As the Labour leadership battle races to its climax, Diane Abbot, one of the contenders for the role, has claimed that the coalition government’s budget will “bear most heavily” on women and the poor.  This claim comes hot on the heels of Shelter’s announcement that child poverty will worsen as a direct consequence of housing benefit reform. We’ve been working on written evidence for the Work and Pensions Committee on the impact that changes to Housing Benefit and Local Housing Allowance are likely to have and believe that the proposals outlined in the June 2010 budget could have serious implications, both for vulnerable families and the public purse.

Housing Rights Service has long acknowledged that there is a need for reform to the Housing Benefit system and recognises that by getting the balance right Housing Benefit can deliver a simple and fair system of housing support which pays a fair rate of benefit to claimants while also protecting the taxpayer.  That said, we are concerned that the proposals announced in the June 2010 budget will hit low income households hard during the recession precisely when they are most in need of support.  In our submitted evidence we express concern that these measures will disproportionately impact on groups that are protected under Section 75, Northern Ireland Act 1998.  It is our view that a full equality impact assessment is essential prior to any further consideration of these measures.

Housing Rights Service appreciates that there is a huge deficit that needs to be addressed by the coalition Government and sees merit in looking to public expenditure to address this.  However, targeting housing benefit and local housing allowance in this way will actually give rise to serious increases in public expenditure.  In our view a more sophisticated cost benefit analysis is required to ensure that the approach taken is fit for purpose.

We’ll be publishing our written evidence in our Policy Library in the next week or so and welcome any feedback from you on the points we have made.