You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
New minister faces call to re-think 'LHA cap'
New work and pensions secretary Stephen Crabb is facing immediate calls to re-examine plans to apply a new housing benefit cap to supported housing.
Mr Crabb was appointed following Iain Duncan Smith’s surprise resignation on Friday.
Rachael Byrne, director of care and support at Home Group – one of the UK’s biggest care specialist providers – wrote to Mr Crabb today to warn “if we get this [the ‘LHA cap’] wrong… we will not have a functioning market for the provision of care and support”.
In a letter, seen by Inside Housing, Ms Byrne criticised plans for using Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) to mitigate against the impact of capping housing benefit at private sector rates.
From April 2018, social housing tenancies that began in April 2016 will be subject to LHA rates – which are used to calculate benefit for private renters.
Following a torrent of lobbying from the housing sector, the government last month exempted supported housing tenancies – which traditionally commands higher rents – from the cap if they began before April 2017.
Since Mr Duncan Smith’s resignation letter on Friday – in which he attacked the government’s “salami sliced” cutting of working age benefits – questions have arisen over a raft of Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) policies, including the expensive rollout of Universal Credit.
Ms Byrne’s letter stopped short of calling for an exemption from the LHA cap for supported housing.
However, she wrote: “Your in tray will, I hope, have a briefing on the proposed cap on the Local Housing Allowance in supported housing…
“It is possible that done in the right way the new funding model for supported housing can protect the vulnerable and ease the pressure on the welfare cap.
“Equally if we get this wrong and merely attempt to mitigate the impact through measures like Discretionary Housing Payments, then we will not have a functioning market for the provision of care and support.”
A DWP spokesperson said: “We value the role supported accommodation plays in helping vulnerable people, and we are deferring the social housing reforms for this sector for a year while we carry out a review and consult with stakeholders to ensure it works in the best way possible.”
Who is Stephen Crabb?
Stephen Crabb, the new Work and Pensions Secretary, was appointed by David Cameron on Saturday, following the unexpected resignation of Iain Duncan Smith.
The 43-year-old grew up in a council house, where he reportedly fled with his mother to flee domestic violence. In an interview, he previously talked about how “revolutionary” the original Right to Buy scheme was on communities like his.
He has recalled how he made “horrible decisions about what food and clothing was affordable” and praised the welfare net as a “genuine safety net at a time of crisis”.
However, the former Welsh Secretary has spoken about how “we can’t go soft on welfare reform in a place like Wales – it’s precisely the place that needs it”. He has voted consistently with the government on welfare issues such as the bedroom tax, benefit cap, and has recently defended the cuts to Employment Support Allowance.
