Benefit Cap to be Phased In

Dear Colleague,
Implementation of the Benefit Cap
I am writing to you with regards to the implementation of the Benefit Cap, which will be phased in from April 2013. We continue to work closely in partnership with Local Authorities and with households to help them adjust their circumstances and wherever possible find work. This letter sets out the roll-out approach for your Local Authority.
Today we advised Bromley, Croydon, Enfield and Haringey Local Authorities that they will be the first to start to apply the Benefit Cap from April 2013.

The four Local Authorities within London were chosen to start the phasing in of the Benefit Cap as London has the highest percentage of potential Benefit Cap claimants and a diverse cross section of residents. It therefore makes sense to start there as it will help us to understand a wide range of issues around how we are implementing this change before national rollout. Choosing these four Local Authorities means that we can provide support from a single DWP Benefit Centre at Stratford. The majority of claimants in the four boroughs have their out of work benefit claims processed by Stratford Benefit Centre, which as you may be aware is the only London based Benefit Centre. That is an important factor in delivering this change safely as it allows us to focus all of our efforts on making sure that the delivery of this change works as intended for Local Authorities, DWP and households.

For all other Local Authorities across the country, including yours, we will move from implementation in the first four Local Authority areas to national rollout over the summer and aas such all households identified as being appropriate to be capped will, in line with existing plans, have been capped by the end of September 2013. A decision on the precise date at which national rollout will commence will be made in the New Year.

You will be well aware that this approach, where we phase in national changes, is how we often implement major changes of this kind. A phased rollout allows us to:
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test our systems and processes end to end in a controlled live environment
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ensure the supporting products and services for both staff and claimants are effective
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ensure there is a measured approach to rolling out the cap to affected households
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build capacity to learn and respond to issues raised in the initial phase of rollout to inform national rollout
I should add that no change has been made to the Discretionary Housing Payments for 2013/14 as a result of this approach as it is recognised that activity to support households occurs throughout all of 2013/14 and not just from the date the Cap will be applied.

We will continue to work closely and engage with your Benefit Cap leads using our usual communication channels (circulars/bulletins/assurance work etc) and via the Local Authority Association and Practitioners Operational Group. We also have representation from Local Authorities and Department for Communities and Local Government at our regular Benefit Cap Senior Stakeholder Board meetings. In addition, at a local level we will work with you through the arrangements we already have in place across our Jobcentre Plus network to support you to deliver this change and to support claimants affected by the Benefit Cap to adjust their circumstances, including providing the support to secure employment.

What next?

Council tax scheme to be phased in?

This is begining to be more than a joke!!

And they have the gall, to say, this is supposed to reduce welfare waste?

Welfare reform my %£^%^%!!!

Sorry, with the last sentence but I have lost the will.

Just received this from HB info:

“Good morning members

We told you that our last note was the last before the holidays but it seems a day is a long time in Housing Benefits nowadays!

Firstly, DWP has suddenly announced that the benefits cap will now NOT start in April 2013 except in four chosen areas. Instead, the cap will be “phased in” over the summer with a new completion date of September 2013. You can read more HERE

This is obviously good news for many claimants and organisations faced with the prospect of large cuts in resources. However, we recognise the substantial amount of work local Councils have put in identifying affected claimants and working with Housing departments to get ready for the change. A lot of this work will now have to be repeated and publicity amended etc.

This change in policy may be due in part to a debate last week in the House of Commons where it was pointed out that “Close reading of the regulations indicates that a household comprising parents and a disabled adult dependant receiving disability living allowance will not be exempt from the cap, despite the Minister’s promises that they would be”.

Secondly, you may have read in the media the suggestion that the Minister is “considering using his powers as Secretary of State to order councils not to impose council tax charges on the unemployed”. We have written to DCLG asking for urgent clarification of this on behalf of concerned members and whether the Government does, even at this late stage, intend to impose the default scheme on a national basis…even on those Councils that have already made a local scheme. In effect, this would recreate a national Council Tax Benefit scheme under a different name. Time is running out of course; there again Councils have been forced to re-bill in the past but we would hope that is not repeated.

Where does all this leave other proposals such as under occupancy in the social sector? It is difficult to know at this stage. There are growing concerns about the impact on those who live in specially adapted property for instance. Affected claimants are beginning to fill the mailbags of local M.P.s of all parties and paying everyone a discretionary payment is both impossible and very time consuming and costly in terms of administration (something that seems to have been forgotten by Ministers urging Councils to become more efficient) .

We are sure that trying to provide advice in this changing environment to worried claimants is very difficult indeed. All we at hbinfo can suggest is to expect the unexpected over the next few weeks and months”

If councils are prevented in applying schemes that affect the unemployed, bearing in mind the other vulnerable groups and regard to the UC policy of ‘better off in work’ its difficult to see what claimant group is left to make the savings against

The phrase ‘coming apart at the seams’ comes to mind.

Trip to the brewery anyone?

The press interview where Eric Pickles says taxing the poor is obscene:
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/eric-pickles-condemns-tax-plans-375555

Hey good news, the Mayan calendar prediction that the world would end was wrong. They are just going to pilot it.

The day isn’t over yet.

the not-for-profit sector are not engaged in this process in any meaningful way however much those with authority (to end the world as we know it) try to present otherwise