Rising Rents And Low Wages Fuel £25bn Housing Benefit Bill

Britain’s estimated £25bn housing benefit bill for 2015-16 is being fuelled by soaring rents in the most prosperous parts of the country as workers struggle to find affordable accommodation, new research has found. Welfare spending is growing rapidly in boom areas of the South-east of England, largely driven by the growing cost of housing benefit payments. A report calculates that almost one million jobs have been created in the UK’s cities since 2010, but average annual wages have dropped by £1,300 per person, making it more difficult for workers to make ends meet. Despite the record employment levels, spending on housing benefit in better-off cities such as London, Cambridge, Bournemouth and Milton Keynes has risen 50 per cent more than in lower-wage cities such as Glasgow and Liverpool. Read more on the Independent website.