Name

Minute Number and Item

Reason

Interest

Councillor Mrs Aspinall

Minute 4

Universal Credit

Daughter employed by Plymouth Community Homes

Personal

Councillor Churchill

Minute 4

Universal Credit

Board Member for Plymouth Community Homes

Personal

Councillor Penberthy

Minute 4

Universal Credit

Leasehold flat within Plymouth Community Homes

Personal

(a)

Universal Credit was administered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP); local authorities had no involvement in the assessment process or management of ongoing claims;  the DWP shared data with local authorities relating to claimants who may previously had been in receipt of housing benefit for the purposes of ensuring there were no incorrect payments made;

(b)

the Universal Credit ‘full service’ was rolled out in Plymouth by postcode areas between October 2017 and January 2018; this service was available to all new eligible claimants;

(c)

the Council had signed up to the Universal Support Agreement with the DWP, in order to provide claimants with personal budgeting support (PBS) and assisted digital support (ADS);

(d)

PBS was available for Universal Credit claimants who were identified as in need of help to manage their finances;  primarily, referrals were made via DWP work coaches from a Plymouth job centre; the Council had contracted Advice Plymouth to provide this service;

(e)

ADS was available for Universal Credit claimants who were unable to use a computer and had no one who could help them; this service was offered from Plymouth libraries and was provided by Plymouth City Council’s Customer Advisors.

(f)

Iain Maitland (Vice Chair) representing South West Landlords Association highlighted the following key issues –

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the introduction of Universal Credit had led to private landlords not receiving rent for a 10 week period;

?

it was a requirement of most insurance companies to provide information as to the tenants occupying a property; (some insurance companies excluded certain sectors of the community);

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the quality of advice being given to landlords and the information being captured; (a landlord had been advised that third party deductions could be made following a tenant vacating a property which was not the case; this had resulted in the tenant owing £1400 in rent);

?

the lack of information from the DWP relating to the status of claims; (as a result of an individual not being able to complete the claim, this had resulted in 10 weeks’ arrears; the landlord was unable to ascertain whether the claim had been paid, whether it had been spent or the individual had yet to receive it);

(g)

Liz Phillips and Nicky Kingston representing Plymouth Community Homes highlighted the following key issues –

?

the overall aim of Plymouth Community Homes was to provide support for their tenants, in order to sustain their tenancies (evictions were viewed as a failure and were only undertaken as a last resort);

?

as Universal Credit was paid monthly (based on a four weekly cycle) this had resulted in one period with no payment and no notification as to when this would occur;

?

the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

(1)

following proposed amendments to Universal Credit income thresholds, the committee understand that a significant number of children may be at risk of losing their free school meal entitlement; the committee therefore requests that Council officers review the potential impact of such a change on –

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families;

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young people and consequential impact on educational attainment;

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the Council’s Joint Venture with CATERed;

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impact of the Pupil Premium and consequential impacts on the education system in Plymouth;

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health indicators;

(2)

during the witness statements, the committee raised concerns regarding the quality of communication and data sharing between statutory and non-statutory agencies, landlords and the community and voluntary sector; the committee therefore recommends that statutory agencies work together to develop robust mechanisms, as follows -

?

to share predictive data relating to Universal Credit claimants and households to enable better planning of resources;

?

to better communicate information on Discretionary Housing Payments and the support available for Universal Credit claimants to social and private sector landlords and tenants;

?

better improve communication between local authorities, Department for Work and Pensions, social and private landlords;

(3)

that the Group Leaders write to the Permanent Secretary seeking -

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implementation of default automatic direct payment for the housing element of Universal Credit to social and private landlords with an opt out;

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improve communications between Department for Work and Pensions and private landlords;

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to provide a mechanism for confirming entitlement to Universal Credit, at an earlier stage, in order to progress Discretionary Housing Payments applications when they are needed;

(4)

request that the portfolio holder accelerates the work being undertaken between Plymouth City Council, Plymouth Community Homes, PATH and other landlords to use the Discretionary Housing Payments underspend this financial year;

(5)

encourage local businesses to introduce a payroll deduction scheme in order to promote the Credit Union;

(6)

investigate the feasibility of restricting the location of money lending and ‘rent-to-own’ companies within the city centre and deprived areas through planning controls;

(7)

investigate whether there is a secure storage area within the Council’s estate that could be used by the Plymouth Foodbank;

(8)

properly fund Advice Plymouth in order to provide additional resources to cope with the increasing demand for complex case management and to seek financial contributions toward the service from partners;

(9)

review the existing training provided by the Council and partner agency staff regarding signposting and support for Universal Credit customers and undertake refresher training where necessary;

(10)

hold a further review to assess the impact of Universal Credit once the service has been live for 12 months (February 2019) and to receive quarterly updates to ensure that this issue is kept under review.