Councillors representing 36 local authorities have urged the government to abolish its controversial bedroom tax policy.
At a special summit held at Manchester Town Hall last week, Labour councillors representing Bradford, Bristol, Cambridge, Birmingham, Nottingham and 31 other cities outlined the damage they believe is being caused by the under-occupancy policy.
A mechanism to recover rent arrears is to be incorporated into the new Universal Credit system, by docking the benefit.
Landlords who are owed rent by tenants receiving benefit will be able to request direct payment once a certain level of rent arrears – as yet undecided – is reached.
Minister for Welfare Reform Lord Freud says the Universal Credit demonstration projects have helped to shape new thinking around direct payments to tenants.
The demonstration projects were set up to learn how we could best support landlords and tenants with the introduction of direct payment. That learning is regularly shared and I’m sure all members of the social housing community have views on what it is teaching us. Because the roll out of Universal Credit is progressive we have time to get this right.
The majority of the British public believe the government should be tackling the root causes of the country’s high housing benefit bill.
A survey by the Fabian Society asked people if they agreed with the statement: "The size of the housing benefit bill has risen because there are more people claiming due to unemployment, low wages and rents rising quickly. Instead of planning further cuts, the government should be focusing on solving these underlying problems. The government should do this even if it took a long time and meant tax rises or spending cuts elsewhere."
The Universal Credit direct payment demonstration projects will be extended for a further six months, Minister for Welfare Reform Lord Freud recently announced, as new findings from the projects are published.
The Department for Work and Pensions says the extension will help to further develop the support needed for social housing tenants moving onto Universal Credit. The projects will now run until the end of the year.
Six in ten landlords and agents are concerned about receiving rent if they accept housing benefit tenants.
A new survey of 500 landlords and agents by website Dssmove found that rent apart, most landlords and agents (75%) were happy to let to Local Housing Allowance tenants.
The Welsh government's minister for tackling poverty has warned that the coalition's Universal Credit (UC) system has thrown a question mark over the state's ability to deliver support to most vulnerable people.
Huw Lewis told assembly members in the Senedd how UC will have a knock-on impact on Welsh government support such as free school meals.
Four families have launched a legal challenge against the government’s benefit cap on the grounds it is ‘discriminatory and unreasonable’.
The families have issued judicial review proceedings against the work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith today at London’s High Court.
One in four low-to-middle income households are spending more than 35 per cent of their income on housing, a report has found.
The study from the Resolution Foundation think tank has found 1.3 million low-income families across Britain are spending more than they can afford on housing.
The Universal Credit direct payment demonstration projects will be extended for a further six months, Minister for Welfare Reform Lord Freud announced today, as new findings from the projects are published.
The Department for Work and Pensions says the extension will help to further develop the support needed for social housing tenants moving onto Universal Credit. The projects will now run until the end of the year.