Benefit Reforms Could Halt All Payments

Charities have warned the proposed universal credit system could result in families losing all their benefit payments while one component is re-calculated if a family’s circumstances changed. Carers UK told the work and pensions select committee a family might lose its housing benefit while another part of the overall payment was being calculated. Family Action said the government should keep the conditions on which each benefit is paid ‘separate within the system’. The Building and Social Housing Foundation, also warned a move from paying housing benefit through councils to a national system would mean there was a loss of local knowledge when it came to claims from Gypsy and Traveller groups and hostel residents. Read more on Inside Housing.

Changes Could Force Poor Families to Move Home More Frequently

Local housing allowance changes could lead to frequent moves for poor families, charity Family Action has warned. In a briefing to the House of Lords, Family Action chief executive Helen Dent said the cumulative impact of changes could lead to a lifetime of uncertainty for families and children. Together with the introduction of welfare caps on large families, Dent is concerned about moves to uprate local housing allowance payments with the consumer price index (CPI). It is feared that when the policy is introduced in 2013, it could leave families worse off than under the current system, which increases payments based on local rent price increases. She said: "With average rental increases outstripping CPI for the past decade it’s not hard to imagine generations on the move, always seeking cheaper accommodation as rental increases bite into family income and housing support fails to cover these increased costs.” Read more on the Children & Young People Now website.