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Title: Tenants Benefit Author: St Leger Homes  ID & Publication: 20101211007 ~ The-Villager.co.uk  Area: Doncaster  Subject: Community News

More than 160 Doncaster Council tenants have been able to access additional benefits thanks to two of the borough’s organisations.

St. Leger Homes of Doncaster, the organisation that manages around 21,000 homes for Doncaster Council, and the council’s Housing Benefit team identified that nearly 170 tenants were likely to be able to claim Housing and Council Tax Benefit after changes to how benefits are calculated in November last year. The Government stopped counting Child Benefit as an income – meaning 169 tenants were eligible for benefits or extra benefits.

It meant that these tenants could between them tap into £518,965 from a mixture of additional and retrospective benefits. It means in future the additional benefits will make them, on average, £56 per week better off.

Matthew Larner, St. Leger Homes’ financial inclusion manager, said: ‘Sometimes tenants do not claim benefits because they do not think they are entitled to them. We worked in partnership with the Housing Benefit team at the council to identify tenants who could tap into benefits and who have subsequently benefited from our work. We are here to support tenants and this extra money will really help them.’

Councillor Mark Thompson, Cabinet Member for Corporate Services, Environment and Sustainability, Waste Disposal and Recycling, said: ‘It is important during these difficult times that people claim the benefits they are due. This is a good example of the council working in partnership with St. Leger Homes of Doncaster to help support families in the borough.’

Any tenants and residents wondering if they are eligible for benefits can visit the SLHD Moneywise website which contains a benefits calculator. The site can be viewed at www.slhdmoneywise.co.uk and also covers topics such as managing money problems.

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