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Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 4) Regulations 2008

rose to move to resolve, That this House deplores the way that the Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 4) Regulations 2008, laid before the House on 15 September, cut the backdating period for pension credit, housing benefit and council tax benefit in most cases from 12 months to three months, and were:     (a) presented with inadequate evidence to support the policy; and (b) laid during the Summer Recess to come into force on the day Parliament returned, thus not allowing Parliament to consider them before they came into effect; and calls on Her Majesty’s Government to revoke the regulations because they are likely to increase the number of evictions, and cause particular hardship to older pensioners and those with mental health impairments (SI 2008/2424). The noble Baroness said: My Lords, this Motion is couched in unusually fierce terms, but I believe that the criticisms of both the manner in which these regulations were laid and the policy they encapsulate are justified. I shall speak briefly about both the policy and the process. I am well aware of the time constraints of this dinner-hour debate, although I think I am right in saying that there is no formal time limit. Among other things the regulations reduce the backdating rules for the payment of pension credit, housing benefit and council tax benefit from 12 months to three months, although the Government have now agreed for a short period to stage the reduction of the backdating period for working-age claimants to six months for housing and council tax benefits. The Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee, of which I am proud to be a member, has issued its sternest warning—that the instrument may imperfectly achieve its policy objective. I shall come back to just what that policy objective is in a minute. The committee’s view was reinforced by the powerful report of the Social Security Advisory Committee, which recommended unequivocally that the change of policy should be abandoned, as it was in 2000. The reason for the recommendation is clear. During its own very short consultation, in the shocking absence of a formal consultation by the department, the SSAC had an unprecedented number of responses from all over the country and from such well respected organisations as Citizens Advice, the Child Poverty Action Group, Crisis, Centrepoint, Age Concern, the RNIB and many others. They also included many local authorities from relatively affluent areas, such as that covered by Cambridge City Council, to the poorer areas covered by, for example, Bradford Metropolitan District Council, and scores of housing associations, which were all alarmed by the impact that the change would have on their clients. They all point to the weakness of the department’s evidence base for the change in policy, leading the SSAC to say: "““We have concluded that the department has offered neither adequate evidence to support its case for change nor a convincing proposal for mitigation of the potential negative impacts of the change””." The Government even admit that their own data in this field are inadequate. To an inquiry by the Child Poverty Action Group to the housing benefit strategy division, the answer was: "““You asked about figures. Prior to April 2007, no information was collected from local authorities on the number of claims for backdating or the amount of backdated benefit paid out to HB/CTB claimants. Following the introduction of a new data source, this information will become available in the future, but at the moment, there is insufficient data to be able to estimate the number of claims or the amount spent on backdating””." No wonder the department did not want to risk a formal consultation with stakeholders, which should be the driver of policy, as the Merits Committee made clear. Even the department recognises that there may be impact on some customer groups, but it thinks that publicising the change of policy and encouraging take-up will be good enough to mitigate the change. So why are the Government hell-bent on changing the backdating rules, against the advice of all the groups that are, as it were, at the sharp end? The Government say that the change is needed as part of a wider simplification package to make the administration of the benefits less complex and better target resources. That is welcome in itself, but it is not relevant to most of the people who need the benefits. Many of the respondents to the SSAC consultation suggested better ways of simplifying benefits. The chief executive of Homeless Link in London made a very good point when she said: "““The recent controversy over a ‘tidying up’ of the 10p tax rate shows how proposals which seem to be a neat simplification and to affect relatively low numbers can, when they hit low income groups, have a wider and unanticipated impact””." Another curious reason given by the department is that it wants to reduce the intrusion into a claimant’s financial affairs. That simply does not hold water. If claimants were unhappy about such an intrusion, why would they claim in the first place when they know that it is part of the process? I shall now look briefly at why these particular benefits are backdated at all, when other benefits cannot be backdated. The rationale for the 12-month backdating of pension credit was that it was a new benefit that was only brought in five years ago and was not widely known about. The Government believe that this is no longer the case. However, there are still many pensioners, possibly as many as four out of 10, living in poverty who are not claiming pension credit, in spite of government efforts to reach people who may have an entitlement. That