Housing london-rent cap arrears-Benefit and work

Housing Benefit and the CAP rent is a political issue. If people find part time work. Brent is featured on this video along with the Immigration issue. This includes the Citizenship issue. Add this to the fact that London has the highest rent which means that if you cannot afford rent and working you can still be evicted. So potentially you can be working and still be moved to another area.
If you have a large family then London ceases to be cost effective.
The CAP is a National CAP.
60% of those capped are single parents.
The move from London is not popular. Is it the correct move..A difficult question. If all that is required is part time work then couples are less likely to have the child care issues.
The Grocer job isn't enough for a large family. Having to move out of the area.
The 0 hour contract may be another challenge. Certainly child care is also an issue . Affordability in the private sector is a major issue. and is likely to get worse. It is clear that Councils will have the issue of moving more and more families out of London. More offers being made out of London in areas like Birmingham and other cities. Additional to this is the demands on housing in these areas outside of London that have their limits.
Welfare Reform Teams have a tough hard job. DHP Discretionary Housing payments have their limits.  The larger the family the Bigger the challenge.Even in employment the challenge for the larger family remains. For the single parent there is a need for flexibility
Siyad SHARIF  is in work

Bedroom tax-An election battleground

This definatly looks like a change in position from the viewpoint of the Lib Dems and a possible key moment in the for a change in the direction of this particular policy

Nick Clegg will set the Lib Dems on a major collision course with the Tories over his plea to axe the hated Bedroom Tax.

The Deputy PM has finally agreed the crippling penalties are battering the poorest in society and will push for change before next year’s general election.

There have clearly been issues on the legal side with challenges.
But if Mr Clegg cannot persuade his heartless
Coalition partners the Bedroom Tax is a disastrous flop before Britain goes to the polls, he will make ditching it a Lib Dem manifesto pledge.

Employment training and Geographical challenge

In the recent Mind the Gap: London vs The Rest it was identified that there was a significant Gap between the economies of London and the rest of the country
Education and skill base is seen as an issue for the U.K and takes planning.

When you look at the figures produced by the ONS and then reflect on the UK map they  produce the figures make interesting readng based on the overall

economic situation. Using your mouse you can highlight any area of the country and see the figures for the are represented from the Consensus. The qualifications and skills differ

Today's unemployment figures are continuing to encourage many They however do not take into consideration the number of hours that people are working. The rate of income increase sadly isnt reflecting the cost of living and the Unemployment figures do not allow for those on Universal Credit still, neither do they reflect the 0 hour contract that in many cases keeps employees under the Eu hours rules as well as reducing the options of overtime.. People working part time Youth Unemployment has been a challenge since the recession


Education and training is a key 25% of youth have lived at home. This months figures



If you look at the GVA the Gross Value Added per head in the regions with London being most GVA is higher. Education has an interesting report here

Hidden story-timebomb

Well hidden in yesterdays news was the update on the so called" Bedroom Tax"
"Some 59% of tenants - more than 300,000 - affected by new "spare room subsidy" rules were in arrears five months after the changes came into effect last year"
This is surely a problem disaster area for the future. 
"The new interim report, carried out by the Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research and Ipsos MORI, looked at the initial impact of the policy.

The report - the first official study into the change - found most people were paying by cutting back on household essentials, and a quarter had borrowed to pay their rent.

During the first five months, 41% of affected tenants had paid their additional rent in full but 59% were struggling - 39% had made some contribution to the additional rent but 20% had paid nothing at all."

Even with advice there is likely to be a shortage of accommodation for those needing to rent appropriate accommodation. There is also likely to be shortage in revenue for council and Housing association. With a potential issue for investment in infrustructure

Blame Tenants?

"The analysis for the DWP found that while many tenants hit by the cut had wanted to move, they had been unable to do so owing to the lack of smaller properties.

While 19% of tenants had registered to downsize, 4.5% had managed to do so within the first six months of the policy"

To set up and implement a policy there has to be the flexibility in resource to meet the demand. In this instance there is clearly not.

" David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, which campaigns for affordable housing, said the government's policy remained "flawed".

He said: "Time and time again it has been shown that the bedroom tax is pushing people into rent arrears and people have been unable to downsize because of a lack of smaller properties.

"Now the figures from the DWP prove it is not working, surely now it is time for the government to admit they got it wrong and repeal this ill-thought policy."

If the builders are saying this then the Government needs to review this prior to the next General election.

The Article

This is my argument that there is a ticking time bomb which can lead to more social issues in many cases out of the control of the claiment. Add this to the Universal Credit system and the country has a right to have some concerns

JSA is only part of the story

The Job Seekers Allowance is only half the story Governments over the years have always looked at moving the Goal posts and today's revalation that the Welfare Cap may breached isnt a suprise.

DLA being replaced by ESA Employment Support Allowance could be regarded as rebranding the issue It is worth nothing that ESA doesnt feature in the Statistics produced monthly unlike JSA.

