Minutes:
The Chair invited Rose Doran (Senior Adviser) to provide an update in relation to support for low income households. Rose summarised the following three key points:
- A survey was being conducted to look at the support that councils across the country continued to provide to low income households and capturing some of the pressures that they had been faced with.
- The re-shaping of financial support programme which was progressing well.
- Self-isolation payments and the need for additional funding to effectively manage admin pressures and provide wider support to self-isolation households.
- In relation to self-isolation payments, Members raised concerns which related to individuals switching off the test-and-trace app so that they were not traced and tested, because if they were, they would not get paid for their trade work and cannot afford to take time off to self-isolate. Members noted the need to highlight the issue to government that the entire funding that they provide to councils for self-isolation should be discretionary to allow councils to decide where it is allocated.
- It was noted by Members that admin pressures on Housing Benefits and Council Tax Support teams were severe.
- Members welcomed the additional funding and were in favour of the eligibility criteria review as a large number of people that needed the support grant were applying for it and did not meet current criteria.
- With regards to people reluctant to self-isolate as they could not afford to cease working, Members questioned whether there was specific data available to help both local and national government address the issue.
- Rose stated that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) had been collecting data by the dashboard which highlighted challenges in relation to the need for local discretion. The data collation examined case studies in terms of how councils had approached wider support to households who had been asked to self-isolate. She encouraged Members to share data from their own areas to feed into the DHSC’s data collation. She added that work with colleagues in Public Health and the Community Wellbeing Board in relation to supporting low income households continued.
- Rose reassured Members that all of the comments and concerns that had been raised, particularly in relation to eligibility, would be built into the ongoing conversations that LGA colleagues continued to have with public health colleagues and the DHSC.
Decision
Members of the Resources Board noted the verbal update.
Action
Officers to provide a brief written, bullet-pointed update for Board members to summarise the action being taken to support low income households.