MPs: Protect Housing Allowance From Benefit Sanctions

The government must stop deducting money from Universal Credit claimants’ allowances if they have already been sanctioned, a group of MPs have said. The Work and Pensions Select Committee has recommended that deductions from a claimant’s allowance for things such as rent arrears be postponed if a person has already been sanctioned. The MPs argue that the combination of deductions and sanctions can have a knock-on impact on a claimant’s housing and child benefit allowance which is supposed to be protected under the current regime. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/mps-protect-housing-allowance-from-benefit-sanctions-58927

Cross-Party Groups Of MPs Call For Change To Supported Housing Plans

Two cross-party select committees have “strongly recommended” the government rethinks its plans to introduce a top-up fund for short-term supported housing controlled by councils. The HCLG Select Committee and the Work and Pensions Select Committee chairs wrote to Heather Wheeler, the junior minister responsible for supported housing. They called for the government to only fund emergency accommodation through a top-up fund and include all other short-term supported housing under its ‘sheltered rent’ plan. Under the proposals a sheltered rent would apply to extra care and sheltered housing, but short-term accommodation up to two years, such as women’s refuges and homelessness shelters, would be funded through council grants. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:SC6JcyE9W2sJ:https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/home/home/cross-party-groups-of-mps-call-for-change-to-supported-housing-plans-54511+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&safe=vss

Gauke Announces Universal Credit Phone Line Will Be Free

David Gauke has told the DWP Committee the phone line for claimants of Universal Credit is now free. The phone line was one of the aspects of Universal Credit that Jeremy Corbyn picked up on in PMQs, with pressure growing from there. The phone lines previously were 55p per minute, with some critics saying they were at premium levels. Gauke opened the evidence session in the DWP committee, saying: “There has been criticism over the telephone calls. Contrary to some reports these are not premium lines and DWP does not make a profit from it. However, this telephone line is now going to be free to call.” Read more on 24housing.

Universal Credit Delays Forcing People To Food Banks

Huge built-in delays in the processing of universal credit benefit claims have turned the government’s flagship welfare reform into a “recruiting sergeant for food banks”, according to Labour MP Frank Field. Field, the chair of the Commons work and pensions select committee, said the minimum six-week payment period faced by new UC claimants led to reliance on emergency food parcels, triggered debt and rent arrears, and caused health problems. Field has written to the work and pensions secretary, Damian Green, asking him to cut the lengthy and stressful wait for payments faced by penniless claimants. Read more on the Guardian website.

Right To Buy Puts 40% Of Ex-Council Homes In Private Rental

Forty per cent of ex-council flats sold through right to buy are being rented out more expensively by private landlords, the Commons communities and local government select committee has found. In the committee’s report MPs expressed concerns about “unresolved issues” with the government’s proposed extension of right to buy to housing associations, and a levy on the sale of vacant council homes. It found that in some areas councils could be forced to sell up to 97% of properties upon vacancy. Clive Betts, chair of the committee, said: “We are concerned that there are a number of unresolved issues with the government’s policy which could have a detrimental effect on the provision of accessible and affordable housing, particularly affordable rented property.” Read more on the Guardian website.

MPs Call For Action Over 'Unfair' DHP Criteria

The DWP “must address” local Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) criteria which have “unintentionally and unfairly excluded” disabled people from financial support, a parliamentary committee has concluded. The Work and Pensions select committee report concludes time-limited DHPs are “inadequate protection” for people the government “did not intend” welfare reforms to affect. The report states this applies to parents or guardians who care full-time for their severely disabled grown-up children and therefore cannot work, and cannot find any suitable cheaper accommodation, and yet are currently subject to the bedroom tax. The report warned that “expansion of local discretion…has given rise to concerns about the coverage and adequacy of the safety net.” Download a copy of the report from the Parliament website.

