Agenda item

To consider a report by the Contracts and Performance Project Manager – Finance (copy enclosed) which outlines the impact to date of Universal Credit (UC) on Council services and the county’s residents.  The report also assesses the effectiveness of mitigation measures to date and outlines plans for future impact mitigation measures

11.30am – 12.15pm

The Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Strategic Assets introduced the Contracts and Performance Project Manager - Finance’s report (previously circulated) which summarised the impact to date of the rollout of Universal Credit (UC) on the County’s residents, the effectiveness of mitigation measures, and outlined the plans in place to mitigate the effects on services and residents of the migration of current benefit recipients on to UC in due course.  He welcomed the Chief Executive of Citizens Advice Denbighshire (CAD) to the meeting as one of the Council’s key partners for delivering support in relation to UC in the county.  He explained that the report was being presented to the Committee at members’ request following consideration of a report last year on preparations the Council and its partners were making in readiness for the initial rollout of UC to the majority of the county.

During his introduction the Lead Member advised that the latest information received from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) indicated that ‘managed migration’ of current benefit recipients on to UC should commence in Denbighshire in late 2020.  He outlined the membership of the multi-disciplinary Universal Credit Board which the Council had established in a bid to mitigate the risk to the Council and residents of the introduction of UC.  Denbighshire’s approach in establishing a multi-disciplinary team, which included representatives from the DWP and Citizens Advice Denbighshire (CAD), differed from that of other local authorities the majority of whom seemed to have established Finance or Revenues & Benefits based boards.  Since UC had been rolled-out in Denbighshire new legislation had been introduced relating to housing benefits and free schools meals etc.  this had necessitated additional work for staff dealing with those areas and with UC claims.  The Council and its partners’ approach to co-locate staff within Rhyl Job Centre had proved extremely useful in dealing with the changes, drawing potential entitlement to benefit claimants’ attention and providing intervention services in a timely manner to avert a crisis situation occurring.  Appendix 2 to the report detailed specific measures taken by individual services and the results achieved, whilst Appendix 3 provided anonymous case studies to illustrate the effectiveness of the approach taken by the Council and its partners.

Responding to members’ questions the Lead Member for Finance, Performance and Strategic Assets; the Chief Executive of CAD; the Contracts and Performance Manager - Finance; and the Contracts and Performance Project Manager - Finance:

·         advised that up until 31 March 2019 UC had been a passport benefit for Free School Meals (FSMs).  From 1 April 2019 an income threshold of £7,400 had been introduced for FSM.  However anyone entitled to FSMs on 31 March 2019 had been passported over to FSMs under the new Scheme.  To facilitate this work the Welsh Government (WG) had commissioned a company called Atkins to support Local Authorities in Wales to undertake the work;  

·         agreed that homelessness in the under 35 age group was a growing concern.  Homelessness was not solely due to UC, there were often a number of contributory factors;

·         confirmed that whilst different benefits or tax credits had been combined under the umbrella of UC that did not mean that claimants had lost any benefits.  These former benefits were now various components of the new UC benefit.  Whilst some premiums had been discontinued, others had been introduced.  The objective of the new UC was to support those able to work back into work whilst ensuring that the vulnerable and those unable to work were supported.  It was now possible for some individuals to work and receive an element of UC.  UC was calculated on an individual’s circumstances;

·         confirmed that CAD now had a resource located within Rhyl JC to help with homelessness enquiries.  This post which was resourced via a European Union (EU) scheme was funded until April 2020 and provided an unemployed individual with valuable experience for future employment opportunities;

·         advised that Civica had confirmed that there had not been a drastic increase in Council Tax arrears as a result of the rollout of UC.  However, the Revenues and Benefits Service administered by Civica had recorded a 33% increase in its workload since UC had been introduced.  This was attributed to the more complex processes involved with UC and greater engagement with customers.  Civica were fully engaged with UC and the Board’s work.  CAD, through Job Centre Plus, was promoting the availability of Housing Benefit (HB), Council Tax Reduction (CTR) and FSMs;

·         confirmed that residents in the Dee Valley area who claimed their UC benefit via Wrexham Job Centre had also been supported, similarly to those who claimed via Rhyl Job Centre.  Seven rural villages and hamlets in south Denbighshire and residents in the Dee Valley area had been provided support to access services, advice and information by CAD through the South Denbighshire Community Partnership.  In addition to CAD’s presence at Llangollen library one day a week, Skype facilities were available also at Llangollen Library on the other days to the Citizens Advice office in Ruthin.  Effective working relationships existed between the Council’s Library staff, CAD and Job Centre Plus staff across the county;  

