Lead Member: Councillor Susan Brown, Board Member for Customer and Corporate Services.

The Executive Director for Organisational Development & Corporate Services submitted a report seeking approval of the Financial Inclusion Strategy for 2017-2020 and requesting approval of £50,000 to fund emergency support for residents migrating to Universal Credit in the remainder of 201718.

Recommendation: That the City Executive Board resolves to:

1.         Approve the adoption of  the revised Financial Inclusion Strategy for the period 2017-2020 attached at Appendix 1;

2.         Delegate authority to the Executive Director Organisational Development & Corporate Services in consultation with the Executive Member for Customer and Corporate Services to review and update the Strategy’s action plan.

3.         Utilise £50,000 of the 2016/17 Council underspend to  provide an emergency support scheme to cover essential living costs for people migrating to Universal Credit within the current financial year, and to delegate authority to the Executive Director Organisational Development & Corporate Services to develop the scheme in consultation with the Executive Member for Customer and Corporate Services.

The Executive Director for Organisational Development & Corporate Services submitted a report seeking approval of the Financial Inclusion Strategy for 2017-2020 and requesting approval of £50,000 to fund emergency support for residents migrating to Universal Credit in the remainder of 201718.

Councillor Susan Brown, Board Member for Customer and Corporate Services, introduced the report noting that this second iteration of the policy was the product of a recent and helpful round of consultation.

It was important to remember that the City Council already had in place many and various strategies to support vulnerable members of the community and this strategy did not seek to replace those strategies.  The strategy focussed on those areas where the Council was in a position to make a difference.

Discussion made further reference to the introduction of Universal Credit (UC) and its potentially profound consequences for some members of the community over the next few months.  UC applicants were able to apply for a loan to cover the gap between application and receipt but that was limited to 50% of  entitlement and had to be paid back over a very short period of time.

There was confidence that the £50k sought by the report, when made available to assist residents, could not subsequently be clawed back from them.

Applications for UC were heavily dependent on being able to do so digitally and help was available from Council officers to those for whom this presented a difficulty.  A significant publicity campaign, via a variety of media, was underway to alert residents to the introduction of UC, of the need to apply and of the availability of help to do so.

The City Executive Board resolved to:

1.         Approve the adoption of  the revised Financial Inclusion Strategy for the period 2017-2020 attached at Appendix 1;

2.         Delegate authority to the Executive Director Organisational Development & Corporate Services in consultation with the Executive Member for Customer and Corporate Services to review and update the Strategy’s action plan.

3.         Utilise £50,000 of the 2016/17 Council underspend to  provide an emergency support scheme to cover essential living costs for people migrating to Universal Credit within the current financial year, and to delegate authority to the Executive Director Organisational Development & Corporate Services to develop the scheme in consultation with the Executive Member for Customer and Corporate Services.

4.         Approve the necessary virement of the £50,000 for this purpose

The City Executive Board  on 16 October would  be asked to adopt the Financial Inclusion Strategy for the period 2017-2020. This item provided an opportunity for the Scrutiny Committee to make recommendations to the Board.

The Board Member for Customer and Corporate Services, Councillor Brown and Paul Wilding (Revenues and Benefits Programme manager) remained at the meeting for this item.

Councillor Brown said the report was a refresh of the current policy. It was important to remember that Council supported the more vulnerable members of the community in many and various ways,  not all of which were spelt out or referenced  in the report.

The imminent introduction of Universal Credit (UC) was likely to have profound consequences for a small but significant group of people. There was the real risk that some households would be left with no income for 6 weeks or more as they migrated to UC. The additional funding sought by the report would be used to support customers directly. Officers were working closely with partners and providers and looking to learn from good practice elsewhere.  Early thoughts were inclined towards support in kind rather than money (eg supermarket vouchers, payment keys etc).

The sum of £50k was necessarily an estimate of the likely need (no certainty at this point as to how many people will be affected or to what degree). There was however some confidence that it would be sufficient and, if not, there would be nothing to prevent a further request.

It was confirmed that customers in receipt of this additional funding would not risk other benefits being clawed back.

The Council has a role to provide universal support. Considerable resources were being devoted to communication (via social media and other means), advising and assisting customers. This included, among other things, advice about claiming online and helping  with personal budgets.

Councillor Brown noted that while the Council was doing a great deal to support vulnerable members of the community some of the root causes of poverty and its consequences that were beyond the means of the Council to address.

The Chair thanked the Board Member and officer for their contribution to the discussion. The Committee only wished to recommend to the CEB that there should be an explicit reference to the possible need to return to the Board should the sum of £50k prove insufficient.