Cameron under Pressure from Tory MPs to Review 'Bedroom Tax'

David Cameron faces growing pressure to review the “bedroom tax” after Conservative MPs reported the controversial policy proved hugely unpopular on the doorsteps during the general election campaign. The impact of the charge since its introduction two years ago is also set to be examined by a Commons Select Committee. The “spare-room subsidy” is coming under fresh scrutiny amid complaints it is undermining the Prime Minister’s attempts to project the Tories as a “one nation” party. Conservative opponents are warning that the shortage of one-bedroom properties for tenants to move into from larger homes is making the policy difficult to administer in parts of the country. Read more on the Independent website.

Kris Hopkins Says Disabled People Hit By Bedroom Tax Need to Change Their Ways

Housing Minister Kris Hopkins said some disabled people were having difficulty adjusting to the “cultural change” of how they spend their money.  His comments to the Work and Pensions Select Committee were branded “shocking” by Labour MPs.  Lord Freud revealed that 23,000 disabled people who need to stay in their adapted homes have been hit by the tax. But Mr Hopkins said some of them were having difficulties with the tax because they were “set in their ways” in relation to their spending. “There are vulnerable individuals, there are people who are set in their ways about the way that they spend and use their money,” he said to gasps of astonishment from MPs on the committee. Read more on the Daily Mirror website.

Hopkins and Freud Face Commons Inquiry into Housing Costs

Housing Minister Kris Hopkins and Lord Freud have been called to give evidence to a House of Commons inquiry into housing costs on 12 February. The Work and Pensions select committee will question the minister on a range of subjects including:

• How the government intends to support vulnerable people affected by the bedroom tax and the benefit cap

• Government plans to ensure all supported accommodation is exempt from the bedroom tax and the benefit cap

• Affordability of suitable accommodation in the private sector for housing benefit claimants

• Discretionary housing payment allocations and sufficiency of funds in the future

Read more on 24dash.

Government MPs Think Disabled Are Exempt from Bedroom Tax

The chair of the House of Commons Work and Pensions select committee says coalition MPs are oblivious to the bedroom tax's impact on disabled people. Dame Anne Begg claims "Many of the government's own backbenchers believe that disabled people living in houses specifically adapted for them are exempt. They aren't. They have to apply for a discretionary housing payment to make up the shortfall." Dame Anne also claims that there are a number of situations where the government's welfare reforms might even be costing the government more. Read more on 24dash.

Universal Credit IT System Can't Yet Cope With Couples

The computer system used to run Universal Credit cannot cope with the “complicated” lives of thousands of benefits claimants, officials have admitted. Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, was forced to deny that the Coalition’s flagship welfare reform is a “debacle” despite officials conceding that the IT system was unable to cope with couples and families. In a heated session in front of the Commons’ work and pensions select committee, he defended the scheme, saying: “There is no debacle on Universal Credit.” He said that much of the criticism about the project’s financial failings had been “bogus nonsense”. Read more on the Daily Telegraph website.

MPs to Quiz Duncan Smith over Universal Credit Delays

Problems surrounding the implementation of a central pillar of government changes to the welfare system are to be examined by MPs. Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith will be asked to explain why Universal Credit will not be paid to about 700,000 people until after a planned 2017 deadline.  The Work and Pensions Select Committee will also ask about IT system problems.

Mr Duncan Smith told the Committee in July and the Commons in September that the 2017 plan remained in place. But he has now said some people receiving Employment Support Allowance may not be transferred in time. Read more on the BBC website.

Bedroom Tax Could Be a 'Perverse Disincentive to Work,'

The government's controversial bedroom tax could discourage people from working, a group of MPs have been warned. Speaking to a select committee of MPs, a housing association chief executive warned that people in part-time work are punished disproportionately by the policy and many could be better off unemployed.  Those only receiving partial housing benefit because they are in part-time work are penalised the same amount as those who receive housing benefit that covers their full rent amount. The bedroom tax could therefore be a "perverse disincentive to work," said Carol Matthews.  Read more on the Guardian website.

Parliament Talks Social Housing

'Parliament Talks Social Housing’ is the latest in a series of free events and promotional activities highlighting Parliament’s role in debating and challenging government policy.  A free event in Brighton on Friday 13 September 2013 will demonstrate Parliament’s key role in examining housing policy and how it challenges the Government on these issues.

