Guidance

LA Welfare Direct 6/21

Updated 20 December 2021

Contact

If you have queries about the:

• technical content of this bulletin then contact details are given at the end of each article
• general content and distribution of this bulletin, contact: [email protected]

Who should read

All Housing Benefit (HB) staff

Action

For information

Editorial

So, it is June already. Where has the year gone? While most of us are anticipating a significant return towards normality in the next few weeks, there are definitely some areas where we are hoping to capitalise on the ways of working we have continued to develop during the pandemic.

For many of us, working at home has now become the norm. In the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), we are looking at more “blended” ways of working in the future including a mix of home and office based work. More front-line offices are now open and colleagues are seeing customers face-to-face but this is some way off for most of us in central functions.

We have been holding all local authorities (LAs) calls on data sharing and IT issues for some time now (pre-COVID). We welcome the opportunity to answer questions but, just as importantly, to get your input on what more we can do to support you through digital channels. My team continue to press at the boundaries of what data we can share securely and I am pleased to say, we are, this week, able to share Universal Credit data to support local welfare provision.

We have also had all LA calls on other topics including the Housing Benefit Award Accuracy Initiative which I am pleased to see so many of you are already participating in. The intention is to continue with our regular LA and DWP Partnership Managers’ engagements in the Autumn and these too are most likely to be virtual events.

If anything, holding our consultation forums virtually, we have created a more level playing field for members to participate. So we no longer have members travelling from all over Great Britain or having to deal with poor phone lines to join in.

Of course, not every aspect of communication has improved so you will see we are looking at how we can exchange more information by email rather than post. Please let us know if you are interested in the pilot outlined below to send care home admission and funding data for Personal Independence Payments.

Thanks as ever for all you do for our shared customers. Stay safe.

Clare Elliott
Head of Local Authority Partnership Engagement and Delivery (LA-PED) division

High Speed 2: Grants and compensation payments

Noise Insulation grant

1. People living alongside the route of the new High Speed 2 (HS2) rail line can apply for compensation from High Speed Two Limited if they are affected by noise and disruption, during the construction of the route.

2. Tenants and home owners can apply for a Noise Insulation grant, if the predicted or actual construction noise goes above a certain level. In such circumstances, High Speed Two Limited will either offer to install noise insulation or will cover the costs for noise insulation to be installed.

3. Residents can also apply for a compensation payment for continued disruption and noise. The amount received will be based on the Council Tax banding of the property and will be capped at £30,000. The payment will take into consideration how long they have been affected by the noise and disruption caused by the construction of HS2 and where they live.

4. The Noise Insulation grant payments can only be used to install noise insulation, such as secondary double glazing and can be disregarded for Housing Benefit (HB) purposes.

Prolonged Disruption Compensation Scheme

5. The Prolonged Disruption Compensation is a separate scheme which is considered to be capital and should be taken into account for HB purposes.

6. More information about these schemes can be found on the HS2 website.

New email address for Employment Support Allowance referrals (form LA17)

7. With immediate effect, all Employment Support Allowance referrals using form LA17 must be sent to [email protected]

8. There are no changes for Jobseekers Allowance, Income Support, or Pension Credit referrals.

Invitation to a test and learn pilot: Email solution for the Personal Independent Payment form PIP3007

9. DWP currently sends form PIP3007 via post to LAs to establish care home admission dates and funding information. The completed form is then returned to DWP via post.

10. The increase of LA and DWP staff working from home has resulted in significant delays in the information being received and actioned by DWP.

11. To address this, DWP would like to run a small scale test and learn pilot with several LAs. We would like to explore the effectiveness of using secure email (using the gov.uk network) as a way of corresponding with LAs to obtain the information regarding care home admissions and funding information.

