Agenda item

Report of the Director of Community & Children’s Services.

The Sub Committee received a report of the Director of Community & Children’s Services regarding the impact of the reforms to the welfare benefits system, the work taking place to help residents with the introduction of universal credit, and the Financial Inclusion Programme. In response to Members’ queries, officers confirmed that payments were not borough-based and therefore the City of London Corporation paid for all residents of its estates, within and without the Square Mile.

Members discussed the report, and noted that Government funding to support local authorities through the impact of welfare benefit reform was reducing, which would severely limit the Corporation’s ability to support vulnerable households. Members also noted that the grant of £37,000 awarded to the City Corporation by the Department for Work and Pensions to help pay for the cost of extra support for residents affected by the changes was only paid at the end of the financial year, resulting in it appearing as an underspend in the budget, and risking it being lost to central resources. The intention is that these funds be used to appoint a case worker on a fixed term basis to provide specific support to households affected by the change to Universal Credit. If the funds are subsumed into central CoLC resources, this will not be possible. Therefore, the Sub Committee agreed unanimously to pass a resolution to the Grand Committee to ask for their support in urging the carry forward of these funds into next year’s budget, so that they can be used for the purpose for which they were granted by the DWP.

RESOLVED – That the Community & Children’s Services Committee be asked for their support in urging that the DWP grant allocated for Universal Credit Personal Support in 2015-16 but only received in March 2016 be carried forward into next year’s budget in order to continue the financing for support given to vulnerable households transitioning to universal credit.