Issue - meetings

As detailed in the recommendation with the the following amendment:

·         That paragraph 3.3 of the Policy be amended to include “social” as well as financial consequences of not making an award

The Leader and Cabinet Member for Finance introduced the Council’s revised Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) Policy 2015 which had been considered and supported at Corporate Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee the previous week.

The Chief Officer (Community and Enterprise) explained that Central Government’s Welfare Reform programme had been designed to make the transition from Benefits into work easier.  However in some cases it had caused a negative financial impact on households and individuals and the Government had identified DHP as a temporary support to enable claimants during transition.

Corporate Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee recommended an amendment to paragraph 3.3 of the policy to include “social” as well as financial consequences of not making an award, which was supported.

RESOLVED:

That the Discretionary Housing Payment Policy be adopted from April 2015 with paragraph 3.3 being amended to include “social” as well as financial consequences of not making an award.