In 2010 the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) reissued its guidance to local authorities covering when to apply ‘safeguarding' criteria to make payments of housing benefit, under the Local Housing Allowance system (LHA), direct to a landlord rather than to a tenant. The revised guidance gives more weight to the evidence provided by homelessness prevention and private rented sector access schemes when determining an application for rent to be paid directly to a landlord.
What is safeguarding?
‘Safeguarding' is the term used by DWP to describe the circumstances under which LHA payments can be made direct to a landlord. A local authority must be satisfied that a claimant may either have difficulty in paying their rent, or are unlikely to pay their rent.
The key important changes relevant to Local Authority Homelessness Services and their voluntary sector partners are:
-
The guidance identifies that where a household has been helped through the local authority homeless prevention scheme or housed through that services' landlord assisted tenancy scheme this ‘will often be reliable evidence that a person has had difficulties managing their rent in the past and in many cases safeguarding is likely to be appropriate' enabling payment to be made direct to the landlord. This should give a considerable boost to local authority private rented sector access (PRS) access schemes, not only be reducing the likelihood of rent arrears and eviction but also by providing an important additional reason for landlords to let through the PRS access scheme in order to obtain, in the majority of cases, direct payment of HB. (par 5.61)
- The guidance details and places great importance on the role of homelessness services in providing evidence to help the authority to assess where someone may have difficulty, or be unlikely to pay their rent. The guidance highlights the role of the homelessness service in assessing statutory homelessness applications through which evidence of vulnerability, or difficulty, or failure to pay rent will be gathered in any assessment of priority need, intentionality or the support needs of households who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. (par 5.63)
- The guidance makes clear that the rules regarding triggering rent direct payments after 8 weeks arrears should include the standard 4 weeks arrears period of HB. This period should be included in any assessment of whether the claimant has reached the trigger of 8 weeks rent arrears after which safeguarding payments to a landlord should apply.
-
The guidance emphasises that where a local authority is gathering evidence to decide whether a payment should be made direct to a landlord payments can be made direct to that landlord for a period of up to 8 weeks whilst evidence is gathered, assessed and a decision made.
We believe that these changes to guidance will give a real boost to homelessness prevention work by local authorities and their voluntary sector partners and to the numbers housed – and able to sustain their tenancies – through private rented sector access schemes.