Meet Parliamentarians and experts from the Houses of Parliament and find out:

*How MPs and Lords hold the Government to account and examine housing policy in Parliament.

*What select committees do and how they scrutinise Government policy on housing.

*Where you can access Parliamentary research and information on housing.

*How you can engage with Parliament and get your voice heard.

Read more on the Parliament website.

IDS to Be Grilled By MPs over Misuse of Benefit Statistics

Back in May, it was reported that Iain Duncan Smith would be grilled by MPs over his misuse of benefit statistics and, after his latest crimes against data, the good news is that a date has now been confirmed.   In response to an email from Jayne Linney, who started a Change.org petition demanding parliament hold Duncan Smith to account, Anne Begg, the Labour chair of the work and pensions select committee, replied:

    ‘I can confirm that IDS will be appearing before the Work and Pensions Select Committee on Wednesday 4th September where he will be asked questions about the DWP’s Annual Report and the Department’s use of statistics.’

Read more on the New Statesman website.

Universal Credit Docked To Recover Rent Arrears

A mechanism to automatically recover rent arrears is to be introduced alongside the direct payment of housing benefit to tenants. Details released by the government explain that under its universal credit reform landlords will be able to contact the DWP to request benefits designed to cover housing costs are paid to them once a prescribed level of rent arrears is reached.

At this point the department will also start to recover the arrears by docking universal credit payments.  In its response to a select committee report on the implementation of universal credit, the government says deductions can be up to 5 per cent under existing laws, but it ‘is considering whether this level is appropriate for universal credit, or if it should be increased in the future’.  Download a copy of the government’s response from the DWP website.

Universal Credit 'Switchback' Details Published

The government has responded to a CLG Select Committee report with details about how it intends to 'switchback' direct payment to landlords when tenants have been in arrears for two months. The government's response confirms that the "DWP can make rent payments direct to the landlord if a claimant reaches a certain level of rent arrears". Currently this "will assume a two month arrears trigger point, subject to review pending the outcome of the [Direct Payment] projects". To pay back the arrears built up before the switchback, "Deductions of up to 5 per cent of the standard allowance....can be made ....under current regulations. The Government is considering whether this level is appropriate for Universal Credit, or if it should be increased in future." The report also states that the six month extension of the Direct Payment projects will "monitor persistent under payment by tenants and triggers, and will help further inform the structure/design of the support network being developed for Universal Credit claimants."  Download a copy of the response from the Gov.uk website.

MPs Criticise Help to Buy Scheme

A group of MPs has called into question the government’s new flagship mortgage guarantee scheme. In a scathing report, the Treasury select committee has said that the Help to buy scheme, hailed by George Osborne in last month’s Budget as a way to help first-time buyers and prop up house prices, ‘may have a number of unintended consequences’.  MPs said that it was ‘by no means certain’ that the scheme ‘will ultimately be in the interests of first time buyers’, as intended. They also warned that there was no guarantee that increased demand as a result of the scheme would result in increased supply.  Read more on Inside Housing.

OBR Cool on Help to Buy Scheme

The Government’s Help to Buy scheme will not have a major impact on house building, the Office for Budget Responsibility has said. Appearing before the Treasury Select Committee, the OBR’s Steve Nickell instead warned the scheme, which sees the Government offering guarantee for parts of buyers’ mortgages, would drive up prices in the short term.”  Mr Nickell said the scheme might help the situation “a bit”, but would not significantly boost the market.

Government Attacked Over Continued Failure to Define 'Vulnerable'

The Government has reiterated its commitment to supporting "vulnerable claimants" in its response to the Work and Pensions Select Committee report into Universal Credit.  But ministers have been criticised for their continued failure to provide a clear definition of what "vulnerable" actually means.

Dame Anne Begg MP, the Chair of the Committee, expressed disappointment at the Government's response.  "I am particularly disappointed that the Government has declined to accept our recommendation that it should develop and publish a clear definition of vulnerable groups. A great deal of discretion will be given to DWP staff to make decisions about who needs extra support. This creates the risk of people not being identified before they have fallen into hardship and debt.” Read more on 24dash.