Agenda item

 The Council’s approach in its capacity as landlord

Rod Smith, Service Manager – Tenancy Manager introduced the report and provided an oral summary of the key points. Mr Smith also provided the Committee with some updated figures in relation to appendix 4 universal credit (UC) performance and activity measures.

It was reported that UC presented two main risks to the Council in its capacity as a local authority landlord:

1)    higher levels of rent arrears; and

2)    as a result for the higher level of rent arrears, a higher number of evictions.

In summary, the Committee was informed that UC was one of a number of risk factors which needed to be effectively managed by the Council to maximise its income stream and the potential for long term tenancy sustainment.

Members commented that it was an excellent and outstanding report that provided detail information. It was clear after reading the report what action needed to be undertaken by the Council.

During Member questions, it was confirmed that full roll out of UC was on 24 October 2018. Two postcodes had been rolled out in July 2018. In relation to people on UC since 24 October 2018, 25 % had not been paid.  This was not expected to stay at this rate as it was primarily due to waiting period.

Members were concerned about the enormity of the impacts of preparation on staff dealing with claimants transferring to UC. Members were mindful of the services transforming in to a mini social services and queried whether staff had the appropriate training and experience to deal with increased caseloads. Mr Smith explained that it was important for staff to also be taken on to the journey, and tools and training provided for claimants was also mirrored in staff. The Council was keen to shift the mind-set and culture and wished to empower staff. It was important to train officers cross the whole organisation so that everyone could provide advice on UC. Officers also confirmed that resourcing at this stage was adequate, but further resource would be provided by way of UC migration officers.

Members queried how officers were dealing with vulnerable claimants and whether these claimants understood the process. It was explained that generally speaking, from officer experience, claimants tended to have a basic understanding of UC. There was support available, regular risk assessments and the verifications process highlighted any causes for concerns. If concerns were highlighted during the verification process, then officers would be allocated to claimants that needed help.

Members noted the different categories on the UC risk assessment form and considered the categories to not be clear cut. Members were concerned about claimants that fell in one but not all of the different categories, however officers assured Members that verification process allowed officers to properly assess claimants.  Communication was key in this instance.

It was noted during Member questions that before projecting the end journey picture, officers were keen to get an idea on numbers and case work to allow them to work with finance to model projections. Officers explained that a model was necessary to start looking forward and identify a new scale of risk.

Further to witness session 1, Members were still concerned about IT literacy and claimants being able to use computers to complete forms. Officers confirmed that this would be picked up during risk assessments. 

Preparatory work being undertaken

Debby Weller, Policy and Strategy Manager outlined the preparatory work being undertaken to support the roll out of UC. She provided an oral summary of the report.

Members noted the key points:

·         A UC Project Group had been created to facilitate an integrated response to challenges posed by the roll out of UC. It had a variety of members ranging from Hillingdon officers, to key partners such as JCP and CAB.

·         The UC Project Review Group had developed a plan within the following work streams - resources; processes and procedures; communications (internal and external); training; and system support and customer insight.

·         A risk log was maintained covering items such as council tax arrears, impact on call entre volumes and increase level of debts.

·         Since April 2018, 36 UC claimants had sought housing advice from the homelessness prevention team; 21 were single people and 18 of these had a support need.

·         There had been a number of changes to the roll out of UC as detailed in the report.

·         Statistics showed that out of 905 UC claimants in Hillingdon – 325 were in employment and 579 were not in employment.

·         There had been a focus on training housing officers and officers across the Council, to raise awareness of UC and what was expected of them.

·         There had also been a focus on external partnership working. There are Council link officers in place for the Credit Union and the Citizens Advice Bureau to foster collaborative working and support vulnerable residents. Council officers had been working very closely with DWP at all stages of the process.

·         The most recent Hillingdon Landlord Forum was held on 20 November 2018.  Landlords themselves were able to apply for an alternative payment arrangement via the Gov.uk website. Other items discussed included issues regarding backdating of payments which is only allowable for 1 month under UC and had resulted in some difficulties, and delayed payments. Recent statistics show that 94% of claims were now being received on time.

·         The Landlords Forum also heard from the Council’s Welfare Reform and Tenancy Sustainment Manager about how the Council as a landlord had prepared for UC. This included using all contacts with tenants by officers to assist in identifying vulnerable tenants; encouraging tenants to pay a bit extra and build up a buffer; advising clients of the need for email addresses, bank accounts and access to computers; providing information on support available and how to access it. Information was provided on the Tier 1 and Tier 2 risk assessments used by DWP that assist in identifying vulnerabilities.

RESOLVED:

1) That officers be thanked for the report and their efforts.

2) That the report be noted.