The government has introduced rules meaning that long-term unemployed people will only receive benefits if they visit a job centre every day or take on six months of voluntary work.
Jobseekers that disobey the new rules will have their benefits stopped for four weeks for a first offence and 13 weeks for a second.
A housing association has offered tenants a free Crème Egg to thank them for paying the bedroom tax.
In a letter shared widely on Twitter today, Welsh landlord Valleys 2 Coast offered the confectionary ‘as a small thank you’ to affected tenants.
The housing benefit bill will reach a new high of £25bn a year by 2017, according to new government estimates.
The bill is estimated to have decreased by £425m last year, during which a number of welfare reforms affecting housing benefit took effect, but is set to increase again before reaching £25.4bn in real terms by 2019.
A controversial story recently broke about locals in Newham in receipt of housing benefits. Newham council was looking at sending families in receipt of DSS to other parts of the country as there were not enough landlords who were willing to accept such tenants. The controversial move should never have been necessary. The Local Housing Allowance (LHA) is set at the 30th percentile of local rents, which means that, in theory, three out of ten properties should be available to DSS tenants. In practice, many of the homes which should be readily available are owned by landlords who are unwilling to accept LHA dependent applicants, due to mortgage stipulations or social snobbery. However, if you’re in receipt of housing benefits, all is not lost…
Benefits claimants in the North-East and North Yorkshire have been hit harder by Government’s ‘bedroom tax’ than any other region, a new study has revealed.
The report, by Oxfam and the New Policy Institute (NPI), warns that wide-ranging cuts are changing the shape of welfare support at a time when rising prices are making it harder for families to make ends meet.
Social housing tenants evicted from their home due to rent arrears are set to be hit by a 150% increase in court fees.
The standard county court fee for a rent arrears possession case will rise from £100 to £250 from 22 April.
A series of subtle changes to housing benefit mean the safety net for people renting their home is shrinking fast
The necessity of housing makes housing benefit a crucial part of the safety net. It ensures that if someone loses their job, they don't immediately fall behind on their rent and risk losing their home as well. It also allows job-seekers to focus on securing a new job rather than where they are going to sleep that night.
A BLIND widow who got a personal apology from a council boss over a bedroom tax eviction threat has had her housing benefit cut.
Now Helen Sockell, who lost her sight aged 14, fears fresh moves to boot her out of her home.
It is more than six months since the government's benefits cap was introduced, with the aim of encouraging people into work. Panorama followed council officers in the London Borough of Brent for seven months to find out how it was affecting families.
"I don't know how anyone can be rich and proud on benefits. For me, it's very shameful. I hate being in this situation. I hate having to rely on the government," said single mother-of-two Tanya Blake.
One in four, or about 843,000, London households currently receive housing benefit to help them pay their rent, says a new London Assembly report.
The housing benefit bill for London in 2012-13 was more than £6bn and claims have risen by over 100,000 since 2008. It’s not surprising the government wants to get a hold of rising costs, but the report describes how nearly half of all households in the UK subject to the overall benefits cap have been in London. This is primarily down to our higher housing costs. Londoners in social housing have also been disproportionately affected by the "Bedroom Tax".
Up to 100,000 social housing tenants hit by the bedroom tax are trapped in large homes that they can't move out of, research has revealed.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation's study found that the government's controversial under-occupancy policy has failed to free-up homes in many areas.
Croydon Council has seen rent arrears amongst its tenants drop by 9% in the last year.
Unpaid rent levels in the borough fell over four weeks in March by more than £51,000, bringing arrears for the last financial year down by nearly £150,000, from £1,596,709 in April 2013.
Payday loan companies are nearly twice as popular as credit unions with hard-up Brits, a new report has revealed.
Insolvency body R3's survey of over 2,000 British adults found that 4% – equivalent to 1.9m people – had taken out a payday loan in the last six months, while just 2% – 754,000 – said they have taken a loan from a credit union in the same period.
Here at Dssmove, we’re committed to finding you a property that says “yes” to DSS. We understand that if you’re in receipt of benefits, you can struggle to find a landlord willing to take you on as a tenant. Some think that DSS makes you a higher risk tenant; some have pre-conceived notions of people on benefits; and some simply don’t understand how DSS works. However, we pride ourselves on helping to find you a landlord with no misplaced prejudice towards those in receipt of benefits. We have hundreds of DSS welcome properties available to rent, with more added almost every day.
The Department for Work and Pensions has today published a new guide for local authorities and social landlords to help them understand arrangements for the payment of housing benefit under universal credit for people in temporary accommodation.
Q. Why has the Department for Work and Pensions decided to make payments of the housing element in Universal Credit directly to claimants in temporary accommodation?
Changes to housing benefit in England, Scotland and Wales are creating "financial hardship and distress" for disabled people, MPs have warned.
The reduction of payments for social tenants deemed to have a larger home than they need have hit vulnerable people not intended as targets, the Work and Pensions Committee said.
Reading, Wokingham and Bracknell councils all overpaid, Slough was the highest in Berkshire with a £8 million overspend
Reading Borough Council had overpaid more than £4 million in housing benefit by June last year, but only clawed back about £700,000.