Section: Benefits & Grants
LHA Progress Update
The Department for Work and Pensions published an evaluation of the progress made by the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) Pathfinders.
The report is part of a series that give feedback on the evaluation and is the first in the series which looks at the live running of the LHA, fifteen 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.
Key findings of the report include:
- The live running of the LHA continues to go smoothly in all of the nine Pathfinders and for many it is now considered the normal way of working. This has been achieved against a background of other changes in regulations, significant organisational change in some Pathfinders, and a variety of IT and staffing problems ranging from the trivial to the acute.
- Direct payments to claimants still remain very high with 87% of claimants being paid their Housing Benefit direct by May this year.
- Although only affecting 3% of LHA cases, arrears have increased as a reason for paying landlords in some of the Pathfinders. It can be expected that the proportion of cases may increase and then level off the longer the LHA has been up and running.
- There is some evidence of landlords using the arrears provisions as a way of getting payments made to themselves by claiming arrears or missed or insufficient rent payments in circumstances where they might not have done so before. Evidence from this stream of the evaluation, though, shows that arrears are not a widespread problem for the majority of LHA recipients and their landlords.
- Vulnerability decisions still account for the major reason why landlords are paid Housing Benefit (applying to 4 out of 5 payments to landlords), with the main reason for this being on medical grounds. Pathfinders very rarely see initial decisions as permanent and cases are normally reviewed at pre-determined intervals. This is particularly the case where vulnerability has been granted because of claimants being unable to open bank accounts, which is still the case for a small minority of claimants.
- Processing times in the Pathfinders continue to improve more quickly than in the rest of Great Britain. Some Pathfinders voiced concerns that savings from not having to undertake rent officer referrals may be offset to some extent by an increase in time spent on vulnerability assessments.
Information Notes
Fifteen Months On: An Interim Evaluation of running the LHA in the nine Pathfinder areas is published in the Department for Work and Pensions Local Housing Allowance Evaluation Series (Report number 8). A copy of the report can be downloaded from the DWP website at www.dwp.gov.uk.
Earlier reports in the series, which look at the position within the Pathfinders before the introduction of the LHA and after the first six months, 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.
The nine Pathfinders of the LHA are Blackpool, Brighton & Hove, Conwy, Coventry, Edinburgh, Leeds, Lewisham, North-East Lincolnshire, and Teignbridge.
