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Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102980462
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 48
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Book Description
As part of the measures announced in the emergency budget in June 2010 and the Spending Review of October 2010, the Government announced changes to housing benefit, including reductions to local housing allowance rates for private rented sector claimants and deductions in payments to social sector tenants in under-occupied homes. The Department is actively preparing for the implementation of housing benefit reform, using available data to assess the impact of the reforms on current entitlements. It has estimated that the reforms will result in around two million households receiving lower benefits. Claimants with large numbers of children and those living in areas of high rent such as London will be most affected. The Government intends the reforms to improve incentives to work and lead to positive changes for claimants. Reforms could also lead to hardship or an increased risk of homelessness. How tenants and landlords will respond is highly uncertain at the moment and the Department has commissioned independent research to evaluate the impact of the reforms after implementation and is also working with local authorities to identify the extent to which the reforms will increase the administrative. Uprating local housing allowance by the consumer price index, rather than local rent inflation, could put pressure on the supply of affordable local housing. Downward pressure on rents or increased employment would mitigate the impact but NAO analysis indicates that, on current trends, 48 per cent of local authority areas in England could face shortfalls by 2017
Author: Great Britain: National Audit Office
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780102980462
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 48
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Book Description
As part of the measures announced in the emergency budget in June 2010 and the Spending Review of October 2010, the Government announced changes to housing benefit, including reductions to local housing allowance rates for private rented sector claimants and deductions in payments to social sector tenants in under-occupied homes. The Department is actively preparing for the implementation of housing benefit reform, using available data to assess the impact of the reforms on current entitlements. It has estimated that the reforms will result in around two million households receiving lower benefits. Claimants with large numbers of children and those living in areas of high rent such as London will be most affected. The Government intends the reforms to improve incentives to work and lead to positive changes for claimants. Reforms could also lead to hardship or an increased risk of homelessness. How tenants and landlords will respond is highly uncertain at the moment and the Department has commissioned independent research to evaluate the impact of the reforms after implementation and is also working with local authorities to identify the extent to which the reforms will increase the administrative. Uprating local housing allowance by the consumer price index, rather than local rent inflation, could put pressure on the supply of affordable local housing. Downward pressure on rents or increased employment would mitigate the impact but NAO analysis indicates that, on current trends, 48 per cent of local authority areas in England could face shortfalls by 2017
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215055385
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 48
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Book Description
Housing Benefit helps those on a low income in social or private housing to pay all or part of their rent, and supported some five million households in Great Britain in 2011-12 at a cost of £23.4 billion. Reforms aim to reduce annual expenditure by £6.2 billion by the end of 2014-15. The changes are being introduced without comprehensive modelling of the likely outcome on individuals or on housing supply and with limited understanding of the costs local authorities will incur. Those individuals who receive Housing Benefit are by definition on low incomes and even small reductions in entitlement can have a significant impact on their finances. The reforms are expected cut benefits for two million households. The impact of these reforms on claimants' finances may be compounded by other changes to the welfare system. The Department cannot model the impacts of the reforms as they depend on the actions claimants take in response to changes in their individual circumstances. Instead the Department plans to adopt a reactive approach, changing rules as problems arise. Claimants need to understand now how their benefit payments will change and what options they have to minimise the impact on their finances, for example, by taking in a lodger. Strong efforts must be made by the Department, local authorities and Social Housing organisations to inform claimants about the reforms; however, to date the evidence suggests that they have not been effective. Aldo, the Department has failed to take into account the administrative costs of implementing the reforms.
