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Costs of administering housing and council tax benefits
— a report on research carried out by Risk Solutions for the Department for Work and Pensions |
| Author(s) | Michelle Boath, Ian Dunbar, Helen Wilkinson |
| Corporate Author | Risk Solutions; Department for Work and Pensions - DWP |
| Publisher | Corporate Document Services, Leeds, 2006 |
| Pages | 76 pp (Department for Work and Pensions Research report, no 332) |
| Source | Corporate Document Services, 7 Eastgate, Leeds LS2 7LY. Email: orderline@cds.co.uk Website: http://www.cds.co.uk |
| Keywords | Housing benefit [Nov 82] ; Council tax rebates ; Costs ; Local Authority. |
| Annotation | Housing Benefit (HB) and Council Tax Benefit (CTB) are claimed by nearly 4 million households at an annual cost of some £16.6 billion. HB is a cornerstone of the government's welfare reform programme, and central to its poverty reduction strategies. The main objective of this study was to provide a robust estimate of the total cost of administering HB/CTB incurred by the 408 local authorities (LAs) in England, Scotland and Wales; and to provide the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) with a greater appreciation of the current costs of administering HB/CTB and an improved understanding of why these can vary between LAs. Other objectives were: to inform future policy relating redesigning benefits; to facilitate fair allocation of resources; and to provide a baseline upon which costs can be examined over time. Based on analysis of data collected through detailed case study visits to a representative sample of 30 LAs, the total direct costs of administering HB/CTB is estimated to be £461 million (±£5 million). The research was conducted by Risk Solutions in two phases between December 2003 to May 2005. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-060405001 B |
| Classmark | JH8: J5R: WC: PE |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |