Why didn’t council use cash for those struggling on rent?
CALLS have been made for an investigation into why a council sent back £23,000 that had been earmarked to help residents struggling to pay rent.
Welsh councils receive an annual allocation from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to spend on discretionary housing payments (DHP).
The councils then use this funding to support residents eligible for Housing Benefit who are finding it difficult to pay their rent.
But calls have been made for Anglesey council to carry out a full investigation into why it failed to spend 14.4% of its allocation during the last financial year, leading to it having to send back £23,501 to the DWP.
Cllr Aled Morris Jones, who chairs the authority’s corporate scrutiny committee, described the decision as “tragic”.
“There must be an investigation into why this money is being sent back unspent,” he said. “This cash could have been used to help some of the island’s residents who are struggling to pay their rent.
“Surely there are more than enough people who could have done with financial help, without resorting to sending it back?”
According to the council, it has a duty to ensure that public money is correctly spent and accounted for, and “not just to spend the available funding”.
The island was one of only three Welsh councils not to spend their full allocation in 2017/18, with Merthyr Tydfil and Rhondda Cynon Taf also sending money back.
Housing charity Homeless Cymru has described the refunding of the allocated cash as “a complete waste of resources”.
In response, a council spokesman said: “Discretionary Housing Payments are intended as a safety net for those experiencing difficulties in meeting their housing costs.
“It is not a means of allowing applicants to maintain a certain level of lifestyle and will A GWYNEDD bus company stripped of its operating licence by the Traffic Commissioner is to be wound up.
Directors of Express Motors (Penygroes) decided to appoint liquidators at a meeting just before Easter.
The firm operated services in Gwynedd and Anglesey alongside family partnership E W and J A Jones, which traded as Express Motors and was led by Eric Wyn Jones.
But the operating licences of both entities were revoked after a public inquiry in August over the state of some vehicles.
A coach operated by Express Motors (Penygroes) was involved in a serious road accident in France in July 2016 which led to the inquiry.
Traffic Commissioner for Wales Nick Jones was told directors planned to give up the licence for Express Motors (Penygroes) and reorganise the family partnership to operate fewer buses.
Documents filed with the Insolvency Service and published in the Gazette show the meeting just before Easter passed a resolution that Express Motors (Penygroes) be “wound up voluntarily” and liquidators appointed.
Since the licence was revoked on December 31 last year, buses have been offered for sale online and by dealers.
At an auction in Lancashire earlier this week, four buses were offered for sale.
Other vehicles have been parked at the depot in Penygroes and on land at Bontnewydd and Deiniolen.
Robert Rutherford, of Liverpoolbased insolvency practitioners Parkin S Booth, said they had been not be awarded to applicants who are clearly not prepared to make reasonable compromises with regards to their expenditure and lifestyle.
“It is therefore short term help and not an indefinite payment.
“Applications are assessed against the DHP policy, which has been approved by the executive, with each application appointed to consider a Voluntary Arrangement for the limited company and were advising the family partnership on a similar arrangement.
This would allow any debts to be paid over a period of time.
“These discussions are in the early stages and we are trying to determine what assets are available,” he said.
Before its demise, the company employed around 80 people including drivers, mechanics and office staff. Some left before the licence was revoked, with many finding work with companies which took over former Express Motors routes.
But around 40 drivers remained with the company into January. They were later told they were being laid off without pay.
A former driver said: “Those drivers who stuck with Express had hoped a new company would be formed and they would still have a job. Many are very unhappy at the way things have turned out.”
Mr Rutherford added that, if the voluntary arrangement is approved, staff would be entitled to redundancy payments in lieu of notice backed by a government scheme.
The Traffic Commissioner rejected an application by another firm, Express Motors (Caernarfon), for an operating licence.
In a written decision, Mr Jones refused to grant the new company a passenger transport licence, concluding the business fell “well short” of meeting the requirements.
An application by two other companies, both with links to the former Express Motors operation, is still being considered by the Traffic Commissioner. treated on its own merits.
“The council has a duty to the taxpayer to ensure that public money is correctly spent and accounted for and not just to spend the available funding.
“Given that the DHP is paid to individual applicants, it is inevitable that funding available and the total value of qualifying applications will not always match.”
He added: “It should be noted that, over the past five years, the council has received £710,000 in DHP grant and has distributed £711,000. In 2016/17, the total value of payments made exceeded the grant funding available by £25,000 which was funded by the council directly.
“It is disappointing that the unspent grant has to be returned and the council cannot retain the grant to top up the annual grant in years when the demand exceeds the funding, but these are the regulations set out by the Department of Work and Pensions.”