Tackling Poverty Financial Support Update Report
North Lanarkshire Council · 3 February 2023
Back to Wellbeing and Tackling Poverty Committee — 3 February 2023 and its agenda
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref AG/JC Date 03/02/23 From Alison Gordon, Chief Social Work Officer E-mail Gordonal@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 01698 332001 Executive Summary On 29th September 2022, the Policy and Strategy Committee approved the approaches of the use of the Councils’ Local Authority Covid Economic Recovery Fund, provided by the Scottish Government for assisting residents with financial support from the recovery of Covid and with the Cost-of-Living Crisis. The report provides the details of the financial support provided by the Council to assist residents with the Cost-of-Living Crisis, via the NL Child Payment, Fuel Hardship Payment and the Pensioner Fuel Grant. Recommendations It is recommended that the Wellbeing and Tackling Poverty Committee: (1) Note the outcomes of the financial support provided to residents from the Local Authority Covid Economic Recovery Fund via the Council’s NL Child Payment, Fuel Hardship Payment and Pensioner Fuel Grant. (2) Endorse the approach to realigning funding between priority strands through delegated authority where required to ensure maximum benefit to those in need in our community. The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority All priorities Ambition statement All ambition statements Wellbeing and Tackling Poverty Committee Tackling Poverty Financial Support Update Report
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1. Background 1.1 On 21 February 2022 the First Minister announced a new £80m Covid Economic Recovery Fund targeting support for businesses and communities with the move to a new phase in the Covid pandemic with fewer restrictions. The policy intent of this funding is to support local economic recovery and cost of living impact on low-income households. North Lanarkshire received £5.149min funding. 1.2 The Policy and Strategy Committee approved the use of these funds with additional Council funding to assist residents impacted by the Cost-of-Living Crisis on 29th September 2022. The report on the approaches to the use of these funds were also submitted to the Wellbeing and Tackling Poverty Committee on 4th November 2022 for the Committee information. 1.3 The Policy and Strategy Committee approved the following allocation of funds and targeted payments: • Food Poverty and Insecurity Continuation of funding to Lanarkshire Community Food and Health Partnership £10,000. • Financial Insecurity Payments (cost of living crisis) payments in line with Low Income Pandemic Payment principles £2,000,000M A NL Child Payment: to assist residents experiencing financial insecurity due to the cost-of-living crisis, is to make a £125 payment per child who are in receipt of Free School Meals and/or School Clothing Grant, including nursery children. • Fuel Hardship Payment additional funding for fuel hardship payment to maximise the households eligible for the existing scheme £960,000. The underspend in the previous tranche of the Financial Insecurity Fund for Fuel Hardship Payments was added to the Local Authority Covid Economic Recovery Fund £960,000 for Fuel Poverty, taking the total for 2022/23 Fuel Hardship Payment to £2.161M. A Fuel Hardship Payment: targeted to assist low-income households who will only receive the £400 payment towards their energy bill from the UK Government but will not qualify for any other assistance for the cost-of-living crisis, these groups are also not eligible for the NL Child Payment. The Fuel Hardship Payment will be set at £150 per household. 1.4 The Chief Executive’s Service (Financial Solutions) was also allocated funding for tackling poverty with additional funding for Scottish Welfare Grants and Pensioner Fuel Grant for pensioners in receipt of pension credit/saving credits (£100 per Household). With Housing Solutions receiving additional funding of £363,000 for the continuation of the Tenants Hardship Rent Grant Fund.
