Tenants benefit from extra support

St Georges Community Housing in Basildon has introduced an improved benefit check service to support housing tenants at the beginning of their tenancy.

The service has helped hundreds of social housing tenants to access the benefits to which they are entitled and speeded up the application process.

Under the previous system, tenants had to apply for their benefits separately after becoming a St Georges tenant, which caused long delays and left many tenants without benefits for several weeks.

The service has improved the benefit application process and since it was launched, over 63 per cent of new tenants were identified as being entitled to housing benefit.

New tenants also benefit from access to other services at the signup stage including the Basildon Council cashier team and other outside support agencies, such as Family Mosaic.
St Georges Community Housing works closely with other organisations such as Basildon District Council’s applications and allocations department, housing benefit, Mosaic, and aids and adaptations teams to ensure tenants are able to begin their tenancies with access to all the services they require.

Steve Shynn, interim chief executive for St Georges commented: “The Sign Up team have started to make a really positive impact, right from the time tenants sign up to their new tenancy. The close working relationship between St Georges Community Housing and Basildon Council Housing Benefit Service, means that over 200 tenants have had their housing benefit paid to them at the very start of their tenancy.”

The Sign Up team has also created a DVD that covers all areas of the business including a guide to St Georges services, such as how to get involved, how to pay your rent and the organisation’s service standards.