RLA : RPI : Darling tackles benefit 'scandal'

News from the Residential Property Investor, the bi-monthly magazine for RLA members

other artilces from the February / March 2001 issue

Darling tackles benefit 'scandal' - February / March 2001

Action has at last been taken to tackle crippling delays by many local authorities in payment of housing benefit.

Among action announced by Social Security Secretary Alistair Darling last December was the setting up of an 'action team' drawn from experts from top performing local authorities 'to work with struggling councils'.

'There are 409 individual councils administering housing benefit. Some do their job well others are failing miserably to provide the service that the public expects', said Darling.

'Any delay in paying benefits creates an unacceptable burden of worry for people Commonhold law moves closer Newly introduced legislation will give flat owners the right to own a share of the many old and vulnerable. Delays also damage the ability of housing benefit to get people back to work'.

Darling also admitted that 'the overwhelming response' to last year's Green Paper, Decent homes for all, 'was a demand for action to sort out the mess in administration' of housing benefit. Over 70 per cent of respondents wanted immediate action to tackle delays and backlogs.

For its part the Residential Landlord Association has branded the current situation a 'national scandal'.

RLA chairman Martin Moylan said: 'We have been pressing the Government to take urgent note of the situation before it begins to have dramatic and lasting implications on affordable housing in this country'.

As a result of the problems landlords are becoming extremely reluctant to take on housing benefit tenants, he said. Shadow social security secretary David Willetts agreed housing benefit administration is 'shambolic', proposing that it be taken away from local authorities and passed to the Benefits Agency.

Continuation of a downward trend in the overall housing benefit caseload was evident in latest quarterly statistics (covering the quarter ended last August). At that time there were 397 cases, some 6.5 per cent fewer than a year previously.

None of the local authorities surveyed by Loughborough University for the DSS were able to meet the six week statutory target for dealing with housing benefit appeals. Instead the average time for appeals ranged between 12 and 35 weeks. The three main reasons for appeals were overpayments, date of entitlement and liability to pay rent. There was general support for handing over appeals to the Appeals Service.

other artilces from the February / March 2001 issue