The bedroom tax will cost Northern Ireland more to implement than it will save in housing benefit, new figures have revealed.
According to a joint study by the Northern Ireland Federation of Housing Associations (NIFHA) and the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), though the bedroom tax aims to cut the benefits bill by £17m, it will cost £21m to implement.
The government has underestimated the combined impact of three different benefit cuts coming into effect at once, a think tank has claimed.
The New Policy Institute today publishes a report looking at the impact of the bedroom tax, council tax benefit changes and the overall benefit cap.
The number of people presenting themselves as homeless in Scotland has dropped, official figures have revealed.
There were 8,734 applications for homelessness assistance in the final quarter of 2012, a 12 percent drop on the same period in 2011.
Crisis has called on the government to urgently reverse cuts made to housing benefit as new figures reveal a 10 percent rise in homelessness since 2011.
And the official statistics, released by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), show that the number of households accepted as homeless and owed the main homelessness duty over the last two years has risen by 26 percent.
The London Assembly has called on the Mayor to launch an "urgent review" of the potential impact on London of the Government’s plans to change the way housing benefits are paid, amid fears that it could lead to an increase in rent arrears and damage the building of new affordable housing.
Assembly Members backed a motion urging Boris Johnson to press the Government for assurances that the introduction of the new Universal Credit – whereby rent would be paid to tenants instead of directly to landlords – would not exacerbate London’s housing crisis.
Iain Duncan Smith has declared that foster carers and members of the armed forces will be exempt from the bedroom tax, in a U-turn on the government's forthcoming policy.
In a written ministerial statement, the works and pensions secretary announced that people who are approved foster carers will be allowed an additional 'spare room' whether or not a child has been placed in with them or whether they are between placements.
Rent arrears among tenants of social landlords taking part in a trial of the Government’s flagship benefit reforms have soared.
The pilot is testing out the effects of paying the tenants their rent money, and trusting them to pass it on to their landlords.
The work and pensions secretary has pledged to protect disabled children who will be hit by the bedroom tax.
Speaking in the House of Commons today, Iain Duncan Smith said he would publish guidance tomorrow for local authorities on how to effectively use discretionary housing payments, which are designed to mitigate against the impacts of welfare reform.
Iain Duncan Smith has been given two weeks to demonstrate why the bedroom tax should not be subject to a judicial review.
The work and pensions secretary is facing a legal challenge against the government's 'under-occupancy' charge by law firm Hopkin Murray Beskine on behalf of 10 disabled children.
Ten disabled and vulnerable children have launched legal proceedings against work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith to fight penalties for the under-occupation of social housing.
Judicial review proceedings were issued to the High Court on Friday on behalf of the children, who claim the new regulations have failed to take proper account of the needs of vulnerable children and are discriminatory.