'But what does a Policy Officer actually do?'

Imagine doing a job where your Mum thinks you work for the government, your younger brother thinks you go the pub with the First Minister, and your Gran asks whether you're able to get her a new house on the cheap. It doesn't get any easier when it comes to meeting new people either. Nobody knows what a policy officer does. They know we have meetings, and we like coffee, and it's verging on something political so they're not really interested anyway.

It's hardly the greatest stigma of our age, but policy types get a bad rap. Our colleagues in comms are always waiting on us, our friends in political parties think we're a bit boring, and our parents don’t have a clue what we do!

I'd worked in the Assembly, and on campaigns, and I'd flirted with a career in comms, so all these assumptions about the mysterious policy folk weren't new to me. Starting out at CHC, I was anxious not to become one of those 'bods'. Ten weeks on a Go Wales placement couldn't hurt though, could it? And how much could there really be to know about housing?

I very quickly learned that many of my assumptions were wrong. I found myself at CHC with lots of great people who were passionate and impatient for change. And, whisper it, the people in policy weren't boring either! Oh, and there really was quite a lot to learn about housing...

Three years in policy at CHC was an education. It was the trip to the House of Lords in my first week to campaign against the welfare reforms; it was the constant reminders about why we do this job as I heard the money advice team ask some of the toughest questions anyone will ever ask another person. It was successfully protecting the Supporting People budget last year, and wondering why my 'normal' friends weren't as excited as I was in the pub that night. It was becoming an overnight expert in devolution as we prepared to make radical calls to the Silk Commission. And it was the occasional campaign defeat too. And trying to understand the Lobbying Bill. And the Conservative MP who still replies to complain every time I use 'bedroom tax' in an email. And it was digesting the ever changing Welsh Government budget sheet – ‘what have they called social housing grant this year?!”

Policy was far from the boring drag I’d been told about; partly because working with the people at CHC meant even the longest strategy document or the driest task and finish group would turn out OK, and partly because I was representing a sector that really was about ‘more than bricks and mortar’. Over the course of three years, you can see that policy really can make a difference to people’s lives if we’re given the opportunity to channel it – it’s the basis of great projects and successful campaigns. It’ll change your political views and your outlook on life. But as I head off to my new policy role at NIACE, I’m still not sure my Mum knows exactly what I do…

Aaron Hill 

Aaron is leaving CHC after three years to work for NIACE Cymru as Policy and Public Affairs Officer. Good luck in your new role, you'll be missed! 

Intensifying our fight against poverty

As 2013 comes to an end, I’ve been reflecting on what the CHC Group and the sector have achieved in 2013. This is the time of year where those of us brought up as part of the Band Aid generation tend to think of those less fortunate. With increased austerity, and the impact of welfare reform and the introduction of the 'bedroom tax', concern for the less fortunate has been at the very forefront of our minds throughout the year.

We held a successful Annual Conference in November, with some clear messages from the Minister on the need to increase supply. So at the end of November I was delighted to attend the Housing Europe network in Denmark and to showcase the Welsh Housing Finance Grant as an example of EU Housing good practice, building 1,000 affordable homes without traditional capital subsidy or traditional bank lending. A real achievement in 2013.

At our Annual Conference, I was also deeply impressed by Sian Williams from Toynbee Hall and her messages about fighting poverty and financial inclusion. Financial education isn’t enough - there has to be access to affordable finance too.

The week after going to Denmark, I took a trip with the Four Feds to Northern Ireland and a tour of Derry and the Bogside to see some impressive housing projects, but also communities exploited by loan sharks. What hit home were the barriers local people encountered in accessing affordable credit, despite the maturity of the credit union movement in Ireland. This is why I’m so proud that members and CHC have worked so well together this year in extending Moneyline services to Merthyr, Swansea and Wrexham and helping so many people through the Your Benefits Are Changing campaign.

When we re-emerge in 2014, I want us to redouble our efforts in fighting poverty and extending social justice. As Sian from Toynbee Hall told us, 'We shouldn’t be worried about welfare reform – we should always have been angry about poverty' … our members are at the leading edge.

You can find out more about the CHC Group's activities over the last year in our Annual Review for 2013. 


Nick Bennett
Group Chief Executive

'Bedroom tax' will mean 1,000 fewer affordable homes. Devolve welfare to Wales!

The moral and ethical arguments against the ‘bedroom tax’ have always been weak. While ideology may lead you to divide between the ‘deserving’ and the ‘undeserving’ poor, ideology cannot deny the evidence, and it is ultimately evidence which should dictate government policy.

Since the ‘bedroom tax’ was introduced just over six months ago, we see a double whammy affecting the housing supply crisis. Arrears from the ‘bedroom tax’ have exceeded £1m and a rise in the number of void properties has meant that over 700 homes in the sector are empty. Just 3% of the 22,000 housing association tenants affected have been successfully downsized. We have always argued that there are simply not enough one and two bed properties to move people to. With an estimated 90,000 on social housing waiting lists, how can we justify a policy that sees Wales losing out on 1,000 affordable homes?

