7/31/2019 120517 Housing Benefit Changes

1/3

Jobcentre Plus

Jim McGonigle

District Manager

East & South East Scotland

Lyndean House, 199 Commercial Street, Edinburgh, EH6 60P

Telephone 0131 555 8070 Fax 0131 555 8005

Textphone 0845601 6045

www.direct.gov.uk

Kezia Dugdale MSP

The Scottish Parliament

Holyrood

Edinburgh

EH991SP

May 11 2012

Dear Ms Dugdale

Direct payment of Housing Bene it to sele"cted tenants in preparation forthe introduction of Universal Credit

My reason for contacting you is to update you on changes to the way Housing

Benefit will be paid to a small number of tenants in the social rented sector in

your area, as part of a series of demonstration projects run by the Department

for Work and Pensions (DWP) with six volunteer local authorities.

The demonstration projects will look at how tenants can best manage Housing

Benefit monthly payments, ahead of the introduction of Universal Credit fromOctober 2013.

The projects, running from June 2012 until June 2013, will involve payingHousing Benefit directly to a small number of tenants on a monthly basis.

Tenants will then make their rent payment to their landlord themselves.

Advice, support and help in managing payments and budgeting w ill be

provided locally. Up to 2,000 tenants in each area will participate.

The six volunteer local authorities are now contacting the tenants selected to

take part in the demonstration projects. As some of your constituents may

contact you about this I am writing to provide-information to help you with anyenquiries you may receive.

What are the changes?

A number of local authority and housing association partnerships are

volunteering to work with the UK Government on changing the way Housing

Benefit is paid in the social sector. The new projects will see some tenants in

the social rented" sector receiving monthly Housing Benefit payments, paiddirectly to them for the first time.

The projects, running from June 2012 until June 2013, will test how tenants

can manage Housing Benefit monthly payments. This is ahead of theintroduction of Universal Credit from October 2013.

Part of the Department for Work and PensionsINVESTOR IN PEOPLE

http://www.direct.gov.uk/http://www.direct.gov.uk/

7/31/2019 120517 Housing Benefit Changes

2/3

The projects will also look at the appropriate level .of safegu~rds needed tohelp protect a landlord's income if tenants fall behind on their rent as well as

the support tenants also need.

The local authority and social landlord partnerships named for the

demonstration projects are:o The City of Edinburgh Council and Dunedin Canmore Housing

Association, Scotlando Southwark Council (the local authority landlord) and Family Mosaic

Housing Association, London

o Oxford City Council (the local authority landlord) and GreenSquare

Group Housing Association, Southern Englando Shropshire Unitary County Council (the local authority landlord) and

Bromford Group Housing Association, Sanctuary Housing and The

Wrekin Housing Trust, West Midlands

o Wakefield Metropolitan District Council and Wakefield and District

Housing, Northern England

o Torfaen Borough County Council and Bron Afon Community Housingand Charter Housing, Wales. .

The projects will help local authorities and housing associations to prepare for

the introduction of Universal Credit. Tenants will benefit from this also as their

local authorities and housing associations will have the opportunity to developthe support they offer to tenants.

The projects will help Government understand the best ways of:

o Communicating these changes to tenants

o Providing assistance with budgeting to ensure tenants successfully paytheir rent

o Developing appropriate safeguards to protect landlords' financialposition if tenants do get into arrears

o Supporting tenants and landlords experiencing financial difficulties.

How will this affect tenants?

Selected tenants are now being notified by their participating local authority oftheir inclusion in the projects.

Participating tenants have been drawn from the social rented sector in their

respective areas. In selecting people to participate, we have looked to choose

a representative sample of social housing tenants in receipt of Housing

Benefit who are of working age and not currently living in temporaryaccommodation.

Pensioners and some other limited exceptions have not been selected and

will continue to have their housing costs paid direct to their landlord.

There is no option for selected tenants to opt out from participation in the

projects. Local authorities will work with those tenants selected to take part tohelp them prepare for the switch to receiving their Housing Benefit directly.

7/31/2019 120517 Housing Benefit Changes

3/3

--------------------------

An independent external research consortium led by the Centre for Regional

Economic and Social Research (CRESR) at Sheffield Hallam University has

been commissioned to undertake an evaluation of the projects. Other

members of the consortium are the Oxford Institute of Social Policy and Ipsos

MaRl.

Ipsos MaRl will contact a number of the selected tenants to take part in some

initial survey work designed to help DWP understand how well tenants can

manage their own rent payments and what type of support may be best for

them. Any information given by tenants to Ipsos MaRl will be completely

confidential.

Why is this happening?

Monthly direct payments for housing are a key part of Universal Credit,

reflecting the fact that 75 per cent of all those in employment are paid

earnings monthly (Bacs Family Finance Survey 2011). _

The Government is committed to supporting working-age recipients of

Housing Benefit make the transition to a single monthly direct payment as part

of Universal Credit. This change is seen as key to helping people develop the

financial management skills required to move with ease from benefits into

work by mirroring a regular salary. Maintaining single payment is also

important so that claimants can see clearly the effect of their decisions aboutwork on total household income.

Although most of those in the private rented sector are already used to

receiving their payments directly and managing their finances accordingly, it is

recognised that for others, including many in the social rented sector, thechange may raise additional challenges.

I hope that this information is helpful to you. Should you require any further

information, please do not hesitate to contact me. My details are at the top ofthis letter.

Yours sincerely

J McGonigle

District Manager