Supporting Housing Benefit Claimants

Several measures have been announced by the Treasury in the last week, to support claimant of Housing Benefit, Universal Credit and other welfare benefits. The measures which will support our residents are: £20 weekly increase of Working Tax Credit - This is effective from 6 April, and supporting legislation has been passed which means Housing Benefit will not decrease due to this increase. Local Housing Allowance (LHA) - The LHA rates have increased, and are effective from 1April. These will be published on our website – although colleagues and customers are encouraged to visit this website and search by postcode for an LHA rate to ensure accuracy: https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/ £150 additional payment for Council Tax Support – Each working age recipient of Council Tax Support is due to receive up to £150 extra towards their Council Tax bill for 2020/21. Employment retention - employees, and self-employed people, furloughed due to the virus outbreak will have a proportion of their pay met through HMRC payments. Although each of these measures has been announced, the mechanics required to put them in place are still being worked through by DWP and, in turn, our software suppliers. It is expected they will be implemented as soon as possible. In the meantime Brent council  have taken steps to support Brent  customers by making empathetic and sensible decisions about suspending payments, and have relaxed (as far as is reasonable and legally-sound) our evidence requirements for new claims and changes in circumstance.