Housing Benefit cuts plan will hit 4,000 children and 500 vulnerable adults in Westminster

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Housing Benefit cuts plan will hit 4,000 children and 500 vulnerable adults in Westminster

By Westminster Labour ⋅ June 12, 2011 ⋅ Post a comment
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Schools could lose nearly 20% of pupils, 50 children in need affected, together with 30 adults with ’serious and enduring mental health problems’.

Government plans to cut Local Housing Allowance will have a devastating impact on 4,000 children and 500 vulnerable adults in Westminster, according to a briefing for Councillors by Council officers. Councillors have been told that Westminster residents will lose £40 million of Housing Benefit payments but the Government ‘hardship fund’ has only got £1.1 million available for those in need.

In detail, the Briefing to Councillors reveals;

Generally

* Currently 6,234 households living in the private sector in Westminster receive LHA. 5,071 of these or 81% of LHA cases are currently paying rents above the caps levels.

* The immediate impact of the changes overall will be greater in Westminster than in other London boroughs as Westminster has a high number of privately rented homes and some of the highest average rents.

* The impacts will be most keenly felt in the north and centre of the city. Other than single room (shared) households, the average allowances that are currently received are all above the proposed caps. A small proportion of the private rented stock, mostly in the Queen’s Park area will be under the cap.

* The Council has £1.1m from the national Discretionary Housing Payment Fund for 2011/12. Because of the number of households affected and the scale of the benefit reduction (around £40m over a full year) only a small number can be assisted through DHP.

Implications for Children’s Services

* Initial analysis suggests that there could be over 4,000 children and young people living in the impacted households.

* Making an assumption that all family households with a greater than 20% reduction in HB will move from the borough, Westminster could possibly see around 17% of primary school age children move.

* There is variance between wards; up to 43% of the primary age school population in Maida Vale might be affected and 34% of 11 to 13 year old pupils currently living in Bryanston and Dorset Square. Secondary schools (based on data for the first 3 school years) could potentially have 5% of pupils moving.

* Currently there are just over 2,000 “children in need” receiving support from children’s social care services. At the end of March this included 102 children deemed to be at significant risk of harm and therefore subject to a child protection plan. An initial matching exercise suggests that at least 50 of these children in need could be affected by the housing benefit changes. This is a conservative estimate. There will be also be implications for the Family Recovery programme – of the current 52 families 29% (15) are in private rented properties.

Implications for Adult Services

* Analysis by age of those likely to be affected suggests that 313 older adults aged 60-69 would receive reduced benefit, 153 aged 70-79 and 42 very old (80 and over) people. As people age they are significantly more likely to have substantial health and social care needs.

* A matching exercise was undertaken which identified 95 vulnerable adults with eligible needs for social care currently supported at home, who would be affected by the benefit changes. This is a lower number might have been anticipated, however those affected have significant social care needs.

* Thirty three of this group are people aged 65 and over, who are physically frail and / or have mental health needs such as dementia.

* A further 62 adults of working age currently supported at home would also be affected. Of these, 25 have a physical disability, 6 have a learning disability and 30 serious and enduring mental health problems currently supported by local Community Mental Health Teams. These vulnerable adults will be able to apply for discretionary housing benefit payments.

Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, Leader of the Labour Group, said; “These figures are truly shocking and bring into stark focus the devastating impact that these Housing Benefit cuts will have on individual families and the local community in Westminster. Families will be forced to move out and schools will lose significant numbers of pupils. Hundreds of vulnerable adults will lose out. These thoughtless and callous cuts will ruin the lives of many people. These are heartless and mean-minded proposals which should be withdrawn immediately.”

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