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Supporting People - Supporting Independent Living: Folder 2 - Part 3: Operational Guidance and Part 4: Financial Guidance

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Supporting People - Supporting Independent Living: Folder 2 - Part 3: Operational Guidance and Part 4: Financial Guidance

5 Owner-Occupiers Oof Sheltered Housing Receiving Income-Related Benefits Fromfrom Thethe Pension Service Oor Jobcentre Plus Forfor Support Services

5.1 Introduction

5.1.1 This guidance is for Supporting People Teamslocal authorities and providers of owner- occupied sheltered accommodation, most of whom offer support equivalent to that offered by rented sheltered housing. It covers the transfer of responsibility for payments of support charges to owner-occupiers, how they be handled by local authoritieslocal authorities should handle this transfer and how providers can help this process.

5.1.2 From April 2002, the Benefits Agency ceased to exist and has been replaced by The Pension Service, administering benefits payments to people aged 60 or over, and Jobcentre Plus, administering benefits to those aged under 60. These agencies administer three types of income related benefits: for people aged 60 or over,

  • Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG);, for people aged 60 or over
  • income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA(IB)), paid to people aged under 60 who are available for work; and
  • Income Support (IS), paid to people aged under 60 who are not required to be available for work.

5.1.3 Theis paper addresses the issue of disaggregation: that is, how the relevant support services can be identified by The Pension Service and Jobcentre Plus with the help of providers in the run-up to the implementation of Supporting People in April 2003.

5.1.4 This Guidance also gives advice on the process that needs to take place with regard to this particular funding stream.

5.1.5 The Guidance ends with a note on the implications for a very small number of owner-occupiers who may lose their entitlement to the benefits listed above as a result of support charges being removed from their benefit calculation.

5.1.6 Appendix Annex 1 is a suggested standard wording to be sent out by providers to all owner-occupiers of sheltered housing warning alerting them toof the changes that will take place in April 2003.

5.2 Owner-occupied sheltered housing and Supporting People.

5.2.1 Key Points About Sheltered Housing for Sale and Supporting People:

  • Owner-occupiers pay a service charge to their management organisation for the costs of maintaining the building and providing services.
  • Owner-occupiers in sheltered housing for sale may receive Income Support to assist with payment of their service charge. They do not get Housing Benefit.
  • MIG/IS/JSA(IB) (see para. 5.1.2 above) is applied for and paid direct to the Owner-occupier not the provider. The providers do NOT know if an owner- occupier is receiving MIG/IS/JSA(IB).
  • The support services that owner-occupiers receive may be set out in the Title Deeds or in a contract for services, both of which are legally binding.
  • The services cannot be altered or withdrawn against the terms of the Title Deeds or contract. This is a contractual matter and not a starting point for consultation.
  • When the owner-occupiers buy into a scheme they buy in the normal way on the market. The buyer chooses and buys from the outgoing owner or developer.
  • The organisations that act as managers of sheltered housing for sale are not "Providers" as for other Supported Housing. They could be developers of schemes but are normally managing agents.
  • Owner-occupied sheltered housing will sit outside the commissioning process, service review process and quality and monitoring process.
  • There will be NO contracts with providers. The only contracts are with individual owner-occupier claimants.
  • There will be no direct payments to providers.
  • The developers or managing agents do NOT know which owner-occupiers are claiming income support.
  • Owner-occupiers are sensitive that their financial circumstances are not revealed to their managing agent, and their preference for confidentiality should be accepted and handled accordingly.

5.2.2 Guarantees To Owner Occupiers:

  • No existing residents will be 'reassessed' for their eligibility for owner-occupied provision of support since this is a contractual matter between owner and managing agent. Social services will not reassess for continuing residency or receipt of support services.
  • Residents have a right to the level of support as outlined in their Title Deeds or contract and will continue to receive that service.
  • Access to owner-occupied provision should be based on people's choices, including the choice to move away from their local area. It is not subject to any eligibility criteria.

