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Morning Briefing: Shelter commission calls for new powers for social tenants
Social tenants should be given extensive new powers to prevent another Grenfell, a cross-party commission will demand this week
In the news
Leading political figures including former Labour leader Ed Miliband, Conservative former cabinet minister Baroness Sayeeda Warsi and the campaigner Doreen Lawrence will launch the commission’s final report tomorrow.
The commission, brought together by the charity Shelter, will demand a new regulator with similar powers to the body set up in the aftermath of the financial crisis, according to The Guardian.
Meanwhile, HuffPost reports that the government has backed down on the next stage of the Universal Credit rollout.
Work and pensions secretary Amber Rudd has said she will scrap a vote in parliament on plans to transfer the last remaining three million benefit claimants to the new system and instead vote on the transfer of just 10,000 claimants.
This is the ‘managed migration’ stage of Universal Credit – which involves moving claimants on the old benefit system to the new one. A small-scale roll-out of 10,000 has always been planned for this year, with the wider transfers to start from 2020 and completed by 2023. But it is no longer clear if the government can meet this time table given the vote.
In an interview with Andrew Marr on the BBC yesterday, however, prime minister Theresa May insisted that the rollout would be complete by 2023.
When asked, she defended Universal Credit in general terms, saying it helped people get into work.
Listen to a podcast on Universal Credit
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Elsewhere, an investigation by the Observer reveals that councils have been sending vulnerable young people to live alone in B&Bs, bedsits and caravans due to a lack of capacity in the care system.
The investigation, carried out in collaboration with BBC 5 Live, found there has been a 28% increase in the number of under-18s placed by councils in ‘independent living’ over the past eight years.
In Manchester, the BBC reports, mayor Andy Burnham has launched a plan to build more than 50,000 affordable homes by 2038.
Mr Burnham said that 30,000 of these homes, planned in the region’s new spatial framework, would be social housing.
And in a slightly unusual story, the broadcaster Sir David Attenborough has spoken out against plans to build more than 500 homes next to a York nature reserve.
Local paper The York Press carries an article outlining the objections raised by Sir David, who describes the reserve, known as Askham Bog, as “irreplaceable”.
In related news, the Ecologist has extensive coverage on housing developers calling for increased clarity on nutrient management in special areas of conservation.
On social media
Prompted by the film I, Daniel Blake, journalist Charlotte Hughes shares her experiences of campaigning on welfare issues:
Thread. So you might have seen #IDanielBlake last night and were shocked by it. I’ve been campaigning for approx 5yrs against the inhumane DWP system
— Charlotte Hughes. The Poor Side Of life (@charlotteh71)Thread. So you might have seen #IDanielBlake last night and were shocked by it. I've been campaigning for approx 5yrs against the inhumane DWP system
— Charlotte Hughes. The Poor Side Of life (@charlotteh71) January 6, 2019
Conservative MP James Cleverly hits back with a thread in defence of the welfare system:
I regularly help constituents who have had problems with the benefits system. I know that it is far from perfect, can be intimidating and mistakes can have devastating consequences. The system we inherited from Labour was complicated, full of perverse penalties and claw-backs.
— James Cleverly (@JamesCleverly)I regularly help constituents who have had problems with the benefits system. I know that it is far from perfect, can be intimidating and mistakes can have devastating consequences. The system we inherited from Labour was complicated, full of perverse penalties and claw-backs.
— James Cleverly (@JamesCleverly) January 6, 2019
And lawyer Giles Peaker hits back at Mr Cleverly with a thread of his own:
Hi James. If that was the case, why did you deliberately make it worse? Sanctions and PIP assements for starters, let alone the ongoing screw up that is Universal Credit. ‘We inherited a mess and built it into a bigger mess’ is not a proud claim.
— Nearly Legal (@nearlylegal)Hi James. If that was the case, why did you deliberately make it worse? Sanctions and PIP assements for starters, let alone the ongoing screw up that is Universal Credit. ‘We inherited a mess and built it into a bigger mess’ is not a proud claim.
— Nearly Legal (@nearlylegal) January 6, 2019
