Reverse Cuts Or Backing For Universal Credit May Collapse

Public confidence in universal credit will collapse without an urgent £3bn cash injection to reverse cuts that are set to leave millions of families worse off, an influential thinktank has warned.  The Resolution Foundation says a spree of Treasury-driven welfare cuts since 2015 has left universal credit unable to meet its original aims of strengthening work incentives and supporting the incomes of low-income families. It warns that the current fragile political consensus in support of universal credit risks breaking down unless ministers refinance the reform and fix multiple design and implementation problems. Download a copy of Universal Remedy: ensuring Universal Credit is fit for purpose from the Resolution Foundation website.

DWP: Benefit Cap 'Not Designed As Cost-Saving Measure'

The lowered overall household benefits cap was never “designed as a cost-saving” measure, a DWP spokesperson has said. The government has insisted that the total household benefit cap – which is reduced from £26,000 to £20,000 (£23,000 in London) – was designed to get people back into work and was not designed as a cost-saving measure. This is despite the cap being included in a list of measures last year to enable former chancellor George Osborne to achieve £12bn of welfare cuts. The DWP was responding to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) today that suggested any cost-saving from the policy would be “trivial”. Read the IFS report on their website.

Corbyn Slams Universal Credit As ‘Institutional Barbarity’

The government is once again under pressure from outside about cuts being made to a key part of the welfare system.  Jeremy Corbyn focused on the cuts being made to Universal Credit, which he accused Theresa May of trying to “slip them through the back door.” The PM replied: “The introduction of universal credit was an important reform.” Corbyn hit back on the cuts, saying they are the same ones David Cameron tried to push through on tax credits. He also highlighted research that stated three million families will be £1,000 worse off from the cuts.  Corbyn highlighted research, which underlined the relationship between benefits sanctions and the rise in use of food banks, as well as one in five UC sanctions ending in a claimant becoming homeless. Read more on 24housing.

Women's Refuges To Be Exempt From Benefits Cap

Safe houses for women and children escaping domestic violence are to be exempted from the Government's planned welfare cuts, Theresa May has said. The Prime Minister came under pressure from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to protect funding for women's refuges in the UK, amid fears that two-thirds would close when the changes come into force. Mr Corbyn warned that such a move would be "devastating" for the "very vulnerable" women in the refuges and place them in danger. Mrs May confirmed the Government is working to exempt refuges from the cap. Read more on the Care Appointments website.

Welfare Cap Would Decimate Women’s Refuges

More than two-thirds of refuges for victims of domestic abuse in England and Wales will close unless these lifeline services are made exempt from a new government welfare spending cap. Actress and Women’s Aid patron Julie Walters made the claim and highlighted how refuges save lives as the charity’s chief executive pleaded with ministers to reconsider the proposal. Women’s Aid said a planned blanket cap on housing benefit will “decimate” refuges for women fleeing domestic abuse. Mrs Walters, said the Government must exempt refuges from the cuts “or live with the consequences of more women being killed”.  Read more on the Yorkshire Post website.

22,592 Private Renting Households Evicted Over The Past 12 Months

Shelter says the “terrible impact” of welfare cuts and “chronic lack” of affordable homes is reflected in the 22,592 private renting households in England evicted by bailiffs in the last twelve months – the equivalent of 56,480 people and 88% higher than the number five years ago. Shelter spoke out on the release of latest mortgage and landlord repossession statistics from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) this week. The loss of a private tenancy remains the single biggest cause of homelessness in the country.  Read more on 24dash.

Tenant Evictions Reach Highest Level On Record

The number of tenants evicted from their homes by bailiffs reached a record high in 2015, according to official figures for England and Wales showing that 42,728 households in rented accommodation were forcibly removed. Housing campaigners blamed welfare cuts and the shortage of affordable homes for the 2% rise in repossessions over the year, revealed in figures from the Ministry of Justice. More than half the evictions are thought to have been by private landlords. The data show the number of evictions increased by 53% over the five years from 2010, to the equivalent of more than 170 a day. In England, 19,093 evictions were by social landlords while 5,919 were by private landlords. Download the figures from the GovUK website.

Housing Benefit Cuts Would 'Affect Schemes For Vulnerable'

Housing projects helping more than 400,000 vulnerable adults face closure because of government welfare cuts. The Treasury's decision to cap housing benefit at the level available for private rents makes many schemes unviable, according to the research carried out by housing providers. The housing cap is part of a £12bn package of cuts from the welfare bill. The government refuted the figures and called the claims "spurious". The Labour Party, which commissioned the research, said under the proposed cuts an annual shortfall of £400m would put the frail and elderly at risk of losing their homes. Read more on the BBC website.

Osborne Abandons Cuts To Universal Credit After IDS Quit Threat

Mr Osborne will now seek deeper cuts in housing benefits as he aims to meet his pre-election pledge of cutting the welfare budget by £12bn. Mr Duncan Smith allegedly threatened to resign as Work and Pensions Secretary if the savings were found through cuts to his Universal Credit system. Claimants currently lose 65p in every extra pound they earn as benefits are withdrawn. Following £2bn cuts to Universal Credit, claimants would have lost 75p in every extra pound. Mr Duncan Smith is reportedly working on a shared ownership scheme in a bid to drive down the housing benefit bill, where tenants living in local authority housing for three years would be granted 70% of the equity in the home and rent the remaining 30%. Read more on the Politics Home website.

Welfare Cuts Will Destroy Benefit Of New Living Wage

A record 6.5 million people – almost a quarter of UK workers – will remain trapped on poverty pay next year, despite George Osborne’s 50p-an-hour increase in the national minimum wage. The chancellor announced the introduction of a “national living wage” in his July budget. But the new national minimum will still fall short of an actual “living wage”, calculated on the basis of the cost of basic essentials, including housing, food and transport, that has been the centrepiece of a long-running public campaign. Despite Osborne’s announcement, forecasts are that the number of people struggling to survive on less than the living wage will continue to rise, hitting 6.5 million people, or 24.4% of employees, in 2016 – up from 5 million, or less than 20% of workers, in 2012. Read more on the Guardian website.

Legally Binding Child Poverty Targets to Be Scrapped

The Government is to repeal its legally binding child poverty targets, Iain Duncan Smith has announced. The Work and Pensions Secretary said the law was driving government policy to reduce child poverty on an “unsustainable” path. “How we measure things matters because it influences what governments focus on and what we target,” he said. The announcement comes as Mr Duncan Smith prepares to make £12bn welfare cuts that the Government’s own child poverty advisors have said are highly likely to raise child poverty. “The best interests of children were not central to the development of these policies and children's views were not sought,” the UK Children’s Commissioners’ report, handed to the United Nations said. Read more on the Independent website.

Number of Homeless Families Housed In B&Bs Rises 300% In Five Years

The number of homeless families housed in bed and breakfast accommodation has increased by more than 300% in the past five years, according to official figures that lay bare the impact of austerity cuts on housing for the most vulnerable families in England. By the end of March, 2,570 families were living in B&Bs, an increase of 35% since last year and a staggering 308% rise on the same date in 2010, when there were 630. The numbers living in B&Bs for more than six weeks more than doubled over the past year alone. Campaigners warned it showed that local authorities were running out of capacity to house families in need – a situation that will be made worse by the government’s £12bn welfare cuts. Read more on the Guardian website.