FI16617

Request

  1. The policy or procedure for checking the legitimacy of service charges where a resident is claiming benefits to cover them. 
  2. The number of housing benefit or universal credit claimants whose service charges are paid directly to their landlord, including where this is a single payment incorporating rents plus service charges. 
  3. The proportion of the above whose landlords are housing associations, if recorded.

Response

  1. If a customer applies for Housing Benefit and their rent includes service charges, a breakdown of these service charges are requested from the landlord. An assessment is made against the Housing Benefit Regulations (2006) to identify whether or not the service charge can be treated as eligible for Housing Benefit or ineligible for Housing Benefit. Specifically, Schedule 1 Part 1 (1-4), and Part 2 provides the information to help determine if a service charge is eligible for Housing Benefit. It also sets out the action that can be taken if the Council deems an eligible service charge as too high. To make this decision, appropriate investigations are made by the decision maker. This may include appropriate evidence such as staff structures, receipts, invoices, budgets, planned works or comparison to similar properties.
  2. The Council does not process Universal Credit payments and so cannot answer this question as this will be the vast majority of working age customers in the area. In addition, our reporting tool sets the eligible rent for Housing Benefit purposes as the sum of the core rent and eligible service charges. As a result, some data manipulation has been necessary to obtain the relevant information and so this should be considered an estimate. It is not possible to provide further information.  Approximately 335 Housing Benefit claims have payments that are paid directly to the landlord and include either(or both) eligible or ineligible service charges.
  3. Taking on board the points set out in response to question 2, 53.4% of the above claims (approximately 335) are housing association claims.