Councillors Approve Charging Framework For B&B Accommodation

At The Highland Council’s Housing and Social Work Committee yesterday (Wednesday 9 November) members approved a report proposing the introducing of a charging framework to enable the Council to recover some of the costs of providing B&B and furniture storage for homeless applicants.

The new charges will be up to a maximum of £161.30 for rent per household per week with an additional set amount per week for the costs of heating, lighting and breakfast. The report also set out a charging framework for the storage of furniture and Councillors agreed to the proposed one-off sum of £60 for transporting furniture to storage and £10 per week for storage with officials given the discretion to reduce these charges depending on the amount of furniture involved.

The Chairman of the Housing and Social Work Committee, Councillor Margaret Davidson said: "We’ve been looking at this issue for some time and by having a framework in place we can ensure that charges are fair and consistent across the Highland area. Many homeless people are on Housing Benefit and if they are on maximum housing benefit there will be no rent charge made to them. If they don’t get Housing Benefit or only get some Housing Benefit then we will pass on the difference between the rent charge and the benefit paid up to a maximum of £161.30."

During the discussion Members stressed that anyone who will have difficulty paying these charges can discuss the matter with officers and come to a repayment agreement. Councillors also askedthat a review period be built in to see how the new framework of charges was working both for applicants and housing officers.

Helen Ross, Head of Housing Policy said: "Our aim is to work with people to ensure that they claim all the benefit they are entitled to and to ensure that they can manage repayments. Full information about the charges will be available from our Housing Officers and from our network of Service Points and anyone who has difficulty paying this charge should come and talk to us about arranging gradual payment."

The charging framework will come into effect immediately.