Housing benefit cuts are on the way

[Squiggs]

Too true, I would have people who claim housing benefit dig holes in a field all day long and the next day fill the holes up, they would do this 8am til 4pm 5 days a week.

 

See how long it would take them to go and find a job!

 

When??????

[depoix]

Which independent agency? The government has just scrapped plans to introduce a register of landlords that could have provided many safeguards including tackling high rents. That they have done this, shows how little they are concerned with tennants rights. It just doesn't sit right with their free market ideology.

fair rent officers are independant of the council / government as far as i know so to answer your question i would reply by saying the rent assesment office is the independant agency i mentioned

 

 

 

http://www.rpts.gov.uk/pubs_and_forms/html_docs/rac-fr.htm

[fluffystuff]

So is the £35 a week for everyone unemployed, or only for those you believe aren'ta ctively looking for work.

 

If a JSA claimant wasn't actively seeking work, they would get nothing

[Greybeard]

There was an item on CH4 news one evening last week about poverty in the USA and the huge number of people living in 'tent cities'. Some of these were as bad as anything to be found in South Africa or South America. Many of these people were in full employment but just could not afford to live in normal accommodation.

 

To see this level of poverty in the richest nation on earth was pretty shocking but is it the road our coalition govt. intend to take us down ?

 

Cutting housing benefit will not just affect the jobless, and the govt. seem intent on creating a lot more of those, but also many thousands of low paid workers too.

 

I hope our local authorities are working on where they can find the space to create our own tent cities.

[ukstudent]

If a JSA claimant wasn't actively seeking work, they would get nothing

 

Ha, if only.

[Tony]

I'm very worried about this as a parent who is unfit to work and put in a claim for disability i fear that i will be homeless come next October.

 

I live in a 2 bedroom property that is private rented my rent is £500 a month and at the moment a lot of that is paid although i do have to contribute towards my rent however this government seems intent on hitting poor people and making people homeless i have no doubt that thousands of people will end up homeless due to this government we could end up turning into a 3rd world country.

 

From next October from the figures quoted i will receive around £272 a month in housing benefit leaving me with £228 per month to pay myself which i can safely say is not going to happen.

 

Now if i could get a council house for £50 per week i would but as you know it's very hard to get one.

 

I would be lucky to get a 1 bedroom flat for anywhere near £300 per month but do they expect parents with kids to live in a 1 bedroom property? Also Landlords won't reduce their rent i have asked mine several times but they have refused.

 

I already worry for the future but this government will be out in 5 years time i have no doubt about that they are hitting the poor severely cutting all benefits and now housing benefit all i can say is typical tories all for the rich as usual they don't give a stuff about the poor and the lib dems are just basically licking the tories backsides.

 

The 40% drop in Local Housing Allowance is where the impact will be.

 

Not only that but the the removal of the top 1% of rents in the market evidence for each bedroom size in the calculation of Local Housing Allowance rates will not now go ahead, making the situation worse.

 

Half of people claiming LHA already top up their rent by a £100 or more. These cuts will hit the poor hard.

 

but it will also affect companies hard too. Connaught has seen its share price drop by a third as a result of the budget.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/epic/cnt/7855322/Budgets-austerity-measures-see-Connaught-shares-crash.html

 

This is the bit that this report refers to:

 

"Currently, the allowance for each size of property is about 50 per cent of the market rate for rent in a certain area.

 

But from October next year the allowance is being slashed to a third of market rates"

 

This affects people claiming Housing Benefit/Local Housin Allowance.

 

There are at least three other major changes that will affect people:

 

The first is that the level of HB will be restricted to £400 a week which is unlikely to affect peopl in Sheffield.

 

The second is that effectively the rules for Local Housing Allowance will be introduced into Council and Housing Assocaition properties, these people will be affected as those in the report.

 

The third is that people on HB for 12 months and in receipt of JSA will have their Housing Benefit reduced by 10% after 12 months.

 

But as they keep telling us "We are all in this together", it just seems that those most in need are in it considerably more.

 

Thanks Nick, I'm sure this isn't what great Liberal politicians of the past envisaged would be introduced when they entered Government.

 

 

It is a made up story.

[Titanic99]

It is a made up story.

 

Yeah dream on, here's the text from the Budget 2010 document!

 

"1.102 Housing Benefit is often criticised as making excessively generous

payments that damage work incentives. To address this, the Government will

remove payments that trap benefit claimants in poverty instead of providing

incentives to work as well as being unfair to the millions of families on low

income who do not depend on welfare. The Government will introduce a

package of reforms to Housing Benefit from April 2011 onwards. This

includes changing the percentile of market rents used to calculate

Local Housing Allowance rates, and uprating these rates by CPI from

2013-14, capping the maximum Local Housing Allowance payable for

each property size, time-limiting the receipt of full Housing Benefit

for claimants who can be expected to look for work, and restricting

Housing Benefit for working age claimants in the social rented sector

who are occupying a larger property than their household size

warrants."

 

Why do you insist on defending the indefensible, this isn't what Liberal Democrats believe in and it's a shame on them for agreeing to this attack on the poorer members of society.

[Titanic99]

It is a made up story.

 

Or if you want more information this is also taken from the document:

 

2.50 From October 2011, Local Housing Allowance rates will be set at the

30th percentile of local rents. (29)

Deductions for non-dependents will be uprated in April 2011 on the 2.51

basis of prices. This will reverse the freeze in these rates since 2001-02. (30)

From 2013-14, Local Housing Allowance rates will be uprated in line 2.52

with CPI. (32)

From April 2013, housing entitlements for working age people in the 2.53

social sector will reflect family size. (31)

Housing Benefit awards will be reduced to 90 per cent of the initial 2.54

award after 12 months for claimants receiving Jobseekers Allowance. This will

be introduced in April 2013. (33)

From April 2011, Housing Benefit claimants with a disability and a non- 2.55

resident carer will be entitled to funding for an extra bedroom. (34)

From April 2011, Local Housing Allowance Rates will be capped at £250 2.56

per week for a one bedroom property, £290 per week for a two bedroom

property, £340 per week for a three bedroom property and £400 per week for

four bedrooms or more. (35)

The Government contribution to Discretionary Housing Payments will be 2.57

increased by £10 million in 2011-12 and £40 million in each year from 2012-

13. (36)

Benefit

[Tony]

It's a made up story.

[Titanic99]

It's a made up story.

 

You can go into denial all you like, the fact is that the Libdems are involved in the most savage attacks on the poor that this country has seen for a long time.