Government Set For Lords Battle On Welfare Reforms

UK Government to argue the case for Welfare Reform in the House of Lords

Government to argue the case for Welfare Reform in the House of Lords

The coalition Government face another battle over welfare reforms, this time in the House of Lords.
The outcome will affect individuals and families in receipt of local housing allowance (LHA) or housing benefit, who are in private rented sector (PRS) properties.

The Welfare Reform Bill, currently going through the House of Lords, is set to cap total benefits for working age households at £26,000 a year.

The total payment would include the present Local Housing Allowance, paid to housing benefit tenants in private rented sector accommodation.

However, a number of peers fear this would disproportionately hit larger families with children in temporary and private rented sector housing.

The Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, the Right Reverend John Richard Packer, has tabled an amendment which would exclude child benefit for the purposes of the benefit cap.

Lord Richard Best who is also supporting the amendment said: “I don’t think it’s conceivable for families with children to be evicted and become destitute because a benefit cap means there’s nowhere they can afford to live.”

The amendment is expected to go before the Lords next week (January 23rd 2012), and is likely to gain support from many areas, including Liberal Democrat peers who have previously rebelled against the Government.

The UK government’s welfare reforms are bad news for both tenants and landlords. Struggling tenants already face mounting debts and real financial problems including the threat of eviction if they are unable to keep up with the rental payments and slip to more than 8 weeks in arrears.

This results in a double blow for landlords, not only do landlords have to suffer loss of income because the tenants have not paid the rent but also the further expense of court action to have the tenants evicted.

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