There will be "casualties" from the coalition Government's decision to cap the level of housing benefit and local housing allowance, a Tory minister has acknowledged. Baroness Hanham, a junior CLG minister, told peers "It will be up to local authorities to deal with that as sensitively and carefully as they can, if people have to leave where they are." The minister said the review of housing benefit had, like cuts to the budget of the HCA, been "based on the economic situation". "The fact of the matter is that the costs have gone up from £14 billion two or three years ago to £21 billion and that's an enormous sum of money." Labour's shadow minister Lord McKenzie of Luton protested: "I find it difficult to find words strong enough to say how much we deplore the changes to housing benefit." And he demanded: "Why on earth should anyone lose 10% of their benefit just because they are unemployed for a year?" Read the full story on 24dash.
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