Edited by Tracey Copeland
Posted 01.10.12
The National Housing Federation has reported that the Government has at last set out in broad terms their approach to Housing Benefit payments for those residing in supported and specialist housing.
Following Iain Duncan Smith's statement to the DWP Select Committee on the 17th September, the DWP have clarified that additional housing costs for supported and specialist housing will be managed outside the Universal Credit when it is introduced in 2013.
In the short-term, there will be an interim system that is broadly similar to current arrangements. People in supported and specialist accommodation with higher housing costs will continue to be eligible for housing benefit from their local authority.
In the medium term, DWP will design, develop and potentially pilot a more localised system for managing these costs outside the Universal Credit.
Ministers have decided that 'exempt accommodation' should come out of Universal Credit so residents will have no entitlement to housing costs through Universal Credit. DWP see this as the best way forward, to ensure system is flexible enough to cover the various costs within supported housing. They intend using the existing definition of 'exempt accommodation'.
However, big questions still remain about both the initial interim system for the coming years and the longer term more localised system. Issues the National Housing Federation intend to press the DWP on include:
A copy of the NHF's Briefing on Housing Benefit Reform for Supported Housing can be downloaded via this this link.
