Agenda item

Please see attached fact sheet (officers to provide any additional information at the meeting in relation to drop ins or workshop events in the Dulwich area).

·  Officer presentation from the revenue and benefits team

·  Presentation from the Southwark Legal Advice Network

Jay Daisi, service development officer spoke about his role and what the council were doing to understand the policy detail of all the changes to the welfare system and to the explain the impact this would have on the residents of Southwark.

This main aim was to raise awareness across the borough and engage with residents along side other network and advice agencies e.g. the Southwark legal advice network and citizens advice bureau.

Sally Causer, development manager from the Southwark Citizens Advice Bureau was at the meeting to highlight the following:

·  Advice centres / offices were located in Peckham and Bermondsey and work closely with other advice agencies in Southwark, for example the Blackfriars advice centre and Southwark Law Centre.

·  The welfare benefit systems would be going through the biggest change since it was introduced about 60 years ago and therefore the advice agencies want to raise awareness on these changes. 

·  The welfare changes might not affect all residents but it could affect friends or neighbours.  It was important that people that were active in their communities had a clear understanding of what the changes were so it could be conveyed correctly to those affected.

·  Housing benefit was one of the first changes that took place on the 1 April 2013. The regulations brought in by central government were that social housing tenants and housing association tenants would only get help with their rent based on the maximum number of bedrooms needed for their household known as bedroom tax or spare room subsidy – affects 5000 households in Southwark.

·  There have been some exemptions to the housing benefit changes – for example, children with disabilities, students studying away from home or people that need an overnight carer.

·  The advice services would help those affected by the housing benefit changes by assisting them to find a job through Job Centre Plus and Southwark works and to ensure those with disabilities are able to receive all benefits they are entitled to by working with the CAB and Rightfully Yours.

·  The advice given to the above would be to downsize and give up the spare unoccupied bedrooms would be to a smaller property even though there are not enough one bedroom properties, they could register through a scheme called Smart Move which could take up to 6 months for a property to become available.

·  Another change that took place from the 1 April 2013 was the abolition of the council tax benefit – 24,000 people of working age in Southwark were affected by this.  Each local authority had to devise their own scheme known as the council tax reduction (rebate) scheme whereby the maximum rebate a person would receive was 85%.  In practice, each household that received council tax benefits would have to pay at least 15% of their council tax.  This affects most people in Band C or D, which equates to paying an average of £120 a year.

·  Another change from 1 April 2013 was the abolition of the social fund, crisis loans and community care grants.  The social fund had been abolished and local authorities had to come up with their own scheme.  Information leaflets that set out the new criteria on how people could apply were provided at the meeting.  People were referred to the various food banks one of which was launched recently on the Kingswood Estate.

·  Another change from the 10 June 2013 was the disability living allowance now called the personal independence allowance – this would be phased in over the next few years.  It affects around 9,000 people in Southwark.

·  The benefit cap came into affect in August 2013 to September 2013 and largely affects people living in private accommodation. 

·  The universal credit would come into affect in October 2013 – which means that the benefits system would be simplified.

Jay spoke about the support being provided to residents in Southwark and how they could assist people particularly those long-term unemployed to gain employment. This involved working with other network agencies, like the Blackfriars Settlement.

In response to questions, Jay confirmed that members could receive information ward by ward break down of those affected by the changes above.  All changes and benefit payments based on acceptability would be reviewed yearly.

The chair thanked the speakers for their presentations.