Subsidy shake up revealed in February
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Councils will be told the terms on which they can leave the current housing subsidy system in February next year.
Housing minister John Healey told the Communities and Local Government committee that is when he will publish the details on how councils can self-fund their homes.
He also indicated that recent concern over fire safety in tower blocks, following July’s fire in Lakanal House, Southwark, in which six people died, was now informing government thinking about the calculations.
These would be based on a standard of maintenance which went ‘beyond the four walls of the home to deal with concern about common areas’ level of fire protection’, he said. Inside Housing’s Safe as Houses campaign has called for better fire safety information for residents of tower blocks.
Mr Healey also said a 24 per cent rise for the major repairs allowance would be built into the new system. This was floated in the government consultation on Housing Revenue Account subsidy earlier this year.
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