Plans to stop under-25s claiming housing benefit would not affect anyone coming out of care or fleeing domestic violence, a parliamentary aide has clarified.
Yesterday chancellor George Osborne announced the Conservative Party’s intentions to make a further £10bn savings on welfare by 2016, which is understood to feature the under-25s restriction and also the end to the automatic right of benefit increases for unemployed families having more children.
Charity Homeless Link is concerned that welfare reform could be driving an increase in homelessness - as new figures show an alarming rise in cases of people losing their homes.
The charity was responding to government statistics that show 12,860 people were accepted as homeless in 2012's second quarter - a 9% rise on the same period in 2011.
London has seen a 27% rise in people accepted as homeless, with the problem far worse in the capital than in the rest of the country, according to homelessness charity Crisis.
One in four people declared homeless in England in 2012's second quarter were in London. Rough sleeping is also on the increase, with a massive 43% rise in 2011/12 over the previous 12 months.
