Government aims to create a fair system with incentives to work
Pledge to revolutionise housing benefit regime
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The government has committed to sweeping reforms of the housing benefit regime, as part of a radical shake-up of the welfare system.
A consultation on the shake-up will be launched early next year, the Department for Work and Pensions’ white paper on welfare reform, published this week, reveals.
Ministers want to create a system which is fair to people on low incomes and the taxpayer, ‘which does not create barriers to work’, the DWP said.
The review will address government concerns around housing benefit overspend. It will aim to control expenditure in areas of excessively high rent, such as central London, and introduce absolute rent levels or time-based benefits - requiring tenants to move to cheaper accommodation after a period.
Further reforms will improve incentives to work, while aiming to ease the transition from unemployment into work.
‘Housing benefit should provide sufficient support to those receiving it to enable them to afford suitable accommodation,’ the white paper states. ‘We want to avoid creating situations in which people out of work are able to live in accommodation for extended periods which would clearly be out of the reach of working families.’
Sam Lister, policy officer at the Chartered Institute of Housing, said he would welcome changes which made it more attractive for housing benefit claimants to find work.
‘[The government] realises that just fiddling around with the [housing benefit] taper wouldn’t do very much, so they are looking at the whole problem,’ he said. ‘They are looking at the idea of giving a longer extended payment. The advantage of that is that it gives people a clear picture about what happens when they start back to work.’
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Readers' comments (2)
darren jones | 29/03/2009 5:15 pm
the goverment want to get their act together. there is already poverty among us young people under 25 years old due to having our housing benefit been reduced and how much of our rent is paid total discrimation in my mind what the diffrence between someone under 25 and someone over 25
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George | 31/08/2009 9:04 pm
Agree a rent,
get housing benefit,
get better deal off Landlord,
pocket the difference!
If the the government didn't say this was acceptable, this kind of double dealing could be viewed as fraud surely?
I agree that benefits are needed but ONLY for the purpose they were intended for.
They should not be viewed as a 'easy' way to obtain further income.
If as a taxpayer I wanted to borrow money or obtain a grant I would have to prove that the money was used for the purpose intended. If found otherwise then you could face heavy penalties.
So why should Housing Benefit be any different?
Simply put... Housing benefit should = rent paid.
In these 'credit crunch' times surly these possible extra funds should directed to better serving the people who really need it.
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