Delays to Lord Freud’s Pledge

Civil servants are encountering serious complications fulfilling Lord Freud’s pledge to protect vulnerable and disabled people from the ‘unintended consequences’ of welfare reform. Some residents living in supported accommodation are exempt from benefit changes, including the bedroom tax and the benefit cap. But this doesn’t apply to accommodation where the landlord is not the provider of care. The welfare reform minister wrote to housing bodies in April reassuring them he would protect these non-exempt tenants and landlords from ‘unintended consequences’ of the benefit changes ‘through a change to the definition or other means’ and would make proposals ‘at the earliest opportunity’. However, sources said that at a meeting between sector representatives and civil servants, it was confirmed that progress has been much ‘slower than expected’. Read more on Inside Housing.