·         advised that whilst the DWP on a UK basis had announced that its funding to support UC claimants, currently paid to local authorities, would cease from April 2019  and be transferred directly to the Citizen’s Advice Bureau, due to Denbighshire’s close and strong working relationship with CAD, who was already delivering the majority of UC support services for the Council under contract this change should not have a detrimental impact on the Council or its residents.  This would equate to a loss of income of £15K for the Library Service, however the Service did not anticipate excessive additional pressures due to the loss of income;

·         reminded members that Citizens Advice, including CAD, was a research and campaigning organisation as well as one that supported individuals.  The organisation had been successful nationally in securing the backdating of benefits for claimants under the ‘Treat as Made’ campaign.  In Denbighshire, as well as delivering services from its office bases, CAD had an outreach service which could meet people in the community or in their own home.  They also had recently started delivering services in Bodelwyddan via its outreach services;

·         CAD had a digital suite at its Rhyl office which was used, amongst other things, to help improve benefit recipients’ digital skills.  CAD was also in discussion with DWP with a view to the DWP co-locating a member of its staff periodically at CAD offices in Denbigh, Ruthin, Corwen and Llangollen;

·         confirmed that the graph in Appendix 1 of the report illustrating an increasing number of residents in receipt of UC was positive as it indicated that DWP, CAD and the Council’s approach was effective and meant that residents were engaging with the process at an early stage and potentially averting reaching crisis point;

·         advised that there was no data available to suggest that private landlords were opting out of letting property to people in receipt of UC, due to the onus being on the tenant to pay their rent to the landlord.  The Council’s Planning and Public Protection Service was in the process of arranging a Private Landlords Forum event in June.  CAD, Civica, County Council departments, Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) would be taking part in this event, and an invite would be sent to county councillors.  Whilst there was an expectation for the benefit recipient to be responsible for paying his/her rent to the landlord, there was an opportunity for the tenant to opt for the rent to be paid directly to the landlord.  However, this option was not effectively promoted at present;

·         advised that CAD had improved its processes to help claimants set-up banking facilities in order to receive benefit payments;

·         advised that the DWP would listen to CAD if they had serious concerns relating to a claimant’s claim or circumstances, be they a couple, family unit or a single person;

·         confirmed that some work had been instigated with the Homelessness Prevention Team to establish whether there was any correlation between the introduction of UC and the numbers of individuals presenting themselves as homeless;

·         confirmed that at present it was only new claims and those claimants who had experienced a ‘change in circumstances’ that were eligible to claim UC.  Current ‘legacy benefits’ claimants were likely to start migration from approximately late 2020 onwards in Denbighshire, although the exact date had not yet been confirmed by DWP;

·         advised that the payment of UC was a five week process.  However, during that time the claimant could apply for an advance of up to 100% of his/her entitlement.  Citizens Advice nationally was campaigning to reduce the process to a four week one, in order to mirror the process for employees.  HB run-on was also available to support claimants;

·         confirmed that CAD worked closely with local foodbanks.  Foodbanks were only a temporary solution, a ‘sticking plaster’.  CAD would work with families and individuals in crisis in order to get to the root of the problem and eradicate it for the future;

·         confirmed that DWP locally were extremely flexible and open to working closely with CAD and the Council with a view to solving individual problems; and

·         advised that at present all partners did not foresee any major problems occurring during the migration of current legacy benefit recipients onto UC.  Whilst some of the legacy benefits recipients would possibly have been economically inactive for some considerable amount of time and possibly not very IT literate or used to managing money in a different way, they would also in the main have more settled lifestyles i.e. people going onto UC currently are doing so because of a large life event (e.g. change of relationship status or redundancy), those under managed migration will not also be coping with such an event.  In order to prepare for the main migration process the DWP would be undertaking a pilot in the Harrogate area under the ‘Who Knows Me’ approach to assess the effectiveness of methods in place for migration, prior to rolling it out nationally.

With regards to the issue of homelessness in Denbighshire the Chair advised that Partnerships Scrutiny Committee would be considering the matter at its meeting on 11 July 2019.  The Lead Member for Well-being and Independence stated that she was of the view that Denbighshire as a local authority, along with its partners, had been exemplary in their preparation work for the introduction of UC and that she looked forward to receiving the findings of the study on UC and homelessness in Denbighshire.

At the conclusion of the discussion the Committee:

Resolved: - subject to the above observations

(i)            to congratulate the Council on its approach and management of support to residents in relation to Universal Credit in Denbighshire;

(ii)          to continue to support and endorse the project delivery method employed by officers, namely the Universal Credit Board; and

(iii)         request that a further report be presented to the Committee in late 2020/early 2021 assessing the impact of migrating legacy benefit recipients to Universal Credit on Council Services, and the effectiveness of measures taken by the Council and its partners to mitigate the effects of transferring to Universal Credit on residents and on Council Services.