Benefits changes will help poorest families in county

Nov 26 2009 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

AN MP is urging families in West Lothian to check and see if they are entitled to extra benefits.

A change in the rules means that since the beginning of the month Child Benefit payments are no longer counted as income when calculating Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.

This means that many families who have narrowly missed out on these benefits in the past could now qualify for help with their rent and Council Tax.

And Linlithgow and Falkirk East MP Michael Connarty wants people from throughout the county to take advantage of what he called a “great initiative”.

Mr Connarty told the Courier: “This is a massive opportunity to get additional financial help to as many families as possible.

“The change in the benefits system has certainly been welcomed by groups such as Child Poverty Action.

“The new ruling gives a benefit to low income families with earners as they can earn without hitting their tax allowances.

“Latest figures released show that in one in 20 families there is a child in genuine neglect and I think that is a lot to do with poverty.

“Anything we can do to get these families out of poverty has to be welcomed.

“I think this is a recognition that we have not done as good as we wanted to do for these families in the past.

“We have tried but we’ve not brought as many children out of poverty as we would have liked.

“This is another attempt by the government to bring more families out of poverty and I don’t think anyone should be critical of it.”

West Lothian Council are also keen to raise awareness of the change in entitlement and the local authority also wants to encourage applications from families who are possibly now entitled to help through the Housing and Council Tax Benefit schemes.

As part of West Lothian’s take-up strategy the Bathgate Advice Shop will open to the public from 10am till 2pm this coming Saturday, November 28.

Staff from the take-up team will be on hand to help people complete applications and offer expert advice on Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.

Advice Shop staff will also look at potential entitlement to further help through other state benefits and tax credits.

Families who are already receiving Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit at the moment do not need to do anything else.

Their entitlement will be automatically recalculated and any additional benefit that they are entitled will be awarded.

Using existing records West Lothian Council should also been able to identify customers who recently applied unsuccessfully for benefit, but will now qualify for some help under the new rules.

These customers should also have their benefit entitlement recalculated automatically.