12. If you are interested in participating and want to find out more please contact [email protected]

Reminder: Invitation to the Data Sharing and IT issues consultation and engagement forum

13. The next quarterly forum will be held on Tuesday 22 June from 11am to midday.

14. The dial-in details are:

• dial 033 0551 0214
• enter the participant code 1552323#
• aim to dial in 2 or 3 minutes before the start time, as we aim to start the call promptly
• you will then be kept in a holding area (with background music) until the call starts at 11am
• your line will be on mute by default but instructions will be given during the call if you want to ask a question

Forum agenda

• a 15-minute introduction from LA-PED, covering projects recently delivered, projects currently in delivery, insight into future planned projects, as well as the most recent common issues that have been reported to us
• 15 to 20 minutes of questions from LAs on the call about the projects and matters covered in the introduction
• 15 minutes of questions from LAs about any other data sharing issues or IT issues they face
• 10 to 15 minutes focused on suggestions from LAs about future data sharing, data matching or automation projects that the DWP could consider funding and delivering

15. High level minutes will be produced (focusing on the questions and answers session) and published on Glasscubes.

16. The forum is open to all LAs and it would be beneficial for every LA to have at least one representative dial into the forum to help us maximise feedback.

• each LA representative should: seek input and feedback from as many of their colleagues as possible prior to dialling in, for example, questions they might want answering
• have knowledge, at least at a high level, about data sharing, data matching and current IT topic areas
• feedback to their colleagues about how the conference call went, including the answers to the questions we asked

17. We look forward to your participation on the call. However, if you have any questions in the meantime, you can contact the LA Welfare Central Support Team at [email protected]

Cases with the Upper Tribunal

HB cases awaiting decision by the Upper Tribunal

18. The Decision Making and Appeals (DMA) unit in Leeds have not been made aware of any new HB/CTB cases that are awaiting decision by the Upper Tribunal since January’s General Information Bulletin.

New Legislation

19. The following Statutory Instruments (SIs) have been laid:

• 6 May 2021 – The Housing Benefit and Universal Credit (Shared Accommodation) (Amendments) Regulations 2021
• 17 May 2021 – The Scotland Act 2016 (Social Security) (Consequential Provision) (Miscellaneous Amendment) Regulations 2021

20. Copies of SIs can now be downloaded from legislation.gov.uk.

What’s new on our HB pages on GOV.UK

21. The following items can be found on the website link shown:

Document Type	Subject	Link
LAWD5	Editorial Urgent reminder: Circulation of Breathing Space creditor template Change to improve the Housing Benefit Matching Service rule HBIC201 Clarification: Required Baseline Personal Security Standards checks for staff and external auditors with indirect access to DWP data Requirement to retain data for assurance purposes Extension: Deadline for the submission of HB final tested claims and assurance reports/audit certificates Reminder: Use of specified and temporary accommodation markers HBAA: Frequently asked questions Invitation to the next Data sharing and IT consultation and engagement forum Publication of HB Speed of Processing statistics quarter 3 FYE March 2021 (October to December 2020) HB decisions by the Upper Tribunal New Legislation What’s new on our HB pages on GOV.UK Housing Benefit Award Accuracy Indicator: Frequently asked questions (V1) attached as a separate Appendix A	LAWD5
Circular HB A6/2021	Introduction Background HBAA Initiative funding FYE 2022 Summary of key points Definition of activities HBAA Initiative funding allocations methodology and estimated volumes Other Fraud and Error activities Copy of the HBAA Initiative launch letter 2021 to 2022 Annex A HBAA Activity Volumes and funding for 2021 to 2022 Annex B Example copy of an HBAA Indicator letter Annex C SHBE LA timetable of returns 2021 to 2022 Annex D HBMS Self-Employed Earnings rules Annex E Monthly clerical HBMS MI returns timetable 2021 to 2022 Annex F	Circular HB A6/2021
Circular HB A7/2021	Introduction Background Changes to the shared accommodation rate exemptions for care leavers and former residents of homeless hostels Local authority implementation through manual process Annex A: Shared accommodation rate – Questions and answers Annex B: Definition of a ‘hostel for homeless people’	Circular HB A7/2021
COVID Local Support Grant determination 3 April 17 2010 to 20 June 2021	Information on the COVID Local Support Grant determination	COVID Local Support Grant determination 3 17 April 2021 to 20 June 2021
COVID Local Support Grant 3 guidance April 17 2021 to June 2021	Guidance on the COVID Local Support Grant	COVID Local Support Grant 3 guidance 17 April 2021 to 20 June 2021
COVID Local Support Grant MI Template 17 April 2021 to 20 June 2021	Management information Template for COVID Local Support Grant	CLSG MI Template 17 April 2021 to 20 June 2021

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