Checkatrade Boss Warns Of Shortage Of Skilled Trade Workers

A shortage of skilled trade workers has developed as European Union migrants leave the UK and demand for home improvements rises, the founder of Homeserve has said. Chief executive Richard Harpin said the shortages were "pretty bad" across the country, not just in construction but in other trades too. He wants the government to put more trades on its jobs shortage list. The Home Office said employers should invest in UK workers. Mr Harpin, whose company also operates Checkatrade, told BBC Radio Four's Today programme he believed shortages were being caused by "mainly EU migrant workers going home". Read more on the BBC website.

Checkatrade boss warns of shortage of skilled trade workers - BBC News

59% Of Existing EU Construction Workers ‘Would Be Ineligible’

59% of current EU migrants in the construction sector would have been found ineligible under new government immigration plans. The new system will only allow those who gain enough points through skills and qualifications to be granted a visa. The think tank IPPR has analysed government data to estimate the share of EU migrant workers in the UK who would be deemed eligible for a skilled work visa under the proposed system. The research found that in total, around 69% of EU migrants currently working in the UK would be ineligible for a skilled work visa if the future immigration rules were to apply to them. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/59-of-existing-eu-construction-workers-would-be-illegible/

Social Rented Housing: EU Nationals – Parliamentary Written Answer

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Answer of 7 July 2015 to Question 5576, on social rented housing: EU nationals, whether it remains his Department's policy to introduce a four-year residency requirement for EU migrants following the decision of the UK to leave the EU.

Gavin Barwell: The Government remains of the view that social housing should be for those with a strong connection to the local community. Statutory guidance issued in December 2013 already ensures that only people who have lived in their area for at least two years can apply to their council for social housing. We are considering whether to go further and adopt a stronger residency test by extending this to four years.

Social Rented Housing: EU Nationals – Parliamentary Written Answer

Deidre Brock:  To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how he intends to prohibit (a) social housing providers and (b) housing associations from accepting as residents citizens from other EU countries who do not meet the criteria of a four-year residency before accessing social housing.

Brandon Lewis: The Government will introduce a new residency requirement, so that EU migrants cannot be considered for social housing unless they have been living here for at least four years; and made clear that this would be taken forward as part of wider EU treaty negotiation on welfare changes.

Housing Crisis and Migrant Surge Add To Spike in Number of Rough Sleepers

The number of people sleeping rough in London has risen by 16 per cent, including a 90 per cent surge in the number of Romanians on the streets, according to new figures. Almost 7,600 people were seen sleeping on London’s streets by outreach workers in 2014-15, compared with 6,508 the year before. The official figures showed almost 57 per cent of rough sleepers were foreign nationals, with a third of the total coming from Central and Eastern Europe. Romanians were the single biggest nationality, after British, representing 19 per cent of the total, the equivalent of 1,388 people. This was up 90 per cent from the previous year when there were just 730 Romanian rough sleepers. Read more on the Evening Standard website.

EEA Migrants: Access to Social Housing

This Commons Library Note gives an overview of EEA migrants' eligibility to apply for social housing in England and considers the question of whether these people have preferential access to social housing and can 'jump the housing queue.' Download the CLN from the Parliament website.

Concerns Raised Over Universal Credit Ban for EU Migrants

New EU migrants arriving in the UK will be prevented from claiming universal credit. The new regulations mean that no EU households will be entitled to benefits without having worked in the UK first. The DWP says the move follows action it has already taken to halve the amount of time EU jobseekers can claim other benefits such as jobseeker’s allowance, child benefit and child tax credit. It also means that if they don’t have a job after three months they will lose their right to reside in the UK. New migrant jobseekers are also now unable to claim housing benefit. Read more on 24dash.

Tories Plan To Deny EU Migrants Out-Of-Work Benefits under Universal Credit

Ministers are preparing plans to bar jobseekers from the European Union from receiving all out-of-work benefits once the universal credit system is completely introduced. Although universal credit – a merger of as many as six separate benefits – is unlikely to apply to existing claimants until as late as 2018, it will apply to new claimants sooner. The government is likely to argue that restricting access to universal credit is not in breach of EU rules since it is not a benefit primarily designed to facilitate access to the labour market. As a result, it is believed that access to its out-of-work benefits could be restricted without interfering with the free movement of labour, a central pillar of the European Union. Read more on the Guardian website.

