A briefing paper summarized proposals by the coalition government for cuts in housing benefit.
Source: Housing Benefit Cuts, Crisis
Links: Briefing
Date: 2011-Dec
A briefing paper examined coalition government proposals to replace council tax benefit with local schemes of support, and responses to those proposals.
Source: Wendy Wilson, Localising Support for Council Tax, Standard Note SN/SP/6101, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing paper
Date: 2011-Oct
A report by a committee of MPs examined the implications of the coalition government's welfare reform plans for its 'localism' agenda. Restrictions placed on local authorities in designing their own schemes for council tax support would produce 'only the illusion of local discretion'. Combined with a planned 10 per cent cut in spending on support for council tax, these restrictions were likely to squeeze the funds available to support working-age unemployed people.
Source: Localisation Issues in Welfare Reform, Fifth Report (Session 2010-12), HC 1406, House of Commons Communities and Local Government Select Committee, TSO
Links: Report | Additional written evidence | Inside Housing report | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Oct
A study of amounts payable for the local housing allowance (during an 18-month period following the start of the scheme in 2008) found that rates fell in 61 per cent of areas. This contradicted claims by the coalition government that rises in the housing benefit bill were caused by landlords increasing rents in order to take advantage of pre-determined benefit levels.
Source: Sam Lister, Christoph Sinn, and Thomas Younespour, Leading the Market? A research report into whether local housing allowance (LHA) lettings are feeding rent inflation, Chartered Institute of Housing/British Property Federation
Links: Report | Inside Housing report | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Sep
The government began consultation on proposals to give local authorities in England full responsibility for council tax benefit payments with effect from 2013-14.
Source: Localising Support for Council Tax in England, Department for Communities and Local Government
Links: Consultation document | DCLG press release | NLGN press release | BBC report | Public Finance report
Date: 2011-Aug
The government began consultation on proposals to change the method by which help with rent was worked out for those who lived in supported housing within the social and voluntary sector. It said that the existing rules no longer fitted the way in which personal care and support were delivered, and had become complex both to administer and to understand. For those needing lower levels of personal care and support, it was proposed to pay the local housing allowance but with fixed additions that would continue to recognize the higher costs of providing this type of housing. For those who often needed more intensive levels of personal care and support, it was proposed that additional help would be provided, where necessary, over and above the standard local housing allowance: this would no longer be decided by those processing benefit claims, but by local authority officials with access to appropriate expertise.
Source: Housing Benefit Reform: Supported Housing – Proposals for change in the way housing benefit assists those living in supported housing within the social and voluntary sector with their rent, Cm 8152, Department for Work and Pensions, TSO
Links: Consultation document | Hansard | Inside Housing report
Date: 2011-Jul
A leaked letter, written by an official working for a government minister, said that the coalition government's proposed £26,000 annual cap on housing benefit payments would make an extra 20,000 people homeless – on top of the 20,000 additional people already anticipated to be made homeless as a result of other changes to the benefit.
Source: Letter from Nico Heslop (Private Secretary to Eric Pickles MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government)
Links: Letter | NHF press release | Shelter press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2011-Jul
A study examined the existing and potential challenges of the 'shared accommodation rate' of housing benefit and the impact of its extension to include claimants aged up to 35. It raised concerns over the availability of shared properties.
Source: Julie Rugg, David Rhodes, and Steve Wilcox, Unfair Shares: A report on the impact of extending the shared accommodation rate of housing benefit, Crisis
Links: Report | Summary | Crisis press release
Date: 2011-Jul
A briefing paper examined the cuts in housing benefit proposed by the coalition government.
Source: Housing Benefit Cuts, Crisis
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-Jul
A report said that up to 1 in 5 social housing tenants in Scotland would see their incomes fall due to the coalition government's proposals for housing benefit cuts. It identified a range of ways in which the most severe impacts could be mitigated.
Source: Mandy Littlewood, The Impact of Proposed Welfare Reform on HA/Co-op Tenants, Scottish Federation of Housing Associations
Links: Report | SFHA press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2011-Jun
A briefing paper examined the implementation of the local housing allowance since April 2008 and proposals for the future reform of housing benefit.
