Housing Benefit – Parliamentary Written Answer

Mr Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding his Department has allocated for the redundancy costs associated with a reduction of housing benefit staff in local authorities upon implementation of universal credit.

Steve Webb: I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.  The Department for Work and Pensions is working with the Department for Communities and Local Government, the devolved Administrations and the local authority associations to understand the impact on cost and associated resource of the introduction of universal credit and housing costs for pensioners on current local authority benefit services.  We are working together to develop and understand the service design and migration process, a detailed migration schedule and the impact of universal credit in the context of the wider welfare reform. Only then will we be able to assess the implications for local authority resource and associated costs.