Housing Benefit Cuts for jobless Scrapped

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

The government has dropped plans to impose a 10% cut in housing benefit on anyone unemployed for more than a year after a last-minute intervention by Nick Clegg.

The cut was proposed in the June emergency budget, but will now not feature in the welfare reform bill published by Iain Duncan Smith.

Last week the work and pensions secretary maintained that the 10% cut would be kept to give unemployed people an incentive to find work. But the measure was seen by many Liberal Democrats as punishing the poor twice.

Clegg also feared that private sector landlords in areas of high unemployment would be reluctant to rent to jobseeker's allowance claimants if their housing benefit income was at risk of being reduced.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/feb/17/nick-clegg-housing-benefit-cut-dropped

SO the other housing benefit cuts were watered down/delayed, and now this one has been scrapped.

Rents to hit another new record high this year, I suspect.

Jowo_2

I never agreed with that policy. Someone on JSA is likely to be on a financial knife edge - the sum amounts to about the third of a week's salary on minimum wage, for gawd's sake, so any reduction in their housing benefit would have disastrous consequences for them, and for the public purse (it costs a lot to sort out someone who is homeless and much less to prevent it in the first place).

I'd have been happier with a proposal that on the 1st year of the claim, the Job Seeker is obliged to undertake full time supervised job seeking or a community placement - much more productive in terms of making them more employable.

IronWolf

I think you need reading glasses, its not been scrapped

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

IronWolf wrote: »

I think you need reading glasses, its not been scrapped

"The government has dropped plans to impose a 10% cut in housing benefit on anyone unemployed for more than a year after a last-minute intervention by Nick Clegg.

The cut was proposed in the June emergency budget, but will now not feature in the welfare reform bill published by Iain Duncan Smith."

RDB

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/feb/17/nick-clegg-housing-benefit-cut-dropped

SO the other housing benefit cuts were watered down/delayed, and now this one has been scrapped.

How have they been watered down and delayed?

They are hapening in a matter of weeks. London is going to see a lot less money being paid to tenants who before were able to claim huge sums to live in the city.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

RDB wrote: »

How have they been watered down and delayed?

They are hapening in a matter of weeks. London is going to see a lot less money being paid to tenants who before were able to claim huge sums to live in the city.

Do keep up at the back.,....

In a written ministerial statement, Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, announced that the cap which was due to come into force in April would be delayed until January 2012.

He said: "Clearly it is essential that existing customers have sufficient time to adjust to their new circumstances."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/rosa-prince/8064461/Housing-benefit-cap-delayed-by-nine-months-following-pressure-from-Liberal-Democrats.html

Existing tenants now have no change until 2012. No landlords of existing tenants will see a drop in revenue this year.

It's coming into effect for new tenants this year, but those numbers are tiny compared to the existing ones.

And hundreds of millions have been added to the council hardship funds, which will effectively water down the cuts for many more.

Graham_Devon

Hamish, you were totally against benefits....what's happened, as you used to celebrate a tough approach on people on benefits, now you appear to celebrate stopping these tough approaches?

System

Not seeing any celebration.

DaddyBear

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Hamish, you were totally against benefits....what's happened, as you used to celebrate a tough approach on people on benefits, now you appear to celebrate stopping these tough approaches?

That's bcause Hamish knows that there are 2 fingers in the dam. One is interest rates (hence his sudden interest in arguing against interest rate rise), the other is housing benefit