Mansfield and Ashfield housing benefit applicants facing three-week wait for claims to be completed

New housing benefit applicants in Mansfield and Ashfield are having to wait more than three weeks for their claims to be processed, new figures have revealed.
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Between April 2017 and March 2018, new claimants in Mansfield waited on average 23 days before their application was completed, while the wait for Ashfield applicants was, on average 21 days, according to data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

the average waiting time for the UK as a whole was around 22 days.

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This waiting time can be worrying for applicants, and the charity Turn2Us said they can be threatened with eviction and face homelessness.

Claimants are having to wait longer for housing benefit claims to be completed. Photo: Chris EtchellsClaimants are having to wait longer for housing benefit claims to be completed. Photo: Chris Etchells
Claimants are having to wait longer for housing benefit claims to be completed. Photo: Chris Etchells

Councils are legally required to respond within two weeks, or as soon as is practical.

According to the figures, the local authority processed 2,590 new cases in Mansfield and 2,267 in Ashfield over the 12-month period.

In total, there were 8,119 housing benefit claimants in Mansfield and 8,564 in Ashfield in February 2018, which is the latest publicly available data.

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During the previous year, Mansfield applicants had to wait the same time but Ashfield applicants waited, on average 19 days.

Residents are eligible for housing benefit if they rent, are on a low income or other benefits, and if their savings are below £16,000.

The amount applicants receive differs depending on whether they rent from the council, or privately, their salary and whether they have any spare rooms.

Both Mansfield and Ashfield were quicker at dealing with current claimants who had changed their living circumstances.

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Those applications took on average just six days to a week to complete.

The charity Turn2Us, which helps people with financial hardship gain access to welfare benefits, has warned that delays in processing benefits can have a serious impact on the applicants’ lives.

Pritie Billimoria, head of communications, said: “Housing benefit is not a luxury people can afford to wait for.

“It is not good enough that the average wait is almost twice as long as the legal requirement and with the minimum wait for Universal Credit at 35 days, people are simply being dragged into a waiting game that they cannot afford.

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“At best, these delays and long waiting times are leaving people on the brink of losing the roof over their head and at worst are pushing people into homelessness.”

A DWP spokeswoman said: “We spend around £23 billion a year on housing benefit - more than any other OECD country as a proportion of GDP.

“We work directly with each local authority to monitor housing benefit performance and this includes the speed of processing which has remained stable over a number of years.”

The Government is currently rolling out Universal Credit across the country.

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However, neither Ashfield or Mansfield had a full service when this data was recorded.

Claimants applying for housing benefit under Universal Credit have to wait five weeks, which includes a four week assessment period.

The spokeswoman added: “We will continue to work closely with local authorities as Universal Credit rolls out.”