Are Local Authorities Prepared For Welfare Reform?

Councils are finding it difficult obtaining detailed information on welfare reform and feel unprepared.  The charity Homeless Link carried out research to find out if local authorities had made preparations to support vulnerable people affected by welfare changes. It interviewed 42 local authorities between November and December last year and found ‘many authorities described a lack of accurate information about welfare changes’.  Councils said it was difficult to find out information about the changes which made it hard to train staff and to prepare. They also expressed frustration at the lack of information shared from the six direct payment pilots. The report also found that although 28 of the 42 councils interviewed knew how many households in their area would be affected by the housing benefit size criteria, none had done research to predict the impact on tenants. Read more on the Homeless Link website.