Issue - meetings

Report of the Corporate Director (Public Protection, Planning and Governance) giving an update on the roll-out of universal credit and proposing the allocation of funding to the Citizen’s Advice Bureau.

The Cabinet agreed to provide £21,000 of Department for Work and Pensions funding to the Citizen’s Advice Bureau which would have an Officer based at the Hatfield Job Centre providing personal budgeting support to Universal Credit claimants.

Report of the Corporate Director (Resources, Environment and Cultural Services) giving an update on the roll-out of universal credit and proposing the allocation of funding to the Citizen’s Advice Bureau.

(1)        The Decision Taken

RESOLVED:

That the Cabinet agrees to provide £21,000 of Department for Work and Pensions funding to the Citizen’s Advice Bureau which would have an Officer based at the Hatfield Job Centre providing personal budgeting support to Universal Credit claimants.

(2)        Reasons for the Decision

As reported to the November 2017 Cabinet meeting, the second phase of the Universal Credit roll out came into effect from 6 December last year.

The Council had raised concerns over the length of time Universal Credit claims took to process before the roll out of the second phase and the Department of Works and Pensions (DWP) had put measures in place to address some of the issues raised. 

Universal Credit in the Borough was administered by the Hatfield Jobcentre, and the Council did not have any control over the award, nor the time it took to process an application.  The Council’s role was to advise and support residents when completing a claim form and signposting them to the DWP or other support services.

The Council had been working with the Citizen’s Advice Bureau on Universal Credit and given that they were the experts in providing advice and support to claimants that needed financial support, they would be best placed to provide the personal budgeting support to Universal Credit claimants.

The percentage increase in workloads caused by Universal Credit was 16%, although there was also an increase in other benefit correspondence and new ways of working were being looked at to address this.