Fears that councils face massive redundancy costs when housing benefit administration is phased out with the introduction of Universal Credit have been raised in the Commons.
In an Adjournment debate held on 9 May, Labour Treasury spokesman, Chris Leslie, asked ministers to clarify what resources local authorities would receive to deliver the welfare reforms – including compensation for staff who processed the benefits. He said the issue was ‘mission-critical' for some small district councils, where housing benefit made up 25% of their turnover.
