Eight councils have been choseN TO BE part of the second pilot of the government’s housing benefit reforms.
They are Argyll & Bute, East Riding, Guildford in Surrey, Norwich, Pembrokeshire, South Norfolk, St Helens in Merseyside and Wandsworth, south London.
They will test the local housing allowance, where a flat rate of benefit is paid directly to private sector tenants rather than to their landlords, as happens at the moment.
The first group of nine councils began testing the concept last November (HT 21 November 2003, page 12).
The second pilot will begin next April, ahead of a national roll-out across the private sector; social housing is expected to follow soon after.
It will look at how the eight councils deal with operational issues such as IT and money advice services.
Launching the local housing allowance in October 2002, work and pensions secretary Andrew Smith said a national private sector roll-out would take place soon after the first pilot is completed in 2005. However, the Department for Work and Pensions has delayed this until after the second pilot.
The first pilot cost £20m, including grants to the councils taking part. The eight in the second round will receive a similar package.
The eight authorities are generally in the middle or top of the benefits performance league table, although Wandsworth is one of the slowest at processing new claims (see “The chosen eight”, left). However, a spokesperson for the borough said strike action over pay had increased processing times by 14 days.
Amanda Adams, benefits manager at South Norfolk council, said it would meet the DWP to discuss the details of the scheme.
She said: “Our service is reasonably fit. I think it’ll definitely come in [nationally] so I thought we should do it now while there’s more support and funding.”
A DWP spokesperson said it had invited several councils to join the scheme but could not announce their names until they had formally accepted.
Source
Housing Today
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