Family Action works with some of the country’s most vulnerable families to help make them stable and secure. Many of the families we support are already in housing difficulties and the housing benefit changes could put decent housing out of their reach completely.
The families we work with may include parents with mental health problems, learning difficulties, substance misuse, domestic abuse and poor child development. It will be more difficult to work productively with vulnerable families and to bring them structure and stability if they are forced to uproot their homes.
Children and young people in particular need the certainty of attending the same school and being able to form networks of friends over time. If vulnerable families become known to neighbours, teachers, GPs, churches and playgroups, their children will also be better protected.
Members of the Coalition government have made welcome commitments to early intervention and child protection. However we are concerned that the housing benefit proposals will have a negative impact on their ability to fulfil those commitments.
See Family Action on the Channel 4 news about the housing benefit changes.
The housing benefit changes announced in the Budget were:
- The setting of Local Housing Allowance rates at the 30th (rather than, as present, 50th) percentile of local rents takes place from October 2011. This means it will be based on much lower estimation of market rents.
- The reduction in Housing Benefit to 90% of initial awards after someone has been claiming JSA for a year, will be introduced in April 2013.
- The uprating in line with Consumer Price Index takes place from 2013. In practice this means the benefit will devalued because the CPI generally rises at a lower rate than the Retail Price Index.
- The HB caps take place from next year will be - £250 for a one bedroom property, £290 for two, £340 for three and £400 for a four bedroom property.
Please get in touch with us if you're on housing benefits and are experiencing problems making your rent or believe you will experience problems because of these changes when they are introduced from 2011 - contact rhian.beynon@family-action.org.uk in our Policy & Campaigns team with details of your story in confidence.