01382 431188 with call backs being offered to applicants.  The approach being adopted is a holistic one with staff engaging with applicants and offering appropriate advice and support.  One example of this is that applications for Crisis Payments relating to fuel costs are being referred to the Dundee Energy Efficiency Advice Project (DEEAP) who are visiting applicants to provide a top up credit of fuel.  The DEEAP Team are engaging with the applicants at this time, providing advice on energy tariffs, agreeing repayment schedules, and where possible debt write-off.

 

Other Benefits listed below have stayed the same and will be dealt with by the Department for Work and Pensions. This includes:-

·         Sure Start Maternity Grants

·         Funeral Payments

·         Cold Weather Payments

·         Winter Fuel Payments

·         Job Seekers Allowance

·         Income Support

 

Housing Services – Implemented 1^st April 2013

The Housing Department, together with Finance Department (Revenues Division), identified Council tenants who are affected by Housing Benefit changes regarding under-occupancy.  All of these tenants have been sent a letter explaining the impact of the changes to them and asking them to confirm their household composition.

A small team was set up within the Housing Department to make contact with tenants who were on full Housing Benefit with the Corporate Visiting Team making contact with tenants on part Housing Benefit.  The purpose of the visits was to advise of the change in benefits and what measures they can take to minimise the impact.

The Rent Recovery Team within the Housing Department is actively trying to engage with tenants who are in arrears due to the Welfare Reform Changes. A number of initiatives are being implemented to engage with tenants and appropriate monitoring arrangements have been established.

 

Benefit Cap – Implemented August 2013

The Council has worked in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions Job Centre Plus to carry out joint interviews for households impacted by the Benefit Cap.  The interviews have been held in a neutral venue and involved discussion on Welfare Reforms and the impact of these and provided information on employability, Housing Options and Money and Debt Advice.  This approach has resulted in 90% of household impacted by the Benefit Cap attending these joint interviews, the remainder have had home visits arranged.

 

Discretionary Housing Payments

Discretionary Housing Payments are extra payments that we can give for short periods of time to help paying rent. 

The Department for Work and Pensions give us an amount of money to pay out each year as DHPs and we cannot spend more than they allow us to.

DHPs are not benefit payments and we decide who we pay them to based on people’s circumstances.

 

Who can apply for a DHP?

·         You can apply for a DHP if: you are already receiving Housing Benefit;

·         Housing Benefit does not cover the full amount of your rent; and

·         you need extra help.

How do I apply for a DHP?

To apply you need to fill in an application form.  You can get a form by contacting our Customer Services Team on: 01382 431205 or by calling into one of the following offices.

Dundee House
50 North Lindsay Street
Dundee

West District Housing Office         
3 Sinclair Street
Lochee
Dundee

East District Housing Office
169 Pitkerro Road
Dundee

 

External Funding – Implement September 2013

Big Lottery – Support and Connect Fund

Dundee City Council has been awarded £339,237 from the Big Lottery Support and Connect Fund which will be used to address the impacts of Welfare Reform. In response to growing hardship, the project will create a Task Force of 7 officers, a team of frontline, multi-skilled staff, working in local communities, to address the key issues people face.

The project will commence in September 2013 until March 2015 and will:-

·         Work in Dundee’s most deprived communities, basing an officer in each Local Community Planning Partnership area with 15% most deprived Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation datazones

·         Provide face-to-face advice services in local communities

·         Raise awareness of the implications of welfare reform encouraging people to seek help before they reach crisis point

·         Engage those not currently accessing advice services

·         Create a network of public, voluntary & grassroots support orgs in communities to provide effective & holistic solutions to need for individuals

·         Work with grassroots  orgs to provide support to people using their services e.g. foodbanks, identifying the cause of crisis & creating a package of support to mitigate its effects

·         Assess need & provide basic advice on benefits/benefit changes, budgeting, employability, fuel poverty etc

·         Undertake basic form filling with individuals

·         Signpost people to existing advice/support agencies where required. Could include money advice services, foodbanks, Scottish Welfare Fund, social prescribing, digital literacy etc.

·         Capacity building in grassroots community groups to create volunteers with skills necessary to provide support to communities post project e.g. budgeting skills training, digital literacy support

 

The aims:

• Provide early intervention & local support to mitigate impact on existing advice agencies, reducing number of basic enquiries (SNS Level 1) they receive, enabling them to focus on more serious on-going case work – addressing growing issues of supply not meeting demand

• Ensure a joined up approach to supporting people through welfare reform, where possible in their communities.