5. 2.3 Local authoritiesSupporting People Teams that need information on the owner- occupied sheltered housing schemes in their area should contact the Elderly Accommodation Counsel ( www.housingcare.org website) which maintains a database of such schemes that can be searched by local authority area. Contact 020 7820 1343..

5.3. The tTransfer of rResponsibility for fFunding sSupport sServices for Ppeople rReceiving bBenefits from the Pension Service or Jobcentre Plus

5.3.1 Owner- occupiers receiving MIG/IS/JSA(IB) (see para. graph 5.1.2) currently have charges for eligible support services payable as a condition of their tTitle Ddeeds or contract met as an element in their benefit award, which is paid directly to them. They are then responsible for making the payment due to the managing agent.

5.3.2 From April 2003, these owner-occupiers will no longer receive such payments as part of their benefit entitlement. Instead, the service user will be paid an equivalent amount for eligible housing related support charges directly by the local authority.

5.3.3 Since the amounts are generally small, they will be paid annually in advance, in order to minimise administration. Future payments will be made 14 days prior to the due date, that is the date on which the charge would be due to be paid to the managing agent. This is to give time for cheques from the local authority to clear prior to payment of the charge by the owner-occupier. The special conditions in the hand-over period are dealt with below in para. 5.3.11.

5.3.4 At present, owner-occupiers claiming MIG/IS/JSA(IB) submit a breakdown of their service charges to the Pension Service or Jobcentre Plus. The amounts relating to support charges need to be identified separately in order that the correct amount can be removed from the benefit assessment at the appropriate time, and that funding for support costs currently met through these benefits can be transferred to the Supporting People budget. Managing agents are the only possible source of such information. They need to supply a breakdown of their service charges, specifying their charges for support, to all their owner-occupiers, so that those receiving MIG/IS/JSA(IB) can pass these on to the Pension Service or Jobcentre Plus. It is particularly important to get the amount of charges for support right well before April 2003, so that the correct amount is paid by the Pension Service or Jobcentre Plus prior to its transfer to the Scottish Executive. Managing agents will need advice on how to do that correctly. That advice is provided below in part 4.

5.3.5 Payment to service users in a particular scheme by the local authority will initially be dependent on the correct transfer of relevant details from the Pension Service or Jobcentre Plus to the Supporting People Team. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has asked all benefits offices to provide specified details about every MIG/IS/JSA(IB) claim where support charges are included. Where clarification is needed, the breakdown of service charges from managing agents, using the advice given below in Part 4, should be passed on by the owner-occupier to the Pension Service or Jobcentre Plus. This should provide a full and accurate breakdown.

5.3.6 The data collected by the DWP from Pension Service and Jobcentre Plus offices will contain:

  • Service user's National Insurance Number
  • The service user's name
  • The service user's address
  • The service user's postcode
  • The total of support service charges included in the benefit assessment broken down as follows:
    • general counselling and support
    • cleaning of customer's service user's own rooms and windows
    • emergency alarm systems
  • The total amount of benefit awarded to the service user.

5.3.7 This information will be transferred from DWP to the local authority Supporting People Team. This will form the basis for the owner-occupier spreadsheet (OOS) (see aAnnex 2). Pension Service and Jobcentre Plus offices will need to continue to inform the DWP of any changes to cases already notified, and of new cases with support charges. This information will be passed by the DWP on a regular basis to the lead officer in the local authority Supporting People Team.

5.3.8 On 1In February 2003, Supporting People Teams will write to the owner-occupiers whose MIG/IS/JSA(IB) will no longer be meeting their support charges from April to explain what is happening. This letter will include a warninghighlights that when theyservice user receives notification from the Pension Service or Jobcentre Plus office that their benefit has been reassessed, they will need to pass this on to their local Supporting People Team, and this will trigger release of the cheque to meet the balance of their support charge from 1 April 2003. Any owner-occupiers whose benefit is expected to be reduced but who do not forward the benefit reassessment letter will be contacted by the Supporting People Team to ensure that any changes of circumstance or omissions have been correctly dealt with.

