Agenda item

To receive a Report of the Assistant Director Partnerships and to receive a presentation from Citizens Advice.

The Chair welcomed the Portfolio Holder for Housing Services and Communities, the Assistant Director Partnerships and the Chief Officer from Citizens Advice, Mid Mercia to the meeting.

The Committee received the report of the Assistant Director which updated the Committee on the corporate approach to managing and supporting residents with problem debt and wider vulnerability.  The Assistant Director highlighted the following to the Committee:

·         the work done by the Benefits team to process claims quickly;

·         the availability of discretionary housing payments to assist the most vulnerable;

·         the sensitive management of any overpayments of housing benefits;

·         the corporate project group which had been re-set to respond to welfare reform, in particular Universal Credit;

·         the commitment to deliver services through enhanced digitisation and customer access;

·         the work of the Council Tax team, which although not signed up to the Council Tax Arrears Good Practice Protocol, complies with most of the principles outlined.

The Chief Officer, Citizens Advice Mid Mercia, updated the Committee on the transition of the citizen advice service to the Mid Mercia organisation from April 2019.  He further updated the Committee on the service provided in Tamworth and the areas from which the most queries came and from where support and advice was required.  In particular the Committee heard that debt, housing and generalist advice was provided and that the demand for this came from a combination of referrals from Tamworth Borough Council and self-referral, sometimes following customers having called the citizens advice telephone helpline.   

It was reported that:

·         there were now 10 volunteers who were Tamworth based;

·         an energy based advice service was provided to help avoid fuel poverty;

·         Citizens Advice would also be providing a new mental health advice service for families from April 2020. 

The Committee sought clarification on the following:

·         The impact seen by Citizen Advice of the end of PPI payouts.  Citizens Advice clarified that there was no evidence from aggregated national data that this was one of the top ten issues in debt management.

·         The extent of support available in terms of avoiding financial scams.  Citizens Advice reported that training in this area was usually undertaken 1-2-1 after contact had been made.

·         Impact of funding for local authorities being withdawn by DWP associated with Personal Budgeting Support.  Citizens Advice confirmed that Government had looked to deliver a more consistent service nationally and had commissioned Citizens Advice to help support in this area.

·         Why had Tamworth Borough Council not signed up to the Council Tax Arrears Good Practice Protocol. Councillor M Cook agreed to raise this with the Portfolio Holder for Assets and Finance and report back to the Committee.

·         What proportion of Tamworth Borough Council debt went through an enforcement process.  The Assistant Director Partnerships agreed to raise the item with the relevant Officer.

The Chair, on behalf of the Committee thanked the Portfolio Holder, the Assistant Director and the Chief Officer, Citizens Advice Mid Mercia, for their update and for the work they undertook with residents. They then left the meeting.

Councillor R Claymore left the meeting at 6.45pm.