5 April 2005 - Delivering the Local Housing Allowance: A summary of the early experiences of implementing the Local Housing Allowance in the nine Pathfinder areas
Early findings from the evaluation of the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) Pathfinders are published today.
The report is the first in a series that give feedback on the evaluation and looks at the live running of the LHA, six months after its introduction in each of the Pathfinders. The report focuses on those stakeholders who are involved in delivering the LHA and examines the way in which its introduction has affected the work of their organisation.
The evaluation has found that the introduction and the experience of the first six months has generally been a much smoother process than many had first anticipated. The detailed preparations, planning and improved communications put in place by Pathfinders have generally contributed to problems not materialising as feared.
Procedures for assessing vulnerability and arrears have generally worked in the nine areas, with procedures reflecting local needs and circumstances. Responsibility for making vulnerability decisions is taken seriously, although this has meant that it is resource intensive on staff time, particularly given the small number of cases who are found to be vulnerable. Overall, less than one in ten claimants currently have their Housing Benefit paid to their landlord under the vulnerability and arrears provisions within the LHA scheme.
Most claimants have a bank account or have been able to open a bank account and overall six in ten claimants paid their Housing Benefit direct under the LHA are paid via Automated Credit Transfer (ACT).
In addition, although it is still early days, there has been little impact on homelessness levels, threats of eviction or tenancy terminations on claimants in the Pathfinder areas.
Notes for editors
- Delivering the LHA: A summary of the early experiences of implementing the LHA in the nine Pathfinder areas is published on 4 April 2005 in the Department for Work & Pensions Local Housing Allowance Evaluation Series (Report number 5). A copy of the report can be downloaded from the DWP website: www.dwp.gov.uk/housingbenefit/lha/index.asp. Earlier reports in the series that look at the position within the Pathfinders before the introduction of the LHA can also be found on the website.
- The evaluation is being carried out over a two year period following the introduction of LHA within the private rented sector in the nine Pathfinders and will inform the eventual rollout of the scheme nationally. An independent consortium of the Universities of Birmingham, Loughborough and York along with the National Centre for Social Research has been commissioned to carry out the evaluation. As well as this the Department will be conducting analysis of its own administrative and statistical data which will feed into the evaluation and consider the effect of the LHA on meeting the objectives of the scheme.
- The stakeholders included in the evaluation include Housing Benefit administration, Rent Officers, Jobcentre Plus, and local authority and independent advice agencies. The experiences of landlords and claimants are the subject of separate reports which will be published in the summer.
- The nine Pathfinders of the LHA are Blackpool, Brighton & Hove, Conwy, Coventry, Edinburgh, Leeds, Lewisham, North-East Lincolnshire and Teignbridge.
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