LGA Calls On Government To Rethink Pay To Stay Policy

The Local Government Association is urging ministers to rethink the Pay to Stay policy. It comes as new analysis reveals that more than 70,000 social housing tenants could face rent rises averaging £1,000 a year under the policy. The LGA is warning the policy would create a bureaucracy causing stress to families, further costs to councils, and financial returns to the Government far lower than it originally forecast. It is also warning administrative complexities now make implementation from April 2017 impossible. Councils need to invest millions in new IT systems, hire new staff and write to more than a million social housing tenants to try and understand household income and approve individual tenant bills by January.  Read more on the LGA website.