Single Parents Have To Work Seven Hours A Week More To Stay Out Of Poverty

Single parents have to work seven hours more each week than they did 10 years ago to stay above the poverty line due to the effect of benefit cuts, a new report exploring in-work poverty has found. The report, published by the Resolution Foundation, found that poverty rates fall from 35% to 18% when people move into work – but even sustained employment does not eliminate in-work poverty for many households. Almost seven in 10 working-age adults living in poverty today are either working themselves or living in a household where someone else does, up from fewer than five in 10 two decades ago. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/benefit-cuts-mean-single-parents-have-to-work-seven-hours-a-week-more-to-stay-out-of-poverty-report-finds-64931

New Homeless Families Outnumber New Social Homes By 8 To 1

Eight families are now accepted as homeless by their local council for every one new social home built in England, new analysis shows. The NHF bases the 8 to 1 outnumbering on its interpretation of latest homelessness statistics. Government figures show that 42,810 families were accepted as homeless in England last year, 117 families every day, with more than two thirds of these single parents. In comparison only 5,385 new social rent homes were built in the same period – equivalent to 14 per day. Read more on the NHF website.

https://www.housing.org.uk/blog/new-homeless-families-outnumber-new-social-homes-eight-fold-video-blog/

Hitlist of Welfare Cuts Facing Next Chancellor

A list of “very, highly or extremely controversial” potential cuts to benefits have been drawn up by civil servants in response to warnings that the next government would struggle to keep welfare spending below a legal cap of about £120bn a year. Options laid out include:

• employers to contribute more to the cost of statutory maternity pay – or abolish it entirely.

• Freezing benefit payments at current levels across the board.

• Limiting welfare payments by family size.

• Forcing single parents on income support to seek work when their youngest child reaches the age of three (currently five).

• Making it harder for sick people to claim state aid when they are out of work by introducing “stricter” fit-for-work tests and/or tighter limits on eligibility.

• Increasing the bedroom tax on certain categories of renters.

• Barring under-25s from claiming incapacity benefit or housing benefit.

Read more on the Guardian website.

Social Housing Myths Debunked

The myths that social housing residents are characterised by high levels of benefit dependency, long-term unemployment and limited aspiration are debunked by new research. The latest Real London Lives report from the g15 group of London’s largest housing associations also shows that, contrary to common perceptions, migrants and single parents have no advantage in the allocation of housing. The research is the first qualitative report from a three-year study commissioned from the University of York and demonstrates that housing association residents in London live lives of remarkable diversity. Download either the full report or a summary from the Real London Lives website.

High Court Rejects Single Parents' Bedroom Tax Challenge

Three single parents, who claimed the bedroom tax breached their human rights by limiting access to their children, have had their case rejected by a High Court judge. The three claimed the imposition of the benefit cut could force them to downsize to homes where their children could not come to stay. But the judicial review was rejected yesterday, after the judge - Justice Stephen Males - said the provision of discretionary housing payments (DHP) had prevented their rights being infringed. Justice Males went on to comment that even if DHP had been refused, Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights would not have been breached. Read more on the Daily Mail.

'Move To Birmingham' City Council Tells Tenant

People in Oxford in urgent need of housing are being offered properties as far away as Cardiff and Birmingham by council officials. Single mothers with nowhere permanent to live are among those who have been told they will have to relocate out of the county if they want city council help to find a house. People on benefits who are being priced out of Oxford’s private rented market are having to turn to the council for assistance. And officials say landlords are turning them down – leaving them with no choice but to sometimes look further afield for accommodation. Read more on the Oxford Times website.

Mothers In 'Benefits Cap' Challenge

Three single mothers and their children are challenging the legality of the Government's flagship "benefit cap" policy in the Court of Appeal. Two High Court judges, who ruled in favour of the Government, conceded that the mothers were "particularly hard cases". But they decided new capping regulations did not breach human rights laws and were not disproportionate. the mothers are asking three appeal judges to overturn the High Court ruling. Lawyers acting for the mothers and one child from each family, all from the London area, say the "cruel and arbitrary" cap is "reminiscent of the days of the workhouse", and the women fear it will leave them destitute. Read more on the Evening Standard website.

Single Parents Bear Brunt of Benefits Changes, Charities Warn

Single parents with already stretched finances are bearing the brunt of government changes to benefits, charities have warned, when many are already struggling with huge increases to household bills. Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that single-parent households make up a quarter of the total number of households in England and Wales. Calculations from the charity Gingerbread show that on average, single parents working on the minimum wage will lose just over £200 a year under Universal Credit compared with the current system. Read more on the Observer website.

Benefits Crackdown ‘Will Hit Single Parents Hardest’

Single parents would be the biggest losers under David Cameron’s plan to deny under-25s an automatic right to state benefits. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is worried that parents could be affected by proposals to restrict housing benefit for the more than one million “Neets” – young people not in education, employment or training – under a strategy announced by the Prime Minister.  Official figures show that 166,000 (46 per cent) of those under 25 who claim housing benefit are lone parents. So are 8,000 (2 per cent) of those claiming jobseeker’s allowance, which could also be limited under the “learn or earn” strategy being drawn up by the Downing Street Policy Unit. Read more on the Housing News website.

Single Parents Hit Hardest By Benefit Cap

A limit on the total amount of benefits that can be claimed by a household is hitting single parents hardest, according to early figures.  Statistics from the first four areas where the cap has been introduced show that at the end of May 2,432 households had been affected, of which 1,897 were single parent households.  The figures also show nearly half of the affected households are in just one of the four areas.  Forty eight per cent of the households were in Enfield, compared with 6 per cent in Bromley, 20 per cent in Croydon, and 26 per cent in Haringey.  Download the statistics from the GOV.UK website.