Welfare Reform

Depth_Charge

Hi

Welfare reforms are upon us now and more to come.

These reforms and cuts are very likely to affect millions of people & families both those in and out of work.

Some of these reforms & cuts will make a hole in some peoples already stretched finances, its a fact Im afraid, the bedroom tax being imminent and one in particular but there is more to come right across the board.

Budgeting and managing money (including debt mangement plans) could be set to get more difficult, best to prepare, knowledge is power in these tricky times.

The CAB have a new resource that has more or less all the welfare reform information in one place (see below)

http://welfarereform.nedcab.org.uk/

A small number of links on the above site are local to Derbyshire at the moment but I am reliably told that this will be updated and some other CABs may be having there own similar resource.

You can find information on other / your local authorities below if appropriate and for local and nearest & local foodbanks etc just google accordingly.

https://www.gov.uk/find-your-local-council

Sorry to be somewhat of a harbinger, if that is the right word (Ive been called much worse by the way but it is water off a ducks back, trust me:)) but like I say maybe best to read up and prepare.

Anyway hope this helps some people at the very least

DC

beanielou

Thanks for the post.

Growurown

Depth_Charge wrote: »

Hi

Welfare reforms are upon us now and more to come.

These reforms and cuts are very likely to affect millions of people & families both those in and out of work.

Agree DC, these changes are going to cause a lot of misery. The bedroom tax is coming in soon and whilst I agree it is unfair for the tax payer to foot the benefit bill for a single person to live in a 3 bed house the way this is being brought in will cause severe hardship. My housing association says it doesn't have enough one bedroomed properties for all its single tenants. I know people on JSA and can't afford to pay the extra rent who are trying to move to smaller properties but can't find anything to move into, and don't have any savings to pay removal costs either. This will force people into debt and rent arrears.

GibbsRule_No3

Growurown wrote: »

Agree DC, these changes are going to cause a lot of misery. The bedroom tax is coming in soon and whilst I agree it is unfair for the tax payer to foot the benefit bill for a single person to live in a 3 bed house the way this is being brought in will cause severe hardship. My housing association says it doesn't have enough one bedroomed properties for all its single tenants. I know people on JSA and can't afford to pay the extra rent who are trying to move to smaller properties but can't find anything to move into, and don't have any savings to pay removal costs either. This will force people into debt and rent arrears.

My housing association pay people to move into smaller properties, so much per extra bedroom and pay the removal costs. Sounds like a good idea, until you try it. I wanted to move from my lovely roomy two bedroom place that I have lived in for 40 years, to get away from the new noisy neighbours and I hoped to reduce the rent. I was shown around 4 awful places that they wanted to charge around £100 more a month for. Needless to say I turned them down and am still in my nice flat, paying less rent so staying here. I am not on benefits, I guess if I had been the extra rent would have been paid because it is the rooms they want to stop people having not the cost of the rent. With more people living in single households they will not have enough smaller propeties, will be interesting to see what they do regarding benefits. I see lawyers getting involved for test cases,

Delree

I agree in principle with the under occupancy scheme but not with the method. It's horrid how people have been allowed to become accustomed (and we debate the rights and wrongs of this forever) to a certain lifestyle only to have their legs kicked out from under them.

It's going to cause misery for many I'm afraid and rent arrears will sky rocket. Nobody wins, seriously nobody.

Time_to_face_the_music

Depth_Charge wrote: »

Hi

Welfare reforms are upon us now and more to come.

These reforms and cuts are very likely to affect millions of people & families both those in and out of work.

Some of these reforms & cuts will make a hole in some peoples already stretched finances, its a fact Im afraid, the bedroom tax being imminent and one in particular but there is more to come right across the board.

Budgeting and managing money (including debt mangement plans) could be set to get more difficult, best to prepare, knowledge is power in these tricky times.

The CAB have a new resource that has more or less all the welfare reform information in one place (see below)

http://welfarereform.nedcab.org.uk/

A small number of links on the above site are local to Derbyshire at the moment but I am reliably told that this will be updated and some other CABs may be having there own similar resource.

