Agenda item
Community Access and Vulnerable People
This report provides analysis of access to all the residents of Brent including digital provision, as well as the factors which make some customers and users “vulnerable”.
Minutes:
David Oates (Head of Service, Benefits & Customer Services) introduced the report on Welfare, Benefits and Customer Service provision for vulnerable residents. The report detailed the key factors used to determine if a resident was considered vulnerable within the welfare and benefit functions and provided an update on the former Community Access Strategy.
The committee heard that the Council was responsible for the administration and delivery of both national welfare benefit schemes and a number of local schemes designed by the Council. There was no universal definition of vulnerability applicable across these schemes; instead each scheme contained a variety of allowances and exceptions for certain claimant groups, which could broadly be interpreted as indicators of assistance available for “vulnerable” residents. Housing Benefit (HB) was the main national benefit administered by the Local Authority and whilst there was an extensive ability to recognise individual circumstances within this, welfare reforms such as the Overall Benefit Cap and Bedroom Tax cut across this provision and offered far fewer protections for claimants. The Council theoretically had wide discretion in the provisions it made for local schemes such as Council Tax Support CTS), Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) and Local Welfare Assistance (LWA). However, each of these schemes were subject to financial pressures and increased demand in future use.
David Oates further explained that the Community Access Strategy agreed by Cabinet in October 2014 was no longer in delivery, as it had been superseded by the Brent 2020 programme and the new Digital Strategy agreed by Cabinet in June 2017. The key aims of the Community Access Strategy, however, had been retained in Brent 2020 and the Digital Strategy, in particular the aim to ensure that residents are able to easily access services through digital channels and supported to use these wherever they could be expected to do so. The Council’s most personalised support and help would be targeted to those who were most vulnerable, through face to face and telephone channels. Staff had been trained to identify vulnerability via key indicators such as age, literacy and disability. Staff were not provided with a prescriptive list of such indicators as it was recognised that there were many circumstances which could result in vulnerability and instead, staff were given the flexibility to assess the support a resident may require to access services. This model of targeting support had been piloted between June and November 2017 and had worked well; it was now due to be rolled out more broadly via the Digital Strategy.
The committee subsequently acknowledged that vulnerability could appear in many forms but emphasised the importance of ensuring that the council was able measure its performance in supporting its most vulnerable residents. Members suggested a working group or task group be established to determine a way to define this cohort, drawing on outside expertise such as that provided by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Councillor McLennan (Deputy Leader) responded that the council provided support to vulnerable residents in varied ways and noted that with regard to the impact of welfare reform, the council could, for example, refer to the numbers supported through the Council Tax Support scheme. A new Council Tax Protocol had also recently been agreed with the Citizens Advise Bureau and enforcement officers to ensure that Bailiff action was not taken against vulnerable residents. Councillor McLennan emphasised that certain groups of vulnerable people were largely ‘hidden’ to the council, such as those with no recourse to public funds and suggested that this would be a valuable area for further exploration by Scrutiny.
Althea Loderick (Strategic Director, Resources) highlighted that how the council defined and supported vulnerable residents and subsequently measured its performance in doing so, was an issue that cut across all council services and could not be limited to Benefits and Customer Services.
RESOLVED: that the Chair of the committee in conjunction with scrutiny officers consider the establishment of a member-led group to include outside expertise such as that provided by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, to explore how to define vulnerable residents.
Supporting documents:
- Community Access and Vulnerable Residents - Report, item 8. PDF 184 KB
- Community Access and Vulnerable Residents - Appendices, item 8. PDF 80 KB