Government must listen to councils and assist them on welfare reforms
I fear those rural dwellers at the nub of the challenge linked to the reform of the benefits system will suffer more strongly due to lack of supply of things like available one bedroom properties than our urban neighbours. This article which sets out some of the biggest challenges and their potential impact on local authorities tells us, in the words of Clive Betts MP and his Select Committee:
During our inquiry we heard concerns from professionals in local authorities, who will have to implement and operate the changes, about the readiness of the ICT systems. In particular, we heard that the systems for fraud detection within universal credit were still only at an early stage of development. This is concerning given that the new system is going to start in the next few months. The government has to ensure that the benefit system will not be left vulnerable to fraud either during or after the transition.
The changes starting on 1 April are part of a much wider set of changes, which include social sector size criteria aka the bedroom tax, the benefit cap and local council tax support schemes – all of which will increase the pressures on both claimants and local authorities.
While the government is aware that some of the welfare changes place new burdens on local authorities, it needs to assess the impact of the whole programme, particularly on collection rates, rather than of individual changes in isolation. My committee has therefore called on the government to work with the Local Government Association to assess the cumulative impact of reforms.