You can find information on other / your local authorities below if appropriate and for local and nearest & local foodbanks etc just google accordingly.

https://www.gov.uk/find-your-local-council

Sorry to be somewhat of a harbinger, if that is the right word (Ive been called much worse by the way but it is water off a ducks back, trust me:)) but like I say maybe best to read up and prepare.

Anyway hope this helps some people at the very least

DC

Excellent post Depth Charge :T

NED CAB are doing some fantastic work, I am already appreciative of their support with self managed DMPs and I am sure the welfare information on their site will be of value to many.

My great fear with the bedroom tax is that many people still do not fully understand how it will affect them. That the rules are so strict. That people think they are safe from it and they are not. I discussed this earlier in the week with my daughter who is affected and is currently arguing the case with her landlord.

She and my granddaughter live in a 3 bedroomed house and has been told she is affected by the bedroom tax. However the third bedroom is too small to take a bed and is also damp to the extent that the wall paper is mouldy and hanging off the walls, and that the smell of the damp pervades the whole of the upper floor of her house. Does this bedroom tax still apply when the room cannot be used as a bedroom and/or is uninhabitable?

My daughter's friend thinks she is not affected as she lives in the 3 bedroomed house and has 2 large teenagers, age 13 and 14. Sorry she is wrong, the teenagers must share a bedroom and the bedroom tax still applies.

Friend 2 has twins age 9, a boy and a girl. Again it applies as they must now share a bedroom.

Friend's mum is a foster carer, foster children don't count towards the bedroom allocation. What?!

Another friend has shared custody of children, sorry only the full time carer has the bedroom rights. Yeah that really makes sense.

How many people know the full facts?

This is a disgrace but what else do we expect from a government who has no connection whatsoever with how the majority of their little people live :mad:

antonic

Dont forget !

We are all in this together ! (or not if your one of DC`s Eton chums).

I agree that reform is needed because as a nation we are spending more than what is coming in, and sometimes unpopular decisions have to be made.

Why do people think that change is always bad and why do they think that because things have always been done one way, that at alternative should not be considered ?

I am not affected by these changes because I am in full time employment and rent privately so cant (and wont) comment on something that wont affect me.

Alice_in_Welfareland

As a resident of Welfareland I welcome all information and this is very useful. I agree with Time to face the music that many people do not yet understand the full rules and the way this will apply to family but I am lucky and my own situation will not be affected by this one new tax though I am sure there will be more changes which will cause financial pain to me and the many more.

Growurown

A friend of mine is a foster carer and is currently in a privately rented house and looking to move. She was told by the housing association that if she signed on their books her foster child wouldn't count in the bedroom allowance. This is appalling. We are desperately short of good foster parents in our area, the local council pay really low money to foster carers and now they are going to have to pay extra towards the bedroom tax. I can't understand how the government have allowed this to happen. It is so shortsighted.

Growurown

antonic wrote: »

Why do people think that change is always bad and why do they think that because things have always been done one way, that at alternative should not be considered ?

Change isn't always bad and there are many families in cramped housing waiting for a bigger property whilst single people occupy large houses they don't need, so a bit of swapping around would be good. However wouldn't it be better to encourage people to move rather than force them? More carrot less stick maybe?

Our local housing associations are not helping people with removal expenses. There aren't enough properties either, and huge problems with anti social tenants that no one wants to live near. I know a young couple in my area with a new baby in a one bedroomed flat. I know four older single people all living in three bedroomed houses. Not one of them wants to swap into the flat because of the amount of trouble that goes on in that area.

Growurown

Time_to_face_the_music wrote: »

I discussed this earlier in the week with my daughter who is affected and is currently arguing the case with her landlord.

She and my granddaughter live in a 3 bedroomed house and has been told she is affected by the bedroom tax. However the third bedroom is too small to take a bed and is also damp to the extent that the wall paper is mouldy and hanging off the walls, and that the smell of the damp pervades the whole of the upper floor of her house. Does this bedroom tax still apply when the room cannot be used as a bedroom and/or is uninhabitable?

Is your daughter living in privately rented housing or in social housing, ie a housing association aka a registered social landlord?