Birmingham universal credit pilot going well

the universal credit local authority-led pilot in Birmingham is going well (and staff have even found the experience ‘fulfilling’), the DWP reports -

‘Birmingham City Council has introduced changes to make their services digitally accessible, by developing a digital logbook and the Birmingham One account. Claimants can access everything they need in one place. This is being piloted with around 5,000 new tenants who have housing requirements in Birmingham.

All new tenants will have their own personalised digital log book to access and manage every aspect of their tenancy online. The logbook will also help tenants with budgeting, employment, skills and education, and be a channel for communication with them.

To support the introduction, four letting suites have been set up in the Birmingham area and new tenants are given a 90 minute appointment with an Assistant Housing Officer.

The appointment covers:

- Maximising income by identifying the right benefits
- Advice on how and when to pay rent
- Completion of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit applications
- Budgeting help, such as setting up a bank account.

From when the first letting suites went live in July 2012, up to December 2012, Birmingham City Council has helped to identify £5 million in benefits for their tenants. Rent arrears have reduced by five per cent, or £150,000, compared to the same period in 2011.

Initial customer feedback has been very positive. All claimants think that the 12 week support is a good idea. Many suggested that longer would be better, and 99 per cent of people agreed with the concept of the letting suites. Staff have also found the experience fulfilling.’

From Feb 2013 issue of Touchbase @ http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/touchbase-ezine-february-2013.pdf

It would be interesting to see how they calculated the $5m benefit gain

I wonder who funded the “letting suites” for assisting claimants? Given the massive cuts to independent advice agencies in Birmingham, it would be deeply ironic, to say the least, if the council were responsible for their provision.

If they weren’t responsible, will the DWP be rolling out such venues across the rest of the country over the rest of the year?