12 February 2004 - The rent service joins the Department for Work and Pensions
Work and Pensions Minister Chris Pond announced today that responsibility for The Rent Service, an executive agency, is to transfer from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to the Department for Work and Pensions.
The Minister said the transfer will take effect from 1 April this year.
Chris Pond said: “Having the Rent Service as part of DWP will help us more effectively deliver our exciting Housing Benefit reforms. Our working relationship with the Rent Service has become closer because of the launch of nine Local Housing Allowance pathfinders across the country, testing a standard rate of Housing Benefit paid directly to the tenant which we intend to roll out nationally.
“The Rent Service already plays a key role in the delivery of Housing Benefit and it makes sense for it to come under our umbrella.”
The Rent Service was previously the responsibility of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM). Its work centres around the private rented housing sector in England. The main focus of the organisation’s work is:
- To provide a rental valuation service for Housing Benefit purposes, including: determining local reference rents and single room rents and setting local housing allowances in support of the Housing Benefit Pathfinder Schemes
- To provide fair rent determinations for landlords and tenants
- Providing advice for customers and stakeholders within the public and private sectors.
In a statement to Parliament about the transfer, Yvette Cooper, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at ODPM, explained: “The reasons for transferring The Rent Service to the Department for Work and Pensions are that the vast majority of its work – around 90% –- is on rental valuations to determine how much Housing Benefit (HB) claimants should receive.
“Although this is carried out primarily for local authorities, the policy and legislative lead rests with DWP. The Rent Service, which will retain its executive agency status on transfer, will be better placed to assist with taking forward the on-going work on Housing Benefit reform – announced by the Secretary of State for DWP in October 2002 – if it is operating within DWP.”
The Minister added: “Only a small percentage of The Rent Service’s current workload (around 10%) relates to the ODPM responsibilities on Fair Rents, and this workload continues to decline. The transfer of The Rent Service to DWP will not prevent it from contributing to ODPM’s policy objectives, its role and functions remain the same.”
The Chief Executive of The Rent Service, Charlotte Copeland, also welcomed the announcement, commenting: “We already work closely with the DWP to support the effective delivery of Housing Benefit and this move will strengthen that relationship. I am pleased that The Rent Service will be able to make its contribution to an exciting programme of reform for Housing Benefit.”
Notes for editors
- The Rent Service was established as an executive agency of the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions on 1 October 1999.
- The purpose of the creation of the Agency was to take over the work of the former Rent Officer Service, and bring together a fragmented service operating from over 90 offices in 77 separate registration areas, each of which operated independently of each other.
- The main objective was to improve service to the customer, in terms of the delivery, quality and consistency of rental valuations across England, whilst at the same time reducing the overall cost to the taxpayer.
- The Rent Service currently has 785 staff, operating from 33 offices around England.
- The Rent Service has been working closely with the Housing Benefit “Pathfinders”, launched by the Department for Work and Pensions in November 2003. Housing Benefit in these “Pathfinder” areas will now be based on a Broad Market Rent Area, and a set of Local Housing Allowances based on the size of the property – both provided by The Rent Service.
- To read more about The Rent Service go to: http://www.therentservice.gov.uk.
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