Insufficient funding for councils and the government’s failure to properly regulate supported housing mean fraud in the sector is going “largely unaddressed”, MPs have warned.
The argument for shifting resources away from housing benefit subsidies to social housing provision is growing stronger, says councillor Graham Chapman.
The four-year freeze on Local Housing Allowance rates is to be lifted in April bringing the benefit in line with inflation, the government has announced.
The Scottish Government has announced the first changes to its benefits regime under the welfare powers devolved by last year’s Scotland Act – but was criticised by its opponents for not...
Housing benefit overpayments are more likely to be identified when residents receive a separate communication written in clear language, a study conducted by five English councils and Capita suggests.
Universal credit, which amalgamates six welfare benefits, still has cross-party support, despite being beset by delays and fears that it will fail to meet its main objective of encouraging people to...
Supported accommodation must be exempt from the impending housing benefit cap in order to protect the most vulnerable and save piling additional pressures on councils and the NHS, the Local...
Cuts to social housing rents announced by Chancellor George Osborne will be of little or no benefit to most of the 3.9 million tenants in the sector, but will save the Treasury around £1.7bn, an...
The government’s flagship Universal Credit welfare reform will be available in three-quarters of all jobcentres by Christmas under the next phase of its national rollout, ministers have said.
MPs are to probe the effectiveness of local welfare provision, including devolved council tax benefit schemes, in order to determine best practice across the country.
The Department for Work and Pensions 2014/15 accounts have been qualified once again because of “unacceptably” high levels of fraud and error in benefit expenditure, the National Audit Office said.
Chancellor George Osborne’s decision to impose rent cuts on social housing providers in last week’s summer Budget has hit the creditworthiness of the sector, ratings agency Fitch has said.
Whitehall incentives for local authorities to tackle Housing Benefit fraud and error are weak and being compounded by cuts in funding available to councils to administer it, the Public Accounts...
Tougher regulation of the private-rented sector is needed in order to stop landlords from exploiting the housing crisis at the expense of taxpayers and tenants, according to the Civitas think-tank.
