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22
These results tire intriguing They suggest that the yast majority of
c?aii1ianI~swiiose reiits are restricted, mid chere~redo riot recc-i’~ethe t~ii)
amiiount of their remit in Housnuig Benefit, find some iiieans ofnieetiuig thie
shortfall A survey of local authority Housing Bemiefit niiamiagerc caminot
answer tine questioni of how these claiuiiants respond to havmuig their remit
met only in part rather than in full Evidenice from the deyelopnieiit
stage suggests that very few leave their accomimiodation as a result (since
this would result mi benefit awards ceasing and could therefore be identified
froni HousingBeiiefit records) However from the t?tce-to—face inter’~iews
with managers, fromit—Ime assessuijent staff, and fraud officers a large body
ofaneidotal evidence enierged Below we list some of the reasons offered
by local authority staff
shortfalls which are suimall can be met frouii claiuiianits’ uuicomne,
• sonic clamnnanits negotiate a lower remit with their lamidlord,
• the remit cited oui the Housing Benefit claim was fictitious, the landlord
knowingly exaggerating the rent in an attempt to obtain a hugh level
of Housing Benefit, but settling for what thme local authority will pay,
• landlords accept whatever award ofHotmsing Bemiefit is made in payment
for rent, but treat the shortfall as arrears which is ofT~etagainst the
tenant’s bond when they leave the propeity (This was viewed by
local authority sta~asa particularly cynical abuse oftenanits by landlords
l)uscussion hn the first two full years of the exceptional hardship payment scheme,
the uiuunber ofapplicationis has clearly fallen well below the expectations
of the DSS amid local authorities The evidence is that applications are
increasing but are still at a low level Front the data on Rent Officer
restrictions there us seemingly a ‘very large pooi of potential applicants
There is soune evidence from the survey that pubhicising the availability
ofexceptional hardship payments in a range ofdiffereiit ways, rather than
relying solely oui decision letters, could umicrease applications Many
authorities are using combinations of sometimes iiino’~ative methods to
iiifornii claimants about exceptional hardship payments [here niay be
scope therefore for a good practice guides contauuiing examples ofdi~erent
wordimigs that could be used in decision letters amid other forms of written
infonuiation, amid examples of more proactive methods of publicity
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