Neither does Universal Credit featured in todays News So the Cap "It emerged on Thursday that the leaked memos say ESA - which is paid to ill and disabled people who are unable to work or need help to work - is "one of the largest fiscal risks crrently facing the government.
The cost of ESA is projected to rise by nearly £13bn between the current financial year and 2018/19, ". "The main reason for the rising cost of ESA is an increasing number of claimants, caused by people moving off Jobseeker's Allowance and on to ESA."
 Is that moving the GoalPosts?
 The documents also say the severity of ESA claimants' illnesses and disabilities has been underestimated - meaning people are staying on the benefit longer than expected. The memos reveal a range of options for reducing costs, but conclude there appears to be "not much low-hanging fruit left"
 Sanctions are different to Job Seekers Allowance Further more the issue connected to ATOS still remain despite the termination of their contract "Problems with the private firm Atos, which has carried out benefit health assessments for the government, have also increased ESA costs.
 Earlier this month ministers said more than 700,000 people were waiting for an assessment for ESA. It blamed the delays on Atos, which has agreed to end its contract early. But the leaked documents say the new contractor - due to be appointed in early 2015 - is expected to cost roughly "three times as much" as the £100m annual deal with Atos."
PIP
 "New claims for the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) - which replaces the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) - began in April 2013. They are worth between £21 and £134 a week. Most people applying for PIP have a face-to-face assessment to determine eligibility, which have been carried out by the private contractors Atos Healthcare and Capita Business Services." Again this was highlighted as the future way forward by the Government.
The BBC goes on to say
 'Unacceptable' In its report, the cross-party committee accused Atos of providing "incorrect and potentially misleading" information about its capabilities when bidding for the contract to conduct assessments for the government. The company, which has previously agreed to end its contract early, said it completely refuted the claim. The Department for Work and Pensions began processing new claims for PIP in northern England in 2103, but had only made 360 decisions when the scheme was introduced nationwide in June. Reassessment of the existing 1.7 million DLA claimants began in October, but was effectively paused after a backlog of some 780,000 claims built up.

Margaret Hodge comments stand out

Committee chairwoman and Labour MP Margaret Hodge said: "The implementation of the Personal Independence Payment has been nothing short of a fiasco.

"The Department for Work and Pensions has let down some of the most vulnerable people in our society, many of whom have had to wait more than six months for their claims to be decided.

"The department's failure to pilot the scheme meant that the most basic assumptions, such as how long assessments would take and how many would require face-to-face consultations, had not been fully tested and proved to be wrong."

She continued that this had resulted in "significant delays, a backlog of claims and unnecessary distress for claimants who have been unable to access the support they need to live, and in some cases work, independently".

"The personal stories we heard were shocking," Mrs Hodge added.

In one case, a claimant required hospital intervention as a result of the stress caused by the delays.

Elsewhere, claimants had been forced to turn to food banks, loans and charitable donations to support the extra costs of living associated with their disability, the MPs said.

"Claimants had also endured an "unacceptable" standard of service, with assessors failing to turn up at centres or cancelling home visits at the last minute."

One wonders if the Assessors get sanctioned?

Indeed if we add the issues that are on going with Universal Credit reported today -

The government's flagship welfare policy, Universal Credit, is to be introduced in 90 jobcentres in north-west England, Iain Duncan Smith says.

The government's flagship welfare policy, Universal Credit, is to be introduced in 90 jobcentres in north-west England, Iain Duncan Smith says.

The work and pensions secretary told the BBC the change would apply only to single claimants, with couples and families joining at a later stage.

But ministers have not set a target date for that to happen.

The benefit is currently distributed at just 10 jobcentres, having been delayed a number of times since its creation.

Ministers say the changes will get under way next week.

The Universal Credit system merges six working-age benefits - income-based jobseeker's allowance, income-related employment and support allowance, income support, child tax credit, working tax credit and housing benefit - into a single payment in a far-reaching change designed to encourage work and reduce fraud.

'Improve' chances

Mr Duncan Smith said: "What we're planning to do is start rolling out Universal Credit [for] singles, which is the bit that we've been testing, to the whole of the North West.

"That means basically that the North West will, across the board, be engaged with Universal Credit.

"And then coming down the track will be further embellishments, such as couples and families."

He added: "That will improve the quality of service for people, improve their chances of getting back to work."

Asked whether there was the "tiniest percentage chance of universal credit being scrapped", Mr Duncan Smith said simply: "No."

In conclusion

Reforming the Benefit system is a massive task. In many ways there is a strong argument that the Government has taken to much on with the main pr issue being the drop in the JSA 

JSA is not the full story and the rebranding of benefits hides the real story with Food Banks becoming a familiar growth throughout the U.K

The Government I.T systems are an issue but the Media and political focus remains the JSA count and the Youth Neet figure

Youth -Opposition responce to Neet issue

The skills are the key issue of the Youth issue It requires effective assessment and effective careers advice The plans outlined by the opposition make interesting reflection on changes from New Deal 18-24 Ed Miliband was in East London to give a speech advising young people about the importance of training. Mr Miliband, of course, went to Oxford University, where he trained as a philosopher. With jobs in the philosophy industry at a low, however, and even the biggest philosophy firms reluctant to invest in young philosophical talent, the Labour leader has decided a new approach is needed to help the unemployed youth of today find work. Essentially, he’s going to help them by taking their unemployment benefit away. He didn’t put it quite as baldly as that; instead he said, “A Labour government will get young people to sign up for training, not sign on for benefits.” None the less, to some Labour supporters, the policy may sound cruel and unfeeling, not to mention inconsistent; after four years of opposing the Coalition’s cuts, their party is now planning cuts of its own NEET the unemployed Youth are a major economic challenge. The Skills base in a fast moving world can be a concern For many the motivation whilst rejection continues is an issue that has not been looked at by any party...sadly