Housing benefit: end is nigh?

Several local authorities have begun piloting a new "local housing allowance" which is intended to replace housing benefit. Although the results from the initial pilots have yet to be evaluated, let alone announced, it looks as if the Department for Work and Pensions is to press ahead with these allowances nationally.

Tenants will receive a flat-rate of benefit, linked to family size, instead of a payment based on the rent level of the property they live in.

Nine councils will start implementing LHA from April 2005. These are (with go-live dates): Wandsworth, London (11 April), East Riding of Yorkshire (18 April), St Helens (23 May), Argyll and Bute (30 May), South Norfolk (6 June), Norwich (13 June), Pembrokeshire (20 June), Guildford (4 July) and Salford (25 July).

The government has the intention of rolling out the LHA nationally for private tenants by March 2008. When it will begin to be applied to tenants in council or housing association properties is unknown. For more, see www.dwp.gov.uk/housingbenefit/lha

Pension changes afoot

The pension service is looking very closely at how it deliver services to older people. Most of its service is, of course, provided by remote regional pension centres, contactable only by phone.

However, locally, the service has been providing advice surgeries and other outreach work. These local services have now been placed under national control and have had their work "reviewed". One conclusion is that local pension service staff should concentrate on home visits and "appointment-only" rather than "drop-in" outreach sessions.

The pension service is at great pains to emphasise that this is not a reduction in service. It is based, they say, on the recognition that most customers who are able to attend drop-in surgeries and events are not the most vulnerable older people that it is funded to access and support.

However, the level of service offered by the remote pension centres is a cause of concern. In one office, for example, we have been told that all the claims from one county are in boxes, waiting to be assessed, so it is not possible to locate a claim waiting to be processed. Any post sent in will not be linked to the new claim before it is processed, which means the assessment may well turn out to be incorrect!

Utilities for the vulnerable

Early last year there was considerable media interest in the case of an older couple who were found dead after having had their gas supply disconnected. The utility firm claimed that it had been unable to alert social services to the couple's situation because of the Data Protection Act. In response, the Energy Retail Association, representing the suppliers, has issued a new document: Protecting Vulnerable Customers from Disconnection (order from ERA on 020 7747 2932; or from www.energy-retail.org.uk).

This document sets out how social services staff can help prevent vulnerable people from being disconnected. It claims that, in 2003, suppliers recorded that four gas and seven electricity customers were disconnected who were either pensioners, disabled or chronically ill. Since December 2003 no vulnerable customers, based on a revised definition, have been disconnected. These figures sounds far-fetched to me!

Gary Vaux is head of money advice, Hertfordshire Council. If you have a question to be answered please write to him c/o Community Care