5.3.9 Pension Service or Jobcentre Plus offices have been required to take action to remove MIG/IS/JSA(IB) payments for support from April 2003. The office will write to the owner-occupiers to tell the recipient that their Benefit payment will be reduced by the amount of the housing support payment.

5.3.10 The Scottish Executive believe that it would be helpful if managing agents have earlier prepared the ground by informing owner-occupiers who have charges for support services that any MIG/IS/JSA(IB) payments they receive will reduce at the beginning of April to take account of the new funding arrangements for support charges; that they should contact their Supporting People team about any payments due; and how to do so. A suggested standard wording that managing agents can use to inform owner-occupiers is attached as Appendix Annex 1. It will need to contain a site-specific paragraph, which directs owner-occupiers to the Supporting People team in their local authority area to discuss payments to replace benefits payments towards support costs. Details of Supporting People Lead Officers can be found on the Supporting People website ( www.scotland.gov.uk/housing/supportingpeople/) under Contacts and Links. It is suggested that this letter should be issued by managing agents by 31 January 2003.

5.3.11 In the first 14 days of April 2003, the local authority will pay the balance due to the owner-occupiers for the period up to the next service charge review date. Local authorities should ask the managing agent for this date and record this on the OOS. The payment will not be made on 1 April because the local authority will only be able to make payments from that date.

5.3.12 The breakdown of the housing support charges awarded by the Pension Service or Jobcentre Plus should not be queried by the Supporting People Team except in exceptional circumstances, e.g. where the Pension Service or Jobcentre Plus are themselves querying the amount. See below for more advice on the identification of the charges for support services.

5.3.13 Those receiving MIG/IS/JSA(IB) should be passported to a full payment by the relevant local authority. Other owner-occupiers in sheltered housing may apply for a financial assessment with a view to obtaining a rebate on their charges. This should be carried out in accordance with the CoSLA guidance on Financial Assessment for Non-residential Care Services. (See Folder 1, Part 1, Section 9)

5.3.14 The amount paid by DWP will be reviewed at the time of the owner- occupied sheltered housing managing agent's charge review, which should be recorded on the OOS OOS (see paragraph 5.3.7). The local authority will at that point assess the eligibility of the support charge for financial assistance in accordance with the requirement that the services eligible for financial assistance should be housing-related and preventative. Local authorities should take account of the fact that charges are unlikely to be inflated, since owner occupiers not receiving benefits are able to exercise considerable downward pressures on charges. It should be stressed once again that the local authority's review cannot assess the nature, quality or quantity of the service, or the amount of the charge itself, which is a contractual matter between owner-occupier and the managing agent. It is a review only of the level of financial assistance. After the review, either passporting will continue on the basis of receipt of benefits as specified above, or the owner-occupier will be entitled to undertake a financial assessment as specified above.

5.4. Disaggregation of Support Charges by The Provider

5.4.1 In many cases the Pension Service or Jobcentre Plus will not currently hold sufficiently detailed information to be able to separate support charges from other service charges; and the only means to do so will originate from budget breakdowns sent by managing agents to owner-occupiers, who will then pass them to the Pension Service or Jobcentre Plus in order to inform their claims. This reflects the fact that managing agents have nothing directly to do with claims for MIG/IS/JSA(IB) by owner-occupiers; and that there should be no direct relationship between the managing agent and the Pension Service or Jobcentre Plus. Managing agents will wish to carry out the breakdown of support charges in the most economical way possible, clearly understandable to the Pension Service or Jobcentre Plus so that it does not generate queries. It makes sense that the procedure should be carried out in a way that is compatible and acceptable to both the Pension Service or Jobcentre Plus and the local authority, with as little inconvenience to managing agents and owner-occupiers as possible.

5.4.2 The local authority has no power to query the breakdown of housing support charges for a scheme; nor is it desirable to do so. At present it is for the Pension Service or Jobcentre Plus to decide whether the charges are eligible, and the amounts reasonable, for benefit purposes. The essential data for making payments will be received from the DWP, not the managing agent.

