Up To 11,000 Affected By Under-21 Benefit Cap By 2021

Around 1,000 young people will be affected by the cut to housing benefit for under-21s this year, rising to 11,000 by 2020/21. This is the official estimate in the government’s equality analysis of the decision to cut the housing benefit element of Universal Credit for 18 to 21-year-olds, released to Inside Housing today under the Freedom of Information Act. It said: “Due to the various exemptions specified for this, policy analysis suggests that the caseload affected will be relatively small, in the region of 1,000 in 2017/18, growing to 11,000 by 2020/21.” Charities had previously estimated 9,000 young people could be put at risk of homelessness by the policy. Read more on Inside Housing.