Housing benefit changes brought in by the Government last April have cost tenants of a West Midlands housing association £100,000 – with a further £100,000 cut expected next year. Non-dependant deductions (NDDs) – which range from £10-£60 – is the amount councils reduce housing benefit by if a non-dependant lives with the claimant, usually a child, daughter or elderly relative over 18. Under Labour, non-dependant deduction rates were frozen. However, the government is increasing them in stages so that by 2014, they will catch up to the levels they would have reached if they had not been frozen. Simon Brooke, head of tenancy support at WM Housing Group, which owns 23,500 properties across the West Midlands, says the changes have already cost tenants £100,000 a year in reduced housing benefit. Read more on 24dash.
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