Benefit cap: Landlord backs 'nine-months grace' for claimants

Published by Ross Macmillan for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Central Government, Communities, Local Government

A housing association has welcomed reports that the Government is to introduce a nine-month transitional period for families affected by the £26,000-a-year benefits cap.

The Government's Welfare Reform Bill has suffered a series of defeats in the House of Lords which the Government will seek to overturn today in the House of Commons.

Alongside the exemption of child benefit from the £26,000 a year benefits cap, peers also voted in favour of watering down the Government's bedroom tax plans - penalising social tenants living in homes deemed to be too large.

Brian Johnson, chief executive of South-East-based provider Moat, said he welcomed reports suggesting the Government could implement a nine-month transitional period for those affected by the £500-a-week benefits cap.   

Research published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has put the number of claimants who would see benefit cuts as a result of the cap at 67,000 - 44% of which are in the social sector. More than half those affected are in London.

He said: "The basic principle we hold is that those trying to do the right thing (by moving to a lower rent area or finding a job) should not be penalised because they are unable to do so immediately. We would welcome any Government movement on this issue.

"In a paper launched together with fellow members of the Consortium of Associations in the South East (CASE) this week, ‘The impact of welfare reform on housing’, we similarly recommend that the Government introduce a ‘soft start’ for those deemed to be under-occupying; to mitigate against a huge number of residents unable to make alternative plans within proposed timescales. The same flexibility should absolutely be granted for those affected by the introduction of the cap. 

"We hope that today signals a renewed understanding between the Government and providers about the need for discussion around how these reforms are introduced; and would urge that it takes notice of other recommendations within the CASE paper. There is much to be done to ensure that the current proposed short term fixes do not open the floodgates for more complex problems in the longer term."

Labour is pushing for a local cap on benefits. However, work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith told the BBC's Andrew Marr show on the weekend that the Government was not going for a regional cap.

He said: "The overall level is critical. We've got people living in London in some cases in flats costing over £100,000 a year to rent. I know that's the extreme but that's the kind of nonsense we've got ourselves into under the last government. So it's important we settle the London issue.

"I'm not going for a regional cap but I do say this to the Labour Party. If they really want a regional cap then that must mean they want regionalisation of benefits as well because you can't have both. You can't have one without the other. I'm happy to have a debate about that with them if that's where they want to go. You can't detach one and say 'we'd like a bit of this but not the other' because that would make the whole system a chaotic mess."