Source: Wendy Wilson, Local Housing Allowance and the Reform of Housing Benefit, Standard Note SN/SP/4957, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing paper
Date: 2011-Jun
An article examined the likely direct impact of cuts in support for housing costs under the coalition government since 2010.
Source: Roger Harding, 'The implications of the changes to housing benefit', Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, Volume 19 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jun
The coalition government announced that it had commissioned a consortium of leading research organizations to 'comprehensively evaluate' the effects of the changes it was introducing to local housing allowance.
Source: Debate 3 May 2011, column 329, House of Lords Hansard, TSO
Links: Hansard | Terms of reference | Inside Housing report
Date: 2011-May
A paper said that the reduction and capping of local housing allowance would affect black and minority-ethnic communities disproportionately, as many lived in areas targeted by the cuts and would often need larger accommodation due to family size.
Source: Sue Beasor, Housing Benefit and Welfare Reform: Impact of the Proposed Changes on Black and Minority Ethnic Communities, Race Equality Foundation
Links: Paper | Inside Housing report
Date: 2011-Apr
A report highlighted the sensitivity of housing benefit expenditure to changes in the labour market. Coalition government plans to reduce housing benefit expenditure were based on a gradual but significant decrease in the number of claimants: but unemployment trends suggested that this decrease in claimant numbers was increasingly unlikely.
Source: Ben Pattison and Jim Vine, Housing Benefit Claimant Numbers and the Labour Market: Modelling and analysis, Building and Social Housing Foundation
Date: 2011-Apr
A briefing paper examined the measures aimed at reducing housing benefit expenditure that were set out in the June 2010 Budget and the October 2010 Spending Review, and assessed their likely impact.
Source: Wendy Wilson, Housing Benefit: Implications of the June 2010 Budget and October 2010 Spending Review, Standard Note SN/SP/5638, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing paper
Date: 2011-Mar
A report presented the findings from an evaluation of housing benefit sanctions piloted in eight local authority areas in England during 2007-2009. No sanctions were used during the pilot period. The majority of practitioners expressed disappointment about the operation of the sanction pilot and believed that it had not had any real impact.
Source: John Flint, Anwen Jones, and Sadie Parr, An Evaluation of the Sanction of Housing Benefit, Research Report 728, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Report | Summary | DWP press release
Notes: The sanction could be applied in circumstances where individuals or households had been subject to an order of possession on the grounds of anti-social behaviour, and subsequently refused to engage with an appropriate package of support.
Date: 2011-Mar
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on its proposed housing benefit cuts. It said that the 'reforms' represented a significant first step to reduce the social and economic costs of benefit dependency for individuals, their families, and wider society. They also paved the way for the next step of welfare reform involving the introduction of universal credit.
Source: Changes to Housing Benefit Announced in the June 2010 Budget: Government Response to the Committee's Second Report, Fourth Special Report (Session 2010-11), HC 845, House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee, TSO
Links: Response
Notes: MPs report (part 1) | MPs report (part 2)
Date: 2011-Mar
A report said that government plans to change the way in which housing benefit was calculated would price low-income households out of one-third of local authorities in England, and push them away from areas with higher employment.
Source: Sam Lister, Liam Reynolds, and Kate Webb, The Impact of Welfare Reform Bill Measures on Affordability for Low Income Private Renting Families, Shelter/Chartered Institute of Housing
Links: Report | CIH press release | Guardian report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2011-Mar
An official review examined the impact of the local housing allowance against the original policy objectives of fairness, choice, transparency, personal responsibility, improved administration, and reduced barriers to work. Most objectives had been at least partially met, but with a 'fairly mixed' picture overall.
Source: Two Year Review of the Local Housing Allowance, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Feb
The government announced that there would be an independent review of the effect of proposed changes in entitlement to housing benefit. The review would cover: homelessness and moves; the shared room rate and houses in multiple occupation; what was happening in Greater London and in rural communities; and the effects on black and minority-ethnic households, large families, older people, people with disabilities, and working claimants.
Source: Debate 24 January 2011, columns 775-778, House of Lords Hansard, TSO
Links: Hansard | BPF press release | NHF press release | Public Finance report | BBC report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2011-Jan
