BENEFICIARIES have been warned by a councillor there may “depressing times ahead” in Oxford if there are further cuts.

City councillor Van Coulter said he was concerned the Government may withdraw Discretionary Housing Payments at any time.

These short-term payments were introduced to help people adjust to welfare reforms, including the so-called ‘bedroom tax’, while they find permanent solutions such as full-time employment. In return, recipients are required to show they are looking for work.

But Susan Brown, Oxford City Council’s board member for social inclusion, said at a scrutiny committee meeting looking at the use of the payment: “This is a temporary measure. We can’t be sure of continuation beyond any particular year.”

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Cllr Coulter claimed the threat of the payments being withdrawn was “hanging over people”.

He said: “This is providing mitigation while people look at how they can adapt to the new benefits regime. I am very conscious that of all our public spending cuts, we are only 40 per cent of the way there.

“These further austerity cuts will fall on people on benefits. I think there are some quite depressing times ahead for people in Oxford.”

He encouraged city employers to pay their staff the “proper” living wage of £8.01.

Council officers, giving a presentation to the committee on Monday night, said that since Discretionary Housing Payments were introduced in Oxford last June, the scheme had been successful.

The Government gave the city council £514,000 for such payments in 2014/15 which was topped up £100,000 by the council’s community housing team. By the end of September, the council had given out £210,494 of that to 521 people.

That was an increase on last year’s £144,450 because more people have been hit by the benefits cap, introduced in July 2013.

In the past 18 months, 102 households have received repeat payments, mostly because they struggled to pay bedroom tax or cope with the benefits cap.

But since April, 114 recipients have not repeated their application, the most common reason being that they found work.

Department of Work and Pensions spokeswoman Cat Farns-worth said: “We have made £345m available to local authorities across the country over the past two years through Discretionary Housing Payments and will continue to provide support through Discretionary Housing Payments next year. Housing benefit reforms are restoring fairness to the welfare system by ensuring claimants receive support based on the number of bedrooms the household needs and are saving the taxpayer over £1m a day, as part of the Government’s long-term economic plan.”

Council officer Paul Wilding said he expected the Government to announce in the next month if next year’s payment would be reduced.


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