If you're unemployed, or one of the millions of low paid public service workers, there's a good chance you might need a housing benefit worker to help you keep a roof over your head.
It's not a job that that Murdoch's media will ever love, but the heros of housing benefit administration deliver the most complex of benefits in record time. Experienced system thinking keeps errors low and speeds up claims for
vulnerable.
The current proposals for Universal Credit are to merge in housing benefit with 5 other benefits. Not only will this lose an expert and highly efficient system, but also invaluable local knowledge and experience. Who would trust their valuable documents to the post, and how many will struggle to complete complex forms on-line or over the phone? It would also cost millions in breaking contracts for outsourced services, and further costs in redundancy payments. http://www.touchstoneblog.org.uk/2011/07/what’s-happening-to-housing-benefit
There has been a lot of debate about Universal Credit, but as usual it ignores the workers, and the fate of 20,000+ skilled workers hangs in the balance.