5.4.3 . Managing agents may wish to use the DWP Guidance on support charges, originally published in HB/CTB circulars relating to the Transitional Housing Benefit Scheme (THB) and the implementation of Supporting People to help them to provide an accurate breakdown. In particular, circular A47/99 and A10/2001 provide detailed advice on eligible service charges in supported accommodation. Circular A47/2001 provides additional guidance on the Transitional HB scheme. The provisions of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 (Housing Support Services Information) order 2002 allows for the transfer of information about support charges currently met under MIG/IS/JSA(IB) from DWP to Supporting People. [ref website]

A47/99 - http://www.dss.gov.uk/hbctb/circulars/1999/a4799.pdf

A10/2001 - http://www.dss.gov.uk/hbctb/circulars/2001/a10-2001.pdf

5. 5 Note on owner occupiers losing entitlement to MIG/IS/JSA(IB)

5.5.1 A very small number of owner occupiers, namely those who are only entitled to MIG/IS/JSA(IB) by virtue of the fact that their support charges are currently included when calculating their benefit entitlement, will lose their entitlement to those benefits when support charges are removed from the benefit assessment in April 2003. These are people who are likely to be contributing towards their support costs out of other resources at present. It will be the amount equivalent to their current MIG/IS/JSA(IB) payment, and not the full support charge, which will be transferred to Supporting People in these cases. This proportion of their support charge will be covered by payment from the local authority's Supporting People grant until the next service charge review date.

5.5.2 The question has been raised of what else these owner occupiers might lose as a result of losing entitlement to MIG, IS or JSA(IB). They would no longer be automatically passported to full Council Tax Benefit and would have to put in a fresh claim form to their local authority. Some owner-occupiers could lose part, or all, of their entitlement to Council Tax Benefit as a result of the change. The Department for Work and Pensions is actively considering this issue.

5.5.3 On health related benefits, all those over 60 are exempt from charges except for dental charges, where exemption is for those on IS or JSA(IB), or those on a 'low income': so owner-occupiers could be inconvenienced by having to go through a technical assessment. There might be other spin-offs, such as needing to go through a financial assessment for care at home charges.

5.5.4 It is emphasised that the number of owner-occupiers of sheltered housing likely to be affected is very small, as the support charges are generally so low. From the information supplied to DWP so far, only a very few cases have been identified.

Annex 1 - suggested standard wording from managing agent to owner-occupiers warning of the change in April 2003

Note: this wording refers throughout to people over 60 dealing with the pension service . managing agents dealing with owner-occupiers aged under 60 should adjust the letter to refer to 'Jobcentre Plus' instead of 'the Pension Service', and 'Income Support / Jobseeker's Allowance' instead of 'Minimum Income Guarantee'

Dear …..

I am writing to you in case you receive help from the Benefits Agency (now called the Pension Service) with paying service charges under the terms of your title deeds or contract because your income is low. If you do not, you can disregard this letter.

If you do receive Minimum Income Guarantee, you may be receiving help towards payment of charges for support services as part of your benefit, such as payments for warden services, which help you to live independently in your own home. Arrangements for receiving help with these charges for support services (not the remaining service charges) are going to change from April 2003. The Scottish Executive has brought in a new programme called Supporting People, which brings together many of the support services needed by people to live independently in their homes. These will be provided by your local authority, of which details are given below.

This means that from April 2003 you will get help with charges for the support services you receive under the terms of your title deeds or contracts from the local authority, not from the Pension Service. It is very important that the Pension Service has accurate and up-to-date information about your support charges, so that the local authority is able to pay you the correct amount from April 2003. Enclosed with this letter is a breakdown of the service charges you pay under your title deeds or contract. This should help the Pension Service to identify the right amount to transfer over. If the Pension Service contact you asking for details about the charges you pay for support, you should give them this breakdown.

The new arrangements will mean that you will get a letter before April next year from the Pension Service explaining that the amount you pay for support charges will no longer be included in your benefit. You will need to keep that letter, and pass it on to the local authority.

The contact address and phone number for your local authority Supporting People lead officer is:

INSERT

Do contact them if you have any worries or queries about this.

Yours sincerely

Annex 2

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Page updated: Tuesday, May 16, 2006