Councils to take housing benefit claims by telephone

Councils are set to Start accepting claims for housing and council tax benefit by telephone as part of the latest government shake-up of the system.

The proposal, buried within the Budget speech on 16 March, is part of a government drive to make the notoriously complex benefit system more customer-friendly.

Claimants tend to call to apply for benefit on or near to the day that a change in their circumstances makes them eligible for support. But under the current system, they are required to return an application form before the claim can begin to be processed.

The result is that, in many cases, payments have to be back-dated.

The new approach should create a better synchronised system and will bring housing benefit into line with other benefits, for which claims can start with a phone call.

The 120,000 new housing benefit and 205,000 council tax benefit claims made on average each year will be affected.

Frank Newton, housing benefit consultant at the Local Government Association, said the new system would only marginally save on administration but would be good for claimants.

He said: “It’s something the LGA has been pushing for because it aligns the start with other benefits. If done carefully, it should not have any downsides to it.”

A spokeswoman for the Department for Work and Pensions said the move would require changes to regulation, which could happen in the next few months.

But Julie Holden, head of the benefit faculty at the Institute of Revenues Rating and Valuation, which represents benefits staff, said the new system could lengthen the time it takes councils to process claims and cause them to miss government performance targets. However, this could be overcome by measuring the processing time from the receipt of the completed form – as it is now – rather than from the day the applicant telephones to ask for a form.

She added that some councils would need to change the way they deal with telephone enquiries. “Authorities won’t have to back-date so many claims but those that don’t log every call will have to start doing so.”