Waiting times for Housing Benenfit claims in Fenland were above national average - but district council says its now back on track

New housing benefit applicants in Fenland were having to wait more than three weeks for their claims to be processed, new figures have revealed.

Between April 2017 and March 2018, new claimants waited on average 25 days before their application was completed, according to data from the Department for Work and Pensions.

That’s above the British average of 22 days, which includes weekends

This waiting time can be worrying for applicants, and the charity Turn2Us said they can be threatened with eviction and face homelessness.

But Fenland say they are now back on track and claims are being dealt with within 22 days.

Councils are legally required to respond within two weeks, or as soon as is practical.

According to the figures, the local authority processed 1,621 new cases over the 12 month period.

In total there were 6,146 housing benefit claimants in Fenland in February 2018, which is the latest publicly available data.

During the previous year applicants had less time to wait with an average delay of 20 days.

Residents are eligible for housing benefit if they rent, are on a low income or other benefits, and if their savings are below £16,000.

The amount applicants receive differs depending on whether they rent from the council, or privately, their salary and whether they have any spare rooms.

Fenland was quicker at dealing with current claimants who had changed their living circumstances. Those applications took on average just six days to complete.

The charity Turn2Us, which helps people with financial hardship gain access to welfare benefits, has warned that delays in processing benefits can have a serious impact on the applicants’ lives.

Pritie Billimoria, head of communications, said: “Housing benefit is not a luxury people can afford to wait for. It is not good enough that the average wait is almost twice as long as the legal requirement and with the minimum wait for Universal Credit at 35 days, people are simply being dragged into a waiting game that they cannot afford.

“At best, these delays and long waiting times are leaving people on the brink of losing the roof over their head and at worst are pushing people into homelessness.”

A spokesman for Anglia Revenues Partnership, which runs Fenland’s Council Tax and Housing Benefit service, said: “Claims were taking slightly longer in the first half of the 2017/18 year which is not unusual – a plan was put in place to improve performance for the second half of the year. Since September 2017 we have processed new claims at the national average of 22 days. We have always prioritised claims from customers who are at risk of losing their tenancy and will continue to do so.”

The spokesman also added that sometimes customers submit claims without all the necessary information and that can delay a case.