Welfare Reform Bill

I congratulate my noble friend Lady Turner on moving this amendment. She may have come close to unifying the Committee on an issue, which is perhaps a first during the course of our deliberations so far. The aim of the amendment is to improve take-up of council tax benefit, particularly among pensioners, by changing its name. As my noble friend and others have done, I recognise the role that the Royal British Legion has played in highlighting this issue. My noble friend Lord Morris of Manchester has put his name to the amendment; he is unable to be here today, but he has a role as honorary parliamentary adviser to the legion and gives it his clear support. I am delighted that it has the support of the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, and his leader in the other place; the noble Baroness, Lady Thomas, and the noble Countess, Lady Mar. It is very important that pensioners should claim the benefits to which they are entitled if we are to achieve our aim of reducing pensioner poverty. People should not be deterred from doing so by factors such as an off-putting name. Having said this, the Government are sympathetic to changing the name of council tax benefit to one that better describes its true nature. We recognise that it is something that has widespread support and has the potential to make a difference in helping people to claim it. The latest data that I have for council tax benefit take-up, for 2007-08, show take-up among pensioners of between 53 per cent and 60 per cent. The potential amount unclaimed is between £1.2 billion and £1.7 billion, so it is a lot of money that could make a real difference to the lives of many pensioners. Sir Michael Lyons pointed out that council tax benefit effectively operates as a rebate and renaming it as such would do no more than reflect that fact. Even though council tax benefit already helps more than 5 million families, I should like to see the percentage of people who take up their entitlement rising and I am disappointed that it is not. We have made considerable effort, working with local authorities, to make the claims process easier. For example, a change was made last October to allow pensioners to claim council tax benefit and housing benefit in a single telephone call at the same time as pension credit. There are no forms to sign or return. We are waiting to see the results of that important initiative. Even so, there are clearly problems with take-up of the benefit. The most recent figures for 2007-08 show that around 62 per cent to 68 per cent of all those whom we believe to be entitled to claim council tax benefit actually do so—the percentage for pensioners is smaller. Although one might draw some comfort from the fact that the percentages for take-up have been relatively stable for several years, the latest figures show a 1 per cent drop. This is extremely disappointing, even more so because we have done, and continue to do, a number of things to try to boost take-up. We accept that we must do more to remedy the situation and have been impressed with the case made by the Royal British Legion, as part of its Return to Rationing? campaign, that the name "council tax benefit" is an obstacle to claiming. In recent weeks, the department has liaised with the Royal British Legion over what can be done in the short term in partnership with local authorities to help them re-market council tax benefit as part of their work to promote benefit take-up. I am sure that noble Lords will appreciate that changing the name of a benefit is not necessarily straightforward and has wider ramifications for local authorities. For example, changes will need to be made to IT systems and forms. There are a number of resource issues to consider, and careful consideration will have to be given also to the wider implications for customers, as well as local authorities, government departments and other agencies all directly involved in some way in the delivery of this important benefit. However, I can assure my noble friend that we are giving this matter urgent consideration. Accordingly, I ask her not to press her amendment. I hope that she is sufficiently reassured that we are seeking to take this matter forward.