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Government cuts
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01/05/2012
New limits on contribution-based ESA
From 1 May 2012, the government has introduced a limit of one year on the time for which contribution-based employment and support allowance (ESA) is paid to those in the ‘work-related activity’ group. Eventually around 700,000 people will lose their entitlement to the benefit as a result.
ESA is payable to people who are too ill or too disabled to work. Those with a good enough record of national insurance contributions have in the past been able to go on claiming ESA as long as their condition remained unchanged. But under changes brought in by the 2012 Welfare Reform Act, the payment will automatically stop after one year. After that, people will have to undergo a means test to qualify for income-related ESA.
Category: News stories -
28/04/2012
Duncan Smith says additional welfare cuts are ‘not acceptable’
The Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, has said that plans by his own government for an extra £10 billion of benefit cuts are ‘unacceptable’.
The cuts were originally identified as necessary in the Coalition government’s March Budget statement. Chancellor George Osborne said that an extra £10 billion cut by 2014 in ‘welfare spending’ (not defined further) would avoid extra cuts for other departments.
Duncan Smith said, in an interview with the Times newspaper, that welfare should not be ‘an easy target’ and the government had ‘a responsibility to support people in difficulty’.
Asked if he thought a further welfare cut of £10 billion was acceptable, Duncan Smith is reported as saying: ‘My view is it’s not.’
Category: News stories -
24/04/2012
London councils look to move housing benefit claimants out of capital
An inner London borough is looking to move homeless tenants to a housing association in Stoke-on-Trent, 160 miles away in the Midlands. Newham Council argues that it can no longer afford to house tenants in private accommodation in the borough because of the effects of the Coalition government’s housing benefit cuts.
The Mayor of Newham said that people from wealthier parts of London were seeking homes in Newham, leading to a shortage of affordable homes for people on its own waiting list. He said the council had written to over 1,000 organisations across the country asking for help.
The Coalition government Housing Minister Grant Shapps accused the council of playing party politics in the run up to local and mayoral elections.
Category: News stories -
24/04/2012
Housing benefit cuts will hit the most disadvantaged
The cuts in housing benefit will adversely affect some of the most disadvantaged groups in society and are likely to lead to an increase in homelessness, warns the homeless charity Crisis. In a new briefing paper looking at the impact of the Coalition government changes to housing benefit introduced from 2010 to the 2012 budget, the charity finds:
Nationally 936,960 households will lose out as a result of the removal of various changes. The average 1 bedroom claimant will lose £11 a week. The average London claimant will lose £22 a week.While accepting that housing benefit needs reform and that there is an issue with very high rents, particularly in parts of London, the report concludes:
Category: Reports -
06/04/2012
Families lose out from Coalition Budget changes
An updated analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies suggests that the combined effect of all the tax and benefit changes effective from April 2012 would be an average loss of £511 per year for households with children. In Tax and Benefit changes, excluding those affecting mainly the very rich, the Institute for Fiscal Studies takes into account a long list of changes, some announced as long ago as the 2010 Budget but only coming into force now.
It shows:
Category: News stories -
06/04/2012
Tax credit cuts will hit family finances
The new rules on working tax credits from the start of the 2012/13 tax year will hit around 212,000 low income families, according to information published by the House of Commons Library. This will reduce their income on average by £2,600 each year.
Up till now, most couples with children have qualified for working tax credit, provided one partner works at least 16 hours each week. But from April 2012 couples will need to work 24 hours between them, with one partner working at least 16.
Category: News stories -
29/03/2012
Women ‘hit worst’ by austerity measures
Two separate analyses have found that women are bearing the brunt of austerity measures introduced by the Coalition government. One analysis, by the House of Commons Library, calculates that nearly 75 per cent of budget savings since 2010 have primarily hit women’s incomes. A second analysis, by the Women’s Budget Group, examines the most recent (2012) Budget.
House of Commons researchThe Commons Library traces the gender impact of a long list of fiscal measures, starting with the 2010 Budget. The combined impact – by reference to projected government revenues in 2014/15 – is calculated to be £14.9 billion, of which £11.1 billion (74.5 per cent) will fall primarily on women.
The most severe impacts derive from changes to public sector pension arrangements (£6.1 billion), the tapered removal of child benefit from higher-rate taxpayers (£1.6 billion), and the decision to freeze child benefit for three years (£1.3 billion).
Category: Reports -
28/03/2012
Homelessness on the rise as cuts bite
Homelessness and levels of rough sleeping are increasing as a result of deep cuts to hostel and housing services, according to a survey of homeless charities, Homeless Watch, a survey of needs and provisions 2012. The survey carried out in November 2011 by the charity, Homeless Link, finds that:
Category: News stories -
21/03/2012
The impact of the Budget on low income households
The Chancellor’s annual budget statement contained a number of measures, many of which would affect the living standards of those on the lowest incomes. The key announcements contained in the Budget Report 2012 are as follows:
Tax changes
The personal allowance for Income Tax will increase by £1,100 in 2013/14, with some of this increase passed on to higher rate tax payers. The higher personal allowances for those over 65 are to be frozen and then phased out. The top rate of income tax is to be cut to 45p from 2013/14 and some tax loopholes closed. Analysis of the budget (by the IFS and Resolution Foundation – see below) shows that maintaining tax credit levels is more effective at helping those on lowest incomes than raising the tax threshold.
Child Benefit
Category: News stories -
29/02/2012
Welfare Reform Bill passed
The government’s highly controversial Welfare Reform Bill was finally passed by the House of Lords on 27 February 2012 after peers dropped their final resistance to the controversial measures. The Bill, hailed as ‘historic’ by the Prime Minister, aims to save £18 billion from the annual welfare bill and overhauls most of the benefit system.
Key measures include:
Category: News stories
