Clause 36
Welfare Reform Bill
10:30 am
Danny Alexander (Shadow Minister and Disability Spokesperson, Work & Pensions; Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, Liberal Democrat)
May I also welcome you back to the Chair, Mr. Hood, and say what a pleasure it is to be back here under your guidance for the final sittings of the Committee? I shall pass up the chance of making a meteorological reference at this stage—perhaps I will do so on Thursday for the Committee’s pleasure.
I would like to question the Under-Secretary on a further point that relates directly to the provisions that assist those who until now would have been likely to have their housing benefit paid directly to their landlord, but who might well be required under the new system to take responsibility for paying rent themselves, for all the reasons that the hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare has rightly outlined. That is an idea that I would support, subject to the caveats that he has entered.
In the pathfinder areas, significant resources have been provided to give financial advice, such as support from citizens advice bureaux, to enable people who are going through that transition, and are perhaps paying their rent directly for the first time, to cope with it. Advice and support will be provided to them, for example in the process of opening a bank account or taking advantage of other such payment mechanisms. As the local housing allowance is rolled out throughout the country, it is important that provisions for that sort of advice and support are made as intensively in the areas where the new benefit is being rolled out, as in the pathfinder areas.
Having talked to claimants and administrators in the pathfinder areas, I know that the provision of that advice and support, principally through Citizens Advice, has been a valuable part of the package to ensure a smooth transition from the old to the new benefit. There are also those claimants who are not vulnerable according to the new vulnerability assessment but none the less need a bit of help to get started in paying rent for themselves. I would be grateful if the Under-Secretary outlined the plans that the Government have to provide that sort of support and advice when the new local housing allowance is rolled out.