Of course, the effect on housing associations is only half the story. Tenants are already struggling to afford the basics, the use of food banks is increasing, energy companies are increasing their prices and we are seeing a surge in the use of high interest lenders and loan sharks. Some payday lenders are reported to be planning to treble their business on the back of so-called welfare 'reform’, people are being pushed further into poverty and the threat of losing their home is very real.

Landlords are faced with tough choices. We note what’s been happening around Wales with various protests, often the landlord getting the blame. Tenant groups and some politicians have campaigned for a ‘no bedroom tax evictions’ policy, but landlords can’t continue to subsidise the extra costs brought about by welfare reform which would impact on the potential reduction in services for other tenants who pay their rent.

This divisive measure threatens social justice and cohesion, turning tenant against tenant, tenant against landlord and vice versa. We need to stand back and realise that the only solution is to take power closer to the people.

As a sector we have been doing all we can to mitigate against the reforms. We’ve launched the ‘Your Benefits Are Changing’ campaign to raise awareness and have set up an advice line to provide free independent advice to those affected. We’ve also supported the expansion of Moneyline Cymru, a not for profit organisation set up and part funded by Welsh housing associations for people largely ignored by mainstream lenders. Moneyline Cymru branches have issued over 13,000 loans to the value of more than £6m since it was set up in 2009. Customers are also encouraged to open a savings account with nearly a third opting to do so, collectively saving a total of £900k.

Last week the Labour Party tabled a motion in the House of Commons to repel the ‘bedroom tax’, and the vote was lost by only 26 votes. So if robust statistical evidence which shows that this policy is failing is not enough for the UK Government to axe this pernicious policy, what can we do? The solution is for Welfare Reform to be devolved to Wales.

In an asymmetric union, we can now look to Northern Ireland and see them use their powers in welfare policy to do something different. They have legislated to stop the ‘bedroom tax’ affecting existing tenants. Like Wales, it is affected to a far greater degree than England and Scotland, but their devolution settlement has allowed them to protect the people of Northern Ireland from the policy, and also to adapt the upcoming changes to Universal Credit and Direct Payments to fit the needs of Northern Irish tenants. With the Silk Commission due to report on further powers for the Assembly in the New Year, what chance they listen to CHC’s recommendation that Wales is given parity with Northern Ireland on welfare powers?


Nick Bennett
Group Chief Executive, CHC Group


You can read the full press release on CHC's 'bedroom tax' research here.

A day in the life of Moneyline Cymru

I’m afraid I am going to start with the C word. It is October, Christmas is fast approaching and Moneyline customers are getting ready for it. Quarterly savings account statements have just been sent out, so the Moneyline office is seeing a stream of customers coming in to withdraw their savings with most looking forward to starting their Christmas shopping.

People are also coming in to ask about how to get a loan. A loan is only approved after checking a customer’s identification and income & expenditure to see if a loan is affordable. It then takes 3-4 days for the money to reach their bank account. However, Moneyline doesn’t just offer loans and savings. When looking at an application, the loan officers also assess whether a Money Adviser could help. For example, they can see if benefits are not being paid that a customer may be entitled to, if they would be eligible for utility discount schemes or if they are making payments to creditors and have debts. For these and many other reasons, customers are referred to the in house Your Benefits Are Changing Money Adviser for free and independent money advice. This helps customers in so many ways.

One customer rang today to say thank you because a loan officer  spotted that she would be eligible for a discount on her water bill and that she wasn’t receiving Tax Credits. After talking to the Money Adviser it was confirmed that she was eligible and she was helped to apply.  She is now £60 per week better off by claiming Tax Credits, is saving on her water bills through Welsh Water Assist and will receive £135 via the Warm Home Discount in the New Year. This has made a massive difference to her and, through coming in for a loan, she has actually found herself financially better off.

Moneyline Cwmbran has been nominated for a ‘Torfaen’s Most Recommended’ award and customers are completing voting forms with lovely comments such as ‘friendly staff'; ‘non judgemental'; ‘love that you can get money advice as well’; ‘ you really help people’.

Our office is in the middle of the town centre, so customers can easily pop in to ask questions or just say hello, and this certainly adds to the good relationships we have with customers. Today one customer popped in to introduce us to her new baby – cue oohing and ahhing all round in an office of mums.

As the Money Adviser, my day today has included appointments for debt advice, a telephone enquiry for a benefit check, processing applications for Welsh Water Assist and Customer Assistance Fund, an application for Discretionary Housing Payment  for someone affected by the 'bedroom tax', talking to customers about Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment, and searching for grants (it’s amazing how excited I got at seeing ‘army pension’ on an income sheet at the thought of the grant options I could look into for this particular client). And, on a personal level, thinking about how unprepared I am for the C word compared to our customers.

