Welfare Reform – What you need to know
The Welfare Reform Act has now passed through Parliament and is set to completely change the way in which welfare benefits, including Housing Benefit, is paid. Our first issue aims to update you on how the changes could impact you if you’re currently claiming housing or other benefits.
The Government have announced that they are proposing an early roll out of Universal Credit in Manchester and Cheshire which will see up to 1,500 new Universal Credit claimants coming on stream across four areas – Tameside, Oldham, Wigan and Warrington – each month. This is in addition to the trial for the introduction of Personal Independent Payments in the North of the Country from April 2013. This means that we are likely to have a number of tenants that will be affected six months prior to the official roll out date of Oct 2013.
Adactus Housing Group are gearing up for these changes to ensure that all the tenants who are likely to be affected are supported all the way. The situation is continually changing and the full effect of the reforms are still not yet fully known and we understand that this is a difficult and challenging time for many tenants.
The main changes which will affect tenants claiming benefits are:
- Tax credits
- Non-Dependent deductions
- Under-occupation
- Capping
- Disability Living Allowance – Personal Independence payment
- Universal Credit
- The change from Incapacity Benefit / Income Support for ill health or disability to Employment and Allowance
If you think any of the government’s proposed changes are going to affect you, please contact our income team who will be able to talk you through the changes and offer you practical advice and support on how to manage your income and what steps you can take. You can also complete our survey to see how we can help you before the act comes in to place. Our website will also be kept up to date with the latest information on welfare reform.
we think that this is ludicrous to make us pay for rooms that arent occupied you only expect to pay this when booking a holiday, how can you expect british people to pay extra money out of theie pensions when we have contributed all our lives, and expect us to downgrade to smaller properties when there arent any, think the government should rethink, and how can they take that off us when you only give us so much to live off? This could start people rebelling as our neighbourhood are already going mad about this.