Welfare Reform Bill

It should be clear that the discretionary Social Fund—obviously there is a regulated part of the Social Fund that deals with winter fuel payments—is cash-limited. There is obviously a process by which centrally that budget is allocated to the districts. In terms of the process, crisis loans are made by decision-makers who are embedded in the various contact centres. In 2008-09, there was a decision to significantly increase the number of decision-makers from 800 to 1,500. We have engaged extra decision-makers to meet that requirement. Because of the rise in crisis loan demands, Jobcentre Plus intends to further increase the number of decision-makers to something like 1,800 in total. So we are seeking to ensure that we meet the calls on that budget. The budget is cash-limited. Decisions made in benefit delivery centres involve calls on the national budget which are allocated locally. Part of the approach is to seek to manage that budget using experience and current data about the number of calls on the fund.