Should Benefit be cut for people with a spare room?

[mj.scuba]

rotherham council are now offering under occupied house tenants £1000 per room if they are willing to give the house up and offered suitable accomodation of their choice

 

Top idea, nice one rmbc.

[Ms Macbeth]

rotherham council are now offering under occupied house tenants £1000 per room if they are willing to give the house up and offered suitable accomodation of their choice

 

Thats a good start, however, findings have shown that many underoccupiers are the elderly. Offering to do the removal from start to finish, refit carpets and curtains etc might just seal the deal. Although the money is a great incentive, many elderly people worry about the upheaval and practicalities involved in moving. Another problem is the lack of the type of properties available if they do downsize. Who wants a bedsit or even a one bedroomed flat in their later years? People's aspirations have changed, also there's no room for visiting family or carers. If only councils and housing associations had built more 2 bedroomed bungalows!

[Greybeard]

Nothing new there.

 

In Sheffield an under 25 living in a 5 bedroom property would be entitled to HB (LHA) of £65 per week maximum whereas a pensioner would be entitled to £207 per week.

 

But HB and CTB for pensioners is means-tested and linked to pension credit. I believe pensioners are still deemed to receive a notional 5% or more interest on savings in these calculations.

 

It's a few years since I was involved in this but the upshot then was that people who had taken the trouble to accumulate some savings and invested in a modest pension often ended up worse off than those who had spent to the hilt all their lives and relied on just the basic state pension for their old age.