Author:
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428977198
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 31
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Book Description
Author: Nandita Verma
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Public housing
Languages : en
Pages : 146
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Book Description
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Welsh Affairs Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215062734
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 140
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Book Description
The costs of housing benefit currently makes up more than a tenth of the UK Government's expenditure on welfare, with costs forecast to reach £25 billion by 2014-15. The Government's policy on under-occupation came into force in April 2013 and it is estimated that 40,000 tenants in Wales will be affected; representing 46% of working age housing benefit claimants living in the social rented sector. This is the highest proportion of any region in Great Britain. There could therefore be a shortage of one and two bedroom homes in Wales to re-house everyone who wants to downsize. If local authorities are struggling to find alternative smaller accommodation for Government should undertake a speedy review of this policy. It is also increasingly urgent for the Welsh Government to continue with its house-building programme, with a particular focus on the building of smaller sized properties: obviously this is a long-term solution that would require additional resources. If no social housing is available, tenants may need to move to the private rented sector and private rental costs would need to be monitored. The costs of moving disabled households who require adaptations are also a concern. There may be a case for exempting disabled households from the policy. The Government's proposal to pay housing benefit direct to social tenants under Universal Credit may result in some tenants being unable to manage their rent payments. The Committee recommends that the Government provide for housing benefit to be paid direct to the landlords in certain circumstances, for example after a specified period of non-payment
Author: Christina Beatty
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781908523648
Category : Housing subsidies
Languages : en
Pages : 146
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Book Description
Author: Great Britain. Department for Work and Pensions
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780101776929
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 44
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Book Description
Reforms have vastly improved the administration of Housing Benefit, however difficulties remain. This title sets proposals for further reform to Housing Benefit to address these issues.
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Communities and Local Government Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215561640
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 88
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Book Description
This report examines the implications of the Government's welfare reform plans for the localism agenda. Under these plans, Council Tax Benefit and elements of the discretionary Social Fund will be abolished and replaced by localised schemes run by councils. Restrictions placed on local authorities in designing their own schemes for council tax support will produce only the illusion of local discretion. Combined with a planned 10 per cent cut in spending on support for council tax, the MPs argue these restrictions are likely to squeeze the funds available to support working-age unemployed people. The Committee also expresses concerns about the timetable for change, with local authorities having little time to design their council tax support schemes before they are due to be introduced in 2013. The Committee welcomes plans to localise the discretionary Social Fund, but warns ministers they need to fund the new schemes adequately. Collecting information about how these funds are used would allow residents to hold local authorities to account for how effective their local schemes are. Housing Benefit, which is currently administered by local authorities, is to be incorporated into the centralised Universal Credit system under the Government's plans, an incongruous move for an administration committed to decentralisation. Finally, the Committee urges the Government to think carefully about the proposed system of paying housing costs support directly to tenants under Universal Credit, as this could seriously hamper the ability of social landlords to borrow to invest in their current or new properties.
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Work and Pensions Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215035509
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256
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Book Description
Benefits Simplification : Seventh report of session 2006-07, Vol. 2: Oral and written Evidence
Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Communities and Local Government Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215055545
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 166
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Book Description
The significance, timetable and volume of the proposed welfare reforms should not be underestimated. The changes will see Housing Benefit, currently administered by local authorities, transferring into Universal Credit (UC), to be administered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Moving in the other direction, Council Tax Benefit and parts of the Social Fund will be replaced with schemes designed and administered by local authorities. This report focuses on implementation and the part that local authorities are playing. It identifies four key areas that will be crucial to the successful implementation of the changes. First, these reforms require close interdepartmental working, particularly between the Department for Communities and Local Government and DWP. Second, the Government needs to work with the Local Government Association to assess the cumulative impact of the entire programme on local authorities' resources. Third, for the simplification of benefits, the Government is switching the payment of housing support from the landlord directly to the claimant. Housing associations may therefore face increased rent arrears and collection costs, though the Government has agreed that this may be offset by excluding "vulnerable" tenants and an automatic switchback mechanism (paying rent to the landlord when a tenant's arrears hit a threshold level). In addition, it is vital that DWP makes good on its assurances that the financial viability of housing associations will not be damaged by the welfare reforms. Fourth, there are concerns about the readiness of ICT systems, specifically that the systems for fraud detection within UC were still at early development even though implementation is now advanced
