The 2015 Summer Budget contained proposals to reduce the time frame for backdating payments from six months to just four weeks and to cut the family premium from housing benefit in order to bring housing benefit in line with universal credit.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer gave his budget to Parliament on Wednesday 8th July. The full budget and supporting documents can be found on Gov.uk. We've rounded up some of the headline announcements which will impact on those who work in housing.
An independent review of the Money Advice Service has recommended that the service take measures to improve the effectiveness and reach of its debt advice.
The UK Supreme Court will hear a trio of cases between December 15 and 17 on the issue of which homeless applicants are deemed to be vulnerable, and entitled to assistance, by warrant of this vulnerability. This hearing has been deemed the most important case on homelessness in decades.
The All Party Parliamentary Group for the Private Rented Sector has published a report, funded by the Residential Landlords Association, which recommends a full review into the operation of the Shared Accommodation Rate (SAR).
Limitations of shared housing
The report contains a number of interesting findings;
The Scottish Government is currently consulting on a range of measures to reform its private tenancy system. The consultation exercise has been driven by recent changes to the private rented sector in Scotland, where this tenure now accounts for more than 330,000 households. Since 1999, there has been an increase in the amount of private accommodation rented to families and to those seeking a long term home.
The Conservative Party Conference has just finished with a headline housing pledge that, if re-elected, they will provide further help to get first-time buyers onto the property market in England.
