Local Welfare Asssistance Scheme consultation response

Staggering indeed Paul - and para 33 goes on to say in further comment about some of the funding not being needed, or being spent on services already funded that:

•Department for Work and Pensions hardship funds are available, in certain circumstances, if a benefit payment has been stopped and a person does not have enough money to live on;
•Some of the help described [as being met from Local Welfare Provision] should be funded by other agencies (eg Work Programme or Jobcentres…. and Department for Work and Pensions…….)

Now – if someone could just get those pesky JobCentres to discuss STBA and/or Hardship Payments BEFORE referring to the local welfare provision………

Paul_Treloar_CPAG - 04 February 2015 11:19 AM

Thanks for fixing the link Shawn.

Have to say, having read through the formal government response, it’s fair to say that we were slightly staggered to come across this section:

A number of respondents mention providing funding to people on benefit sanctions, or who have had their benefits reduced as part of other reforms. Councils already receive funding to help with the transitional effects of welfare reform and it could be argued that providing this funding to those who have been sanctioned undermines the intention behind it;

Those darned local welfare schemes, feeding starving people who’ve had sanctions applied to their benefits…...

I think this reflects that the people collating the information, have little idea what is happening on the ground.

I really doubt that the money given by govt in LWPS would allow ANY Authority to support households sanctioned at their former level of income. There is simply not the money there to do this. In many areas households who are sanctioned receive food parcels (welfare in kind) often for time limited periods, whilst advisors/volunteers help sort out thir priority non priority debts.etc.

It seems to that the gulf between policy makers and the front line has never been so wide.

I could be wrong. In my area the level of Sanctions (Itself a post code lottery) is well over the national average. 

Does anyone know of any Local Welfare Scheme that helpfully tops up folks who have been sanctioned, to their former level??

OR Is this another myth doing the rounds…....?

We are attempting to establish if Oxfordshire will now re-instate a Local Welfare Scheme or use some of the money to support agencies like food banks, advice centres, support workers etc (i.e. reverse intended cut to its voluntary sector funding etc).

Its hard to make the case locally unless you know the indicative sum that each council has been awarded…I know this sum isnt ring fenced…. and a council can spend it on what it wants…..but without these figures it is difficult to even get a rough feel on what could be spent on LWPS by each council.

Are these figures available anywhere?

I think that you would need to combine the figures from the two spreadsheets for the respective settlements Martin.

Breakdown of settlement funding assessment: provisional local government finance settlement 2015 to 2016 18 December 2014

Breakdown of settlement funding assessment: final local government finance settlement 2015 to 2016 3 February 2015

Thanks Paul…..........