IMPACT has succeeded in its campaign to keep the operation of the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme in public hands after local government management agreed that Limerick city and county council will administer the programme on behalf of all local authorities.

There were fears that the work, which was transferred from the Department of Social Protection last year, would be outsourced. IMPACT argued against this, and now the Local Government Management Association has confirmed to the union that HAP will be provided in-house by direct labour as a shared service.

HAP is a rent support scheme where local authorities make payments directly to landlords and the tenant pays a smaller contribution – based on income and ability to pay – to the local authority. Roughly 150 people are employed to deliver the service.