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   Housing benefit cuts: Nearly one million households 'to lose out'
Almost a million households will each lose around £12 a week under changes to housing benefit announced in the emergency Budget, analysis showed today. The TUC said cuts to the local housing allowance will hit almost everyone in private rented housing on the benefit, costing them an average of over £600 a year. The biggest cuts will be in the North West, London and the South East under changes announced in the June Budget, including a cap on the amount that can be claimed under local housing allowance, said the trade union group. TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: "This cut in housing benefit will make a real difference to some of our poorest and most vulnerable families, and will affect nearly one million households. "Families in London will find themselves out of pocket to the tune of £1,144 a year, and households all over the UK will be left much worse off. "The Chancellor promised not to hide any hard choices from the British people or bury them in the small print of the Budget documents, but this is another reminder that we are very definitely not all in this together. "While the rich have been let off, families are being left to pick up the cost of the recession." A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: "There is an urgent need to reform housing benefit and it's right that we return fairness to a system that is out of control. "It's not right that some families on benefits are able to live in smart areas, which most working families cannot afford, and cannot maintain when they move into work. "Anyone claiming housing benefit in the private-rented sector who needs to look for more appropriate accommodation will still find that nearly a third of properties on the market will be within their price range, and we've tripled our discretionary housing payments to provide a safety net for the most vulnerable. "In the interest of transparency, we published a full impact assessment setting out how the housing reforms would affect families on benefit". Source: 24dash.com Due to problems with spam only SalfordOnline members can now leave comments. Becoming a member of SalfordOnline only takes a minute, just hit the red Join Us button at the top right hand side of the page to create your Personal account. Got a news story? Need help with publicity for an event in Salford? Send it to newsdesk@salfordonline.com or call the SalfordOnline newsdesk on 0161 789 5377. |
