Issue - meetings

3.0       WELFARE BENEFITS SERVICE CHANGES PETITION

3.1       There had been circulated copies of an extract from the Audit and Scrutiny Committee Petitions procedure and the Chairman explained the procedure to be followed.  The Chairman welcomed Ms Jenny Mushlin, Lead Petitioner who was in attendance to present a petition on the Welfare Benefits Service changes and was accompanied by Jenny Smith – Chief Officer (Borders Care Voice) and Marc Bremner - Member of the Mental Health & Wellbeing Forum.

3.2       Ms Mushlin commenced her presentation by explaining the subsequent workload which had been created by the change to the Welfare Benefits system, in that people currently with indefinite awards of disability living allowance (DLA) were being migrated to Personal Independence Payment (PIP).  By October 2017 over 97,000 people within Scotland had been reassessed of which nearly £17,000 (17.3%) had not been given any award.  Of the Appeals made against these decisions, 65% were successful, appeals made locally had been carried out by the previous Welfare Benefits Service and Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB).  Ms Mushlin went on to explain that six major benefits had been transferred to Universal Credit (UC), with the full service recently going live in Scottish Borders.  This benefit is an online claim, regardless of the claimant’s IT skills.  Transitional protection (where you keep your current rate of benefit) may also be different.  It was possible that claimants may only keep the benefit until a change of circumstances and then they would not receive it if they claim Universal Credit before being invited, but this had yet to be finalised.  Ms Mushlin continued with her statement, covering each request within the petition.  

3.3       SBC employ Welfare Benefits Assistants or other Staff who have a specific remit to assist with initial completion of form application.

It was explained that the PIP application form was 40 pages long with 12 pages of guidance and used a points system which was unfamiliar to most people.  There were examples of staff in a range of organisations spending hours completing forms rather than doing the job they were employed to do.  It was advantageous to have a well completed form, should it go to appeal.  The same was true of Employment Support Allowance (and its equivalent form in UC).  Dedicated staff know which details were relevant and how to sensitively approach people dealing with a claim which was very personal and potentially distressing to complete.

The petition requested that all Customer Services Staff were well trained to handle welfare benefits queries and recognise all queries, which may appear deceptively simple, and should be handled by a Financial Inclusion Officer.  It was further requested that SBC recruit sufficient staff for initial form completion and should demand outstrip supply, further staff be recruited.

3.4       Regularly Monitor and listen closely to Citizens Advice Bureaux on their workload with initial and pre-assessment support, including waiting times for the public

The Citizens Advice Bureaux do not exclusively provide Welfare Benefits Advice and have an extensive caseload dealing with various aspects  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3