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2. Report 2.1 NL Child Payment 2.1.1 NL Child Payment is to assist residents experiencing financial insecurity due to the cost- of-living crisis, in making a £125 payment to families for each child who are in receipt of Free School Meals and/or School Clothing Grant, including nursery children. 2.1.2 The table below sets out the total amount of Children and Families who received the NL Child Payment which includes a potential up run for children and families who may meet the criteria up to 6th December 2022, from the date the payment date of 4th November 2022. NL Child Payment No of Children No of Families Amount Paid Paid - 04/11/22 11,979 7,396 £1,497,375.00 Catch up run (projected) - 06/12/22 471 313 £58,875.00 12,450 7,709 £1,556,250.00 2.1.3 The above chart indicates that from the total budget for NL Child Payment (£2M), there remains an underspend of £443,750. It is proposed that this underspend will be diverted to other financial support initiatives such as Fuel Hardship Payment or Pensioner Fuel Grant Payment. 2.2 Fuel Hardship Payment 2.2.1 The Fuel Hardship Payment aimed at providing financial support to low-income households who would only receive the UK Governments universal payment of £400 to all households in the UK, was launched on the week beginning 10th October 2022. 2.2.2 The Fuel Hardship Payment is monitored on a regular basis, and it was clear very early in implementation that some households were fallen through a gap due to the lower income levels in the criteria. Therefore, permission to remove the lower income levels was requested and agreed by the Corporate Management Team in late October 2022 in line with the approach agreed by Committee to ensure the support was accessible to those on low incomes who did not qualify for the national support to those on qualifying benefits. 2.2.3 There has been a significant communications campaign by Corporate Communications to encourage take up of the payment for low-income households since the launch of the scheme. Indeed, at the end of November 2022, the application page for the Fuel Hardship Payment had been landed on over 300,000 times. However, the actual applications made for the payment is only slightly above 1% of the landings on the application page. (See, chart below at 2.2.6) 2.2.4 Due to lower than anticipated initial take up and following discussions between lead officers, it was agreed that the period for applications to the scheme, originally scheduled to end in December 2022 be extended to 31st March 2023 in alignment with the UK Governments financial support for energy assistance. 2.2.5 Corporate Communications and the Tackling Poverty Team have continued to review and take additional action to promote the scheme including via all social media channels, the Chief Executive newsletter, briefings for all Unions representing Council staff (Teaching and Non-teaching) and all Council Services who provide frontline
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services to resident who may meet the criteria to encourage take up of the payment. 2.2.6 The chart below outlines the applications/payments made to date so far: Fuel Hardship Payments FUEL HARDSHIP PAYMENT - £150 Applications Received 4,768 Duplicate Applications 32 Received 4,736 Paid 2,440 £366,000.00 Ready for Payment (Next Payment Run) 133 £19,950.00 Awaiting Further Info 335 Rejected 1242 Status 4,150 £385,950.00 Outstanding to be Assessed 586 2.3 Pensioner Fuel Grant 2.3.1 In February 2022, the budget agreed by the Council included a grant for pensioners on low income to help mitigate the costs of higher fuel bills (two payments of £50). This would support those on pension credit (guarantee) and pension credit (savings). The initial assessment made in February 2022, was an estimate of a cohort of around 4,750 pensioners who met the criteria, resulting in £475,000 being allocated for this payment. 2.3.2 In November 2022, Financial Solutions carried out an assessment of eligibility through the Council’s Benefits system and identified that pensioners in receipt of Pension Credit (Savings) or Pension Credit (Guarantee) was a larger cohort of around 8,700. 2.3.3 The original estimate in February 2022 identified pensioners entitled to both Pension Credit (Savings) and Pension Credit (Guarantee), whereas the revised figure in November 2022 identified those pensioners entitled to one or the other, highlighting that the wording in the Council’s budget motion would exclude the set of pensioners on lower income without savings, but pay it to pensioners with savings in the bank. 2.3.4 Whilst the original motion was to make a payment to pensioners in receipt of both Pension Credit (Savings) and Pension Credit (Guarantee), it was clearly not the intention of the motion to exclude people from a payment scheme that are relatively less well off than others who would be eligible. 2.3.5 Therefore, following consultation and agreement with the Chief Officer for Finance, the scheme eligibility has been updated to ensure that pensioners in receipt of either Pension Credit (Savings) or Pension Credit (Guarantee) receive the £100 Pensioner Fuel Grant (a total of around 8,700 households). The additional cost will be funded either through the impact of lower than anticipated demand for the Fuel Hardship Payment or from Council reserves. 2.3.6 Given the Council already holds details of eligibility, there is no application process for the scheme. Households were written to in December informing them of their eligibility for the Grant. Where the Council has bank account details for the household (i.e., they pay their
