The Rent Service
House of Lords Heffernan Judgment
- The House of Lords gave its judgment in the case of R (on the application of Heffernan) v. The Rent Service on 30th July 2008.
- The House of Lords allowed the appeal by a majority of three to two. However, there is no reason to believe that the decision will have a substantial impact at an operational level. In broad terms, the House of Lords has provided concise guidance in relation to the number of neighbourhoods that may properly be included in a locality for the purposes of paragraph 4(6)(a) to (c) of the Rent Officers (Housing Benefit Functions) Order 1997, as amended (“the Order”). A copy of the judgment is available at:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200708/ldjudgmt/jd080730/heffer-1.htm
- DWP and The Rent Service recognise that the judgment provides clear and practical guidance in relation to the interpretation of some of the more complex issues contained in the Order.
Practical Implications
- As a result of the judgment, The Rent Service will take this opportunity to review the guidance that it gives its rent officers in the setting of localities and BRMAs. [The Rent Registration Service in Scotland and Rent Officer Wales will be fully consulted as a part of this process in an effort to ensure agreement across the three services] All existing locality and BRMA boundaries will remain as they are while the guidance review takes place. In order to give the House of Lords judgment our fullest consideration, the guidance review process is expected to take several weeks.
- There is no need for local authorities to take any action following this judgment. It will not immediately affect any locality boundaries in any local authority area, nor does it affect the benefit rates that have been derived from local reference rents within those localities.
- In England, the current programme of locality reviews will come to an end with immediate effect, where a review has commenced The Rent Service will be making direct contact to with the local authorities involved. As set out above, The Rent Service is now reviewing its guidance relating to this process. As soon as new guidance that fully reflects the decision of the House of Lords has been completed an entirely new scheme of reviews will commence. Where any locality/BRMA changes are proposed, any local authority concerned will be consulted.
- We will keep you informed of developments as soon as possible. If you have any concerns about this issue, please contact Norman Foster at The Rent Service (norman.foster@therentservice.gov.uk) or Penny Higgins at the DWP (penny.higgins@dwp.gsi.gov.uk)
30 July 2008
To view this judgement in pdf format click here