Local Welfare Assistance Schemes Kate Bell July 2013 www.cpag.org.uk
The Social Fund past and present Social fund provision Provision after April 2013 Remain the responsibility of DWP. The regulated social fund: funeral payments, cold weather payments, winter fuel payments and Sure Start maternity grants Budgeting loans Replaced by a system of budgeting advances from April 2013 Crisis loans for alignment Replaced by a system of short term purposes, benefit disallowance advances from April 2013, or by DWP or sanction hardship payments All other crisis loan expenditure Funding devolved to local authorities Community care grants Funding devolved to local authorities
The Social Fund now and in the future Current reason for crisis loan application How this will be met in future Leaving care New local authority Provision. Leaving care – rent in advance* Met by discretionary housing payments from the local authority or budgeting loans/budgeting advance from DWP. Rent in advance (ordinary) Met by discretionary housing payments from the local authority or budgeting loans/budgeting advance from DWP. Lost or stolen money/giro New local authority provision. Alignment (period before first payday) Short term advances from DWP. Capital not realisable New local authority provision. Reconnection of fuel supply New local authority provision. Benefit spent – living expenses required New local authority provision. Benefit disallowance DWP hardship payments . Benefit sanction DWP hardship payments. Disaster New local authority provision.
Who used the Social Fund? Applicant group Community care Crisis loans grants Percentage of total Percentage of total expenditure expenditure Pensioners 8.4 1.3 Unemployed 17.4 54.2 Disabled 30.8 18.5 Lone Parents 30.4 14.9 Others 13.0 11.2 Percentage of expenditure on community care grants and crisis loans by applicant group Source: adapted from Annex 5, DWP (2011) Annual Report by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the Social Fund 2010-11, www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/2011-annual-report-social- fund.pdf
Demand in the future • The impact of overall benefit cuts. • The impact of the local housing allowance cap, bedroom tax and overall benefit cap. • Changes to disability benefits, (loss of contributory employment and support allowance, change from personal independence payment to disability living allowance for adults). Around 30 per cent of total community care grant expenditure and 20 per cent of expenditure on crisis loans goes to disabled people. • The introduction of universal credit – at some point!
Local schemes should be up and running….
Local authority responses: risks • The inability to accurately predict demand. • Cross-borough issues and postcode lotteries. • Dealing with emergencies. • Out of hours provision. • Reputational risks.
Opportunities • Integrated services – how does local welfare assistance link with DHPs, Section 17 payments? • Referral routes – an opportunity to link to advice, credit unions, employment services? • Data collection – what can you find out about why people are using the scheme? • Opportunities to make improvements in next year of scheme.
Questions for discussion/information sharing What does your local welfare assistance 1. scheme look like? Best practice? How are you managing demand throughout the 2. year? Is there an appeals or review process in place? 3. What monitoring information are you collecting? 4. Are there plans to revise the scheme? What additional resources/information do you 5. need?
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