Millionaire Landlords Begin Evicting Large Families

Britain’s most controversial landlords, Fergus and Judith Wilson, whose property empire extends to nearly 1,000 homes in Kent, have begun evicting families with more than two children, banned tenants on zero-hours contracts and thrown out extended families where the grandmother comes to stay. Last January, the Wilsons sparked a national outcry after it was revealed they were evicting anyone on housing benefit. They sent the eviction notices to 200 tenants, saying they preferred eastern European migrants who defaulted much less frequently than single mums on welfare. But, in a bizarre twist, the Wilsons have begun evicting many of their eastern European tenants – because they are having too many children. “I have taken the decision to evict all families with more than two children and also three-generation households,” said Fergus Wilson in a statement sent to the Guardian. Read more on the Guardian website.

Housing Benefit Ban for Jobless Migrants

Jobless migrants from within the European Union will be denied access to housing benefit from April this year, senior government ministers have said. Home Secretary Theresa May and Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said it would prevent exploitation of the UK welfare system. They will also only be able to claim jobseeker's cash for six months, unless they have a "genuine" chance of work. Labour said it was "supportive" but needed more details of the policy. A three-month ban on claims for out-of-work benefits is already in force. Read more on the BBC website.

Buy-To-Let Tycoon Evicts Tenants on Benefits In Favour Of Eastern Europeans

A buy-to-let tycoon has banned housing benefit tenants in favour of Eastern European migrants who he says are more likely to pay their rent on time. Fergus Wilson has sent eviction notices to 200 tenants on housing benefit and said he would not accept any more welfare applicants. He said his decision was based on experience as he had found Eastern Europeans were less likely to default on rent payments than Britons on housing benefit. Read more on the Daily Mail website.

EU Migrants: Entitlement to Housing Assistance

This Commons Library Standard Note gives an overview of EU migrants' entitlement to social housing in England and considers the question of whether these people 'jump the housing queue.'  Download a copy of the note form the House of Commons website.

Homelessness Experts Back 'Before You Go' Information Campaign

Housing Minister Grant Shapps has backed a new pilot to tackle the increase of people from Central and Eastern Europe becoming homeless on England's streets. The Before You Go campaign, run by the Passage in partnership with Thames Reach and Homeless Link, will aim to reach people in their home countries before they leave for British shores and make them aware of the dangers of coming to the UK without appropriate support in place before. Read more on the CLG website.

Accession State Workers Get New Housing Rights

On 1st May, rules that affected the housing rights of workers from Poland and the other 'A8' countries that joined the EU in 2004 were changed, so that they now have the same rights as other EU workers. Before 1st May, accession state workers (except the self-employed) had to register on the Worker Registration Scheme. This scheme and the need to register has now lapsed. While the scheme existed, workers who lost their job ceased to be entitled to welfare benefits, and there was a growing problem of destitution among those who (for example) could not get housing benefit to access a hostel bed. From 1st May people from the accession states (but not yet those from Bulgaria or Romania) have the same freedom of movement as other nationals from EU countries. Broadly speaking, if they are working and lose their job, subject to various conditions they are still entitled to housing and welfare benefits. This means that, whereas before 1st May a Polish or Latvian worker (for example) who lost their job and applied as homeless to the council would have not been entitled to help - they now are. Read more on the CIH website.

Charities Demand Clear Strategy on EU Migrants

Homelessness charities have warned the government that it must have a clear strategy for dealing with European migrants if it is to end rough sleeping by the 2012 target.  A spokesman for Homeless Link said it believed European migration ‘may well be the issue that might prevent us from achieving our goal of ending rough sleeping by 2012’. Homelessness charity Broadway’s annual report documented a 6% increase in rough sleeping on the streets of the capital from 3,472 in 2009/09 to 3,673 in 2009/10, which it says was driven by rises in the numbers from central and eastern Europe.  From 1 May next year, migrants from A8 countries, which joined the EU in 2004, will be entitled to the same rights as people from other EU countries, including housing benefit. Read more on Inside Housing.

Advisers Get Clearer View of Migrant Rights

A newly revised website that gives clear guidance on the housing rights of new migrants is formally launched today (6 October) by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH). The housing rights website has been completely rewritten and re-launched to provide an even better guide to housing and housing benefits rights for refugees, migrants and other new arrivals to England.  The guidance on housing benefit is now more comprehensive, and the pages for advisers have been comprehensively extended and now include many examples of case law. The site now provides extremely clear and comprehensive guidance on entitlements for different types of immigration status, with details on the differences that apply to different kinds of European migrant and other complex issues that arise. Go to the site by clicking on the CIH logo below.