CAERPHILLY will reportedly be the first local authority in Wales to set up a hardship grant for council tenants who claim Universal Credit.
The move comes ahead of a calendar peculiarity which the council says will mean tenants have to come up with an extra week’s rent.
Cllr Shayne Cook, the cabinet member for housing, said a “mismatch” between benefits means Universal Credit claimants – who receive monthly payments – could be left short because the current financial year contains a 53rd week instead of the usual 52 weeks.
Cabinet members agreed, at a meeting on Wednesday October 17, to set up what they believe to be a Wales-first hardship grant for the council’s tenants.
Nick Taylor-Williams, the council’s head of housing, estimated the shortfall caused by the 53rd week could be as much as £400,000 in the Caerphilly area.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which administers Universal Credit, has challenged claims of an extra week in the calendar.
It says monthly payments are made to reflect how most people receive their wages.
But senior councillors in Caerphilly believe they have to protect the estimated 3,514 council house tenants in the county borough from losing out.
The council will set up the fund using money from its housing reserves, and could employ extra staff to help people with their applications.
Any money not claimed in this financial year will be kept back for the next time the council said a 53rd week will come around – in five or six years’ time.
Council deputy leader Jamie Pritchard asked whether councils and local government organisations were putting “pressure” on the UK Government to address the difference in benefit payment procedures.
Mr Taylor-Williams said organisations such as the Citizens Advice Bureau had “also taken this forward”, but noted the High Court had previously ruled in favour of the DWP.
Commenting previously on Caerphilly Council’s plans, a DWP spokesperson said: “No calendar year has 53 weeks, and the calculation for payments we use for claimants paying their rent weekly has been confirmed by the High Court.
“Universal Credit is designed to mirror the world of work, with calendar monthly calculations and payments made to reflect how most people receive their wages.”