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Council Tax by Direct Debit), the payment was made directly to their bank account in week commencing 19 December 2022. Where bank account details are not held, the letter included a bank mandate asking eligible households to provide their bank account and sort code either by email or by return in a prepaid envelope to allow the payment to be made directly to their bank account. PENSIONER FUEL HARDSHIP SCHEME PENSIONER FUEL HARDSHIP SCHEME - £100 No of Households Value Bank Details Held - Paid 16/12/22 3,823 £382,300.00 Bank Details Collected and Paid 558 £55,800.00 Bank mandate returns (projected) - to be paid from 09/01/22 4,311 £431,100.00 8,692 £869,200.00 2.4 Scottish Welfare Fund - £1,759M Allocation of additional support to Scottish Welfare Fund to ensure additional demand can be met and priority level retained at ‘medium’ during 2022/23. This is spent throughout the year. 2.5 Tenant Hardship Rent Grant Fund - £363,000 This fund provided financial support and advice to tenants in order, to sustain tenancies and prevent homelessness. It was aimed at NLC tenants who were in arrears and were experiencing financial hardship due to the increase in the cost of living/rising costs of fuel. Assistance with outstanding rental payments was provided which allowed tenants on low incomes to address other financial priorities and also allow officers to provide financial assessments and advice at point of contact/application. The maximum payment was £1,500 and it was not refundable, 384 NLC Tenants were assisted to the value of £363,000. 2.6 School and Early Years Clothing Grants - £300,000 As part of the 2022/23 budget setting process the Council supplemented the core clothing grant budget which allowed awards to be maintained in the Early Year sector, coupled with an enhanced secondary pupil award rate which is £10 above the national statutory level. 2.7 Free School Meal Holiday Payments - £1,555M Continuation of financial support to benefit entitled pupils (£2.50 per day) in receipt of free school meals during the holiday periods. 2.8 Other Payments 2.8.1 Food Poverty and Insecurity Continuation of funding to Lanarkshire Community Food and Health Partnership £10,000, has been drawn down by Lanarkshire Community Food and Health Partnership, to provide food provision to residents, Foodbanks, and other Food Initiatives. 2.8.2 Lanarkshire Food and Health Partnership (LCFHP), is a long establish registered
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Scottish charity which has been working throughout North Lanarkshire for the last 30 years, supporting local communities improve their health inequalities through better diet, access to low-cost food, healthy eating and access to food. 2.9 Cost of Living Helpline 2.9.1 In the Cost-of-Living report submitted to the Wellbeing and Tackling Poverty Committee on 3rd February 2023, reference was made to the Tackling Poverty Team being enhanced to deliver the Cost-of-Living Helpline for the next 24 months on behalf of the Council. 2.9.2 The table below sets out to date, the activity of the Helpline, since 30th November 2022; No. of Calls received via Netcall 1171 Referrals Via Phone 216 Referrals via DWP Correspondence 3 Referrals Via Mailbox 326 545 Advice 505 Assistance completing forms 40 Reason for Referral Welfare Rights 460 Debt Advice 85 2.9.3 The three main reasons for contacting the Cost-of-Living Helpline are for income maximisation (Social Security Benefits), food insecurity and fuel insecurity. 3. Measures of success 3.1 The successful delivery of Financial Support to the residents of North Lanarkshire impacted by the Cost-of-Living Crisis. 4. Supporting documentation N/A Alison Gordon Chief Social Work Officer
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5. Impacts ( http://connect/report-template-guidance ) 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality- and-fairer-scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts have been discussed and agreed with Finance? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? The proposals within the report allow for the realigning of some of the LACER funding across the priority areas previously identified however demands will continue to be met from the overall LACER budget allocation from Scottish Government or if required with respect to the pensioner payment proposals outlined in section 2.3 from alternative COVID monies. 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts have been discussed and agreed with People Resources? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts have been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐
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5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for significant technology change, has an assessment been carried out (or is scheduled to be carried out) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? A communication plan is in place under the umbrella of the Cost of Living actions. 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? 5.10 Armed Forces Covenant Duty Does the report require to take due regard of the Armed Forces Covenant Duty (i.e. does it relate to healthcare, housing, or education services for in-Service or ex- Service personnel, or their families, or widow(er)s)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the provision which has been made to ensure there has been appropriate consideration of the particular needs of the Armed Forces community to make sure that they do not face disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public services.