Sally Causer, Southwark Citizen’s Advice
Bureau (CAB), summarised some of the changes being made to the
welfare system.
- Housing benefit changes for social
housing tenants would affect about 4,500 households in the
borough.
- Council tenants with a spare room in
their home would lose a portion of their housing benefit.
- The CAB held advice sessions
arranged to assist those affected. There were also road-show events
around the community and these had spoken to about 700 people so
far.
- The CAB were concerned about people
not engaging with the advice service and yet likely to be
vulnerable to rent arrears and other debt problems.
- The CAB were working with Jobcentre
plus to help people into jobs.
- The council was working to ensure
people got the benefits they were entitled to. In addition there
was a discretionary housing payment that could be applied for by
those struggling to pay rent.
- Some residents were daunted at the
prospect of having to move due to financial pressures after living
in one area for maybe 30 years. The CAB also gave advice to
residents with the online bidding process for moving to alternative
properties.
- The CAB was doing a lot of work with
residents on appeals against benefit decisions where they were no
longer considered eligible.
- In October, Universal Credit (UC)
will be introduced for new claims. The idea was to amalgamate the
various existing payments into one benefit. The concern of the CAB
was that under UC the payments would be amalgamated into one single
payment and paid into a claimant’s account directly. That
might cause problems for those residents with debt/payday loan
issues.
In response to questions, Sally made the
following points:
- A lot of people coming to the advice
surgeries were faced with problems arising out of jobseeker
allowance sanctions. The CAB also assisted with appeals.
- The CAB were encouraging residents
to be smart with their money and were working with London credit
unions. This was to help local residents avoid the high interest
charges of payday loan companies.
Further information at: www.southwarkcabservice.org.uk
Benefits advice at: rightfullyyours@southwark.gov.uk
or Tel. 020 7525 7434.