Agenda item

The report provides details of the expected impacts on residents of the reduced welfare benefits cap, and the steps taken to offer support and services to residents affected.

David Oates (the Council’s Head of Customer Service and Benefits) delivered a presentation on the impact and mitigation of the Overall Benefit Cap (OBC). He informed Members that the reduced OBC had been introduced in November 2016 and it had limited further the funds available to benefit claimants living in the Borough (£442.31 per week for working age couples and single parents and £296.35 per week for single persons living in the London area). He stated that 1,500 people in Brent had been affected by the OBC, with 600 of them subject to the previous cap and single claimants aged 35 or over living in privately rented accommodation being the most heavily impacted client group. Moreover, 80% of capped claimants were unemployed, 40% of which received Job Seekers Allowance (JSA), 35% received Income Support and 25% received Employment Support Allowance (ESA). In terms of demographic impact, there was a large amount of people whose ethnicity was unknown, but data available broadly reflected the Revenues and Benefits caseload and Brent’s areas of deprivation. Mr Oates informed the Committee of the four options available to claimants to address the impact of the OBC, stating that most likely, residents had to find somewhere more affordable to live (including outside Brent) or find work sufficient to qualify for Working Tax Credit. He noted that the Council’s approaches had changed to implementing more partnership work and strategic engagement rather than using an interventionist approach. Measures which had been implemented to mitigate the impact of the OBC included targeted publicity (emails, texts, publications in the Brent Magazine); the addition of a central Hub of information to be used by partners, a benefit calculator, and a budget calculator on the website; the targeting of the Local Welfare Assistance Scheme and Discretionary Housing Payment Fund to assist or incentivise affected residents; and the improvement of the interaction between services in the Customer Services Centre ‘triage’ in Brent Civic Centre.

Members of the Committee asked questions which related to partnership working arrangements, including compatibility of Information Technology (IT) systems, sharing of information and working agreements with third parties such as housing associations and the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). In response, Mr Oates explained that the Council had been sharing data and engaging with the relevant specialist agencies rather than trying to develop expertise in various matters. In terms of IT, good data sharing between parties had existed despite the fact that systems had not been fully compatible. Furthermore, collaboration with the DWP had been promoted by their representation at meetings of the Welfare Team.

In response to a request for aggregated information on gender, disability and ethnicity (by community) of those impacted by the OBC, Mr Oates explained that  gender breakdown of affected claimants would be provided at the next meeting of the Committee. He clarified that the categories used by the service should be reflective of the corporate template. He also reminded Members that despite the fact that twenty-two ethnic groups existed, over one third of claimants did not disclose their diversity information and therefore it would be challenging to provide a fully accurate picture on ethnicity. As far as disability was concerned, Mr Oates noted that people who had qualified for an exemption through receiving a disability benefit had not been affected by the Cap.       

A Member of the Committee enquired about measures being taken to ensure that the most vulnerable residents did not ‘slip through the net’ and asked what Brent did differently from other Local Authorities in order to mitigate the effect of the OBC. Mr Oates responded that information had been limited as claimants received less income, but it had not been possible to find out how they spent it. In terms of mitigation, he highlighted that people were likely to be affected had been contacted prior to the Cap being introduced via a targeted campaign. Moreover, Council staff working with vulnerable residents had been trained and a considerable amount of work had been done to ensure that those who were most vulnerable did not ‘slip through the net’ and were effectively signposted to the services they were entitled to.  In addition, when English was not the first language of the claimant, members of staff at the Customer Service Centre speaking the same language or a relative or a friend of the claimant could help them complete the application. However, Mr Oates emphasised that while support options had been available, often people had not responded to communication until they had been affected by the Cap. 

Councillor Mahmood, who was present at the meeting, enquired what actions were being taken to engage ethnic minorities who had been affected by the Cap and who might need to move out of the Borough. Mr Oates explained that the Cap had had a disproportionate effect on Brent residents and, as a result of this, some of them had to move out of the Borough. He assured the Committee that Brent had tried to make the process as smooth as possible – for instance, residents who had been relocated had received a pack containing information on support services, healthcare and schools in their new area. Moreover, an officer had been based in the Midlands to assist former Brent residents on their arrival. 

Members of the Committee commented that residents had to be encouraged to take ownership of the situation and engage with the services provided as the impact of the OBC could be worse without cooperation on their part.

The Committee requested information on the impact of a potential further reduction of the OBC, including whether residents who had already been displaced would have to relocate again. Members also enquired about the number of housing association residents that had been affected by the OBC and asked for an assurance to be provided that none of the Looked After Children (LAC) or foster carers who looked after LAC had not been adversely affected by the Cap.

RESOLVED that:

(i)    The contents of the Impact and Mitigation of the Overall Benefit Cap report be noted;

(ii)  Information on the number of housing association residents affected by the OBC be provided to a future meeting of the Committee;

(iii) Aggregated information on gender, disability and ethnicity of those impacted by the OBC be provided to a future meeting of the Committee; and

(iv) Information on the impact of a potential further reduction of the OBC, including whether residents who had already been displaced would have to relocate again, be provided to a future meeting of the Committee.

Councillor Mashari entered the meeting during discussion of the above item at 6:07 pm.