£20 million support for welfare reform claimants unspent
24 Jun 2014 02:46 PM
More than £20 million specifically
earmarked to help people adapt to welfare reforms was not spent by local
authorities last year.
New
figures show that almost two-thirds (63%) of councils paid out less than their
total Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) allocation to tenants, leaving
£13.3 million left over.
Around three-quarters of councils also did not apply for
a £20 million government top-up fund to help claimants adjust to welfare
changes, leaving a further £7.1 million unspent.
Minister for Welfare Reform, Lord Freud,
said:
We
tripled support for vulnerable people to £180 million last year to ensure
the right help was in place during our far-reaching welfare reforms and it is
good to see that people have benefited from that support as they adapt to the
changes.
Today’s (24 June 2014) figures also show that
recent scare stories about councils running out of money were grossly
exaggerated. We urge people who may need additional help to contact their local
authority.
Our
vital reforms are fixing the broken welfare system by restoring fairness for
hardworking people and making sure work always pays, as part of our long-term
plan.
The
new figures also show:
- at
the end of the financial year, 240 out of 380 local authorities (LAs) across
Great Britain underspent their DHP funding
- almost 1 in 10 councils spent less than 60% of their
total DHP allocation, and 18 councils spent less than
half
- in
total, almost 400,000 DHP awards were made to claimants in 2013/14 to
support the most vulnerable people through a range of housing benefit
reforms
- over 160,000 of these awards were for extra funding to
help claimants with housing costs while they look for work or more suitable
accommodation, or to support them moving house
Thousands of people have been
awarded DHP funding to help them manage both their short and
long-term housing costs.
The
Scottish and Welsh Governments provided extra financial support to claimants
and an additional 85 councils in England topped up
their DHPfunding.
We
have given councils £165 million this year – on top of £180
million last year – to help the most vulnerable claimants adjust to our
necessary reforms.
More information
Read the Use of Discretionary Housing Payments statistics
LAs are able to top up their government
contribution towards DHPs to a maximum of two and a half times this
figure from their own funds.
In
2013/14 the Scottish Government allocated Scottish LAs a share of a
£20 million pot with the stated intention that this was used to
award DHPs. The Welsh Government similarly provided just over £1
million to Welsh LAs for the same purpose.
The
removal of the spare room subsidy ensures housing benefit pays for the size of
property a household needs. It aims to free-up space for over 300,000 families
living in overcrowded accommodation, while 820,000 rooms were going spare in
under-occupied social housing.
On
top of this there are approximately 1.7 million households on the housing
waiting list in England. It is right that we tackle this issue and bring
fairness back to the system.
Contact Press Office
Media enquiries for this press release – 0203 267
5109
Press Office
Caxton House
Tothill Street
London
SW1H 9NA
London Press Office (national media and London area
enquiries only – not questions about personal claims) 020 3267
5144
Out-of-hours (journalists only) 076 59 108
883
England and Wales (local media enquiries) 029 20 586
then 097or 098 or 099
Scotland (local media enquiries)0131 310
1122
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