is something the Government themselves have admitted. They also admit that the change in backdating rules could affect older claimants more and those with mental health problems or physical disabilities. In passing, it is worth pointing out that the Households Below Average Income report, which was published by the department on 10 June this year, points to an increase in pensioner poverty in 2006-07, most of the older pensioners, not surprisingly, being women. Citizens Advice says that it is often called in when pensioners are literally running out of savings for everyday living, and it says that the 12-month backdating can be a lifeline for such people. There are two other groups of pensioners whose circumstances mean they do not immediately engage with the benefits system when they could be eligible; those whose partner dies, with all the upheavals that brings, and those who suddenly find themselves looking after grandchildren, perhaps following a family break-up. In the last instance, unless the new backdating rules are abandoned, this will almost certainly lead to more child poverty. I turn now to the perhaps more pressing effects of the change of policy on working-age claimants of housing benefit and council tax benefit. In 2006-07, citizens advice bureaux dealt with over 8,000 inquiries relating to housing benefit backdating and over 5,000 inquiries relating to council tax benefit backdating. Those benefits, by their very nature, are targeted on the most vulnerable, because of the requirement to show good cause before a claim is even considered; and ignorance of the system is not good cause. Many groups make the point that housing benefit is different from other means-tested benefits, because it is paid to meet a defined liability rather than day-to-day living expenses, and it therefore requires more flexible backdating provision. If the benefit is paid direct to the landlord in arrears, there is often a delay before the claimant knows that their benefit has ceased and that they have to take action to reclaim. Even if the client is found to be missing just the odd week or two of housing benefit several months before help is sought, that is enough to tip the client into arrears and possible eviction. Court proceedings for eviction are often the trigger for a client to seek advice. Is it really going to save the public purse if the most vulnerable are made homeless? Those people have been easily identified as being those who, on the whole, lead chaotic lives and who may have mental health problems, learning or language difficulties, those who may be victims of domestic violence, those on remand in prison, those sectioned under mental health legislation and those who have been in hospital. Those made homeless through these tougher backdating rules will have to be rehoused, unless they are to end up on the streets; no wonder so many housing associations have expressed alarm. There is, of course, a special concern where children are involved, as they will be, with all the knock-on costs to education, health and children’s services that this will entail. I shall now turn very briefly to the process by which these regulations came into force. They were tabled during the Summer Recess to come into force on the first day back, thus not allowing Parliament the chance to debate them before implementation. Yes, technically, it is within the rules, because praying time for negative instruments only starts when Parliament is in session, so in theory instruments can be voted down and the policy halted. But when the Government know that an instrument is particularly contentious, one cannot help feeling that they were trying to sneak it in under the radar. Tabling a controversial statutory instrument during a parliamentary recess to come into force on the day that Parliament returns makes a mockery of one of the main purposes of Parliament, and certainly of opposition parties, which is rigorous scrutiny of the Executive. The Merits Committee report was extremely critical of the fact that the usual comprehensive impact assessment was not carried out so that we could all be convinced that the change in the backdating rules was a worthwhile exercise. In the end, the committee decided that none of the reasons that the Government seemed to be putting forward as the policy objective fitted in with one of the main aims of the Department for Work and Pensions, which is, "““working to end poverty in all forms””." If there were ever a time to change the backdating rules for these vital benefits, now is not the moment. It will affect the most vulnerable in our society when unemployment is rising rapidly and debt problems are mounting. There is no evidence of joined-up government thinking about the impact that this change of policy will have more widely. We on these Benches urge the Government to think again about these regulations, even at this late stage, and to revoke them as soon as possible. I beg to move. Moved to resolve, That this House deplores the way that the Social Security (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 4) Regulations 2008, laid before the House on 15 September, cut the backdating period for pension credit, housing benefit and council tax benefit in most cases from 12 months to three months, and were: (a) presented with inadequate evidence to support the policy; and (b) laid during the Summer Recess to come into force on the day Parliament returned, thus not allowing Parliament to consider them before they came into effect; and calls on Her Majesty’s Government to revoke the regulations because they are likely to increase the number of evictions, and cause particular hardship to older pensioners and those with mental health impairments (SI 2008/2424). 28th Report from the Merits Committee.—(Baroness Thomas of Winchester.)