Your Benefits Are Changing is a Community Housing Cymru project and is funded by the Big Lottery.

Kath Hopkins

Money Adviser

The 'bedroom tax': no compassion, no choice

Lord Freud’s controversial comments on the bedroom tax this week should come as no surprise to anybody. For three years we’ve been part of the fight against this policy, highlighting the lack of equality, the lack of compassion, and the false economy of it. His two suggested solutions to the ‘bedroom tax’ were quite simply letting children sleep on a sofa bed when they stay, or finding a job. Not only do these solutions demonstrate that same disregard for compassion and equality that we have become used to, but they ignore an overwhelming body of evidence that say they will not work.

The first ‘solution’ makes the assumption that a tenant – a single mother or father – has managed to downsize from the house the policy judges them to be under-occupying. Evidence has shown that they are unable to do this. Figures unearthed by BBC Wales revealed that just 400 social rented single bed homes were available across Wales for people to downsize into. Lord Freud’s own department estimates 40,000 under-occupiers. 

There is, of course, the option of downsizing into the private rented sector. CHC members’ own evidence to the Welsh Affairs committee, supported by a Channel 4 investigation, has shown consistently that this is a more expensive option. You have to wonder how much consideration Lord Freud has given to this false economy when he talks about ‘very expensive things’ for the state to do.

And so, to the argument that those people under-occupying their homes should look for work. 20% of housing benefit claimants already work. Then there are those who can’t. People with disabilities have often been lost in the debates about the ‘bedroom tax’. We’re left with those who can work who, in Wales, find themselves amongst 119,000 unemployed people, with less than 20,000 vacancies up for grabs. Assuming that all applicants are equal, and of course they’re not, that’s a 1 in 6 chance of a job. Statistics show that in some of our most deprived communities such as Blaenau Gwent, that is more like 1 in 23. This is before we consider the circumstances of the applicants, who may well be unable to find any suitable jobs in their area.

Lord Freud made it very clear in his evidence that he believes tenants have a choice when it comes to the ‘bedroom tax’. However, six weeks into the life of the policy, the only choice many face is whether to pay their rent or feed their family.


Aaron Hill
Policy Assistant

The 'bedroom tax' - where is the equality?

As a rule, a household tends to live according to their means, or at least their perception of the resources at their disposal, whether in the social housing sector, private sector, or a home-owner.

If, after being given a three bedroom property, a family decide to fill it with 10 children (and we have seen examples of this in various documentaries recently), so be it. Many families choose to have only one or two children and will consider that they have sufficiently ‘filled’ their three bedroom property.

Unfortunately, due to the message given out by the media, the general public are under the misconception that those renting in the social housing sector have an abundance of spare bedrooms. When I point out to my three bedroom, home-owning friends that if they rented in the social housing sector they and their two same-sex children would be deemed to be under-occupying, the penny drops and the level of UK Government interference in family life is appreciated.

The administrative aspect of what the UK Government are calling ‘under-occupancy’ must now be a logistical administrative nightmare. With concessions being made for children with disabilities, parents with children in the Armed Forces, foster carers and older people, the scale of the administrative task is now surely eroding away any savings which the UK Government maintains might have been made from this reform.

Supporting politicians point to an inequality in the previous system and compare housing benefit under-occupancy regulations with Local Housing Allowance regulations. But the reality is, as many private renters will tell you, they receive an allowance which they can use towards any property they can access. Many private renters can and do find properties larger than their ‘need’ but are still able to cover it with LHA and are therefore able to live according to the means at their disposal. Conversely, in the social sector tenants are subject to a deduction for spare bedrooms, irrespective of where they live.

Now where’s the equality in that?

Clare James
Housing Services Policy Officer

Constitutions Count!

Recently Community Housing Cymru has been consulting on our corporate plan. One of the most interesting reactions was to our assertion that welfare issues are devolved to the National Assembly, as they are in Northern Ireland. As one member rightly said - it is not CHC’s job to campaign for additional powers for the National Assembly!

However, it is CHC’s job to ensure that housing associations have the best possible regulatory environment. Members are worried about the impact of Welfare Reform, particularly the 'bedroom tax' and the impact of direct payments.

In Northern Ireland, the devolution settlement has allowed the executive to decide that housing benefit can still be paid directly to landlords, the remaining benefits that make up Universal Credit can go to two members of a household, and payments can be made fortnightly rather than monthly. Despite strong opposition from Welsh Government to the Universal Credit system, and the way in which it is being implemented, it has not been able to offer Welsh tenants the same opportunity to protect them from these changes.

Certain pay day lenders are planning to treble their business on the back of Welfare 'Reform' - we need to push for constitutional arrangements that save tenants from the sharks. 

Nick Bennett
CHC Group Chief Executive