Issue - meetings

Report by Service Directors for Finance and Communities

Cllr John Thomson, Cabinet Member for Adult Care, Communities and Housing, presented a report which sought Cabinet approval for a range of measures to manage the impact of changes to housing benefit as a result of the welfare reform.

The Council’s overriding principle was to build strong and resilient communities which included protecting the most vulnerable in society. It was proposed to make changes to the Discretionary Housing Payments scheme in order to assist vulnerable families where the welfare reform would give rise to exceptional circumstances. This approach would also minimise greater costs for services from the Council.

Cllr Thomson presented a brochure produced by the Council designed to explain the implications of the welfare reform and provide guidance on help available with council tax for those on low incomes.

Resolved that:

1.         Cabinet agree the proposals within the report presented to amend the discretionary housing payments policy (DHP) to deal with the impact of welfare reform, in particular the setting of the criteria and delivery model for DHP and prioritisation of award for the following groups, having first established income and need:

·           those living in significantly adapted dwellings

·           Foster carers

·           Those subject to the benefit cap; and

2.      given the significant uncertainties about the scale of impact of welfare reform and the differences within the scheme that Cabinet agree the £200,000 contingency fund to cope with the impact of welfare reform; and create a separate £100,000 discretionary fund that could be awarded to those in receipt of council tax reduction who face exceptional vulnerable circumstances that could lead to greater local authority costs as they are no longer entitled to discretionary housing payment, and where in exceptional cases a council tax payer should be awarded additional reduction outside the scope of the normal scheme.

Reason for Proposal

This report seeks agreement on how the funding is prioritised in Wiltshire to ensure we continue to deliver on our goal of building strong and resilient communities, and protecting the most vulnerable in society, in order that we can also then minimise the administrative impact, raise awareness of the schemes and agreement on the level of discretionary funding for the council tax reduction scheme.

Full details of the reason for proposal can be found on the following link:

http://cms.wiltshire.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=141&MId=6132&Ver=4

(item 9)