Posted 05.11.12
A new report from the National Audit Office (NAO) considers how the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) will handle the challenges of implementing Housing Benefit reforms.
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.
Key findings of the report include:
Reforms will result in around two million households receiving lower benefits, with a smaller number of households receiving substantially less.
Around 85% of households will lose £15 or less. Claimants with large numbers of children and those living in high rent areas such as London will be most affected.
In the social rented sector, 660,000 claimants with one or more extra bedrooms could lose between 14 and 25% of their Housing Benefit (an average loss of £14 a week).
The overall benefit cap will affect 56,000 households losing on average £91 per week.
Reforms will put pressure on the supply of affordable local housing.
From April 2013, Local Housing Allowance limits will be uprated to the new 30th percentile of local rent levels or if lower by the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
The introduction of the CPI into the calculation could lead to shortages in many local authority areas of private rented accommodation with rents at or below Local Housing Allowance rates.
Downward pressure on rents or increased employment would mitigate the impact, but on current trends 48 per cent of local authority areas in England could face shortfalls by 2017.
The report, Managing the Impact of Housing Benefit Reform, can be accessed via this link.
Posted 07.11.12
Practical preparations for the bedroom tax and the reforms that follow it are the focus of new guidance published by CIH Scotland.
Undertaken with financial support from the Scottish Government, the free guidance is aimed at supporting landlords in the crucial preparations needed to assess and then try to limit the impact of the reforms on tenants and landlords.
One focus of the guidance is on the importance of face to face visits to tenants to establish exactly who will be affected, ensure that tenants are facing up to realities, and work with tenants to help them budget and pay their rent.
The guidance - Preparing for the Bedroom Tax and Beyond - can be downloaded via this link.
