Eviction 'should be last resort' Nov 6, 2009
Director of Shelter Scotland, Graeme Brown, said: "It is vital alternatives to eviction are sought and it needs to be recognised that eviction is not the best way to recover rent. "One family we worked with were evicted for rent arrears following a mix up with housing benefit. "This led to the family being homeless for three years and moving four times to different types of temporary accommodation, which was very unsettling and upsetting; particularly for the children. "We welcome the moves the... (BBC News -- UK)
Tories urge tenant benefit change Oct 22, 2009
Automatic direct payments of housing benefits to private tenants in England should be stopped, the Tories say ... In what it called a "radical reform" last year, the government replaced housing benefit with a local housing allowance for most new tenants in the private rented sector in England ... Under the old system, housing benefit could be paid directly to the landlord but in most cases, payments now go to the tenants. (BBC News -- UK)
State pensions to rise by 2.5% Oct 14, 2009
8% which suggests housing benefit, council tax benefit, incapacity benefit, job seeker's allowance (JSA) and income support will rise by a similar amount in April. But the precise amount will in fact be decided by the Chancellor this autumn in his pre-Budget report. (BBC News -- Business)
Rogue landlords Jul 30, 2009
"They can make thousands of pounds - a lot of it paid in housing benefit - knowing their properties need never be licensed.". And one woman we spoke to in the area showed us a tiny two-bedroom cottage next door to her own home that had been turned into four self-contained flats, "one of them a crack den with the police here all the time," she added. (BBC News -- UK)
Call for Child Trust Fund change Jul 19, 2009
However, some residential care is means-tested, and so are other benefits that many people with other disabilities claim such as income support and housing benefit. Currently, anyone who has savings of more than 16,000 cannot claim these benefits and those with between 6,000 and 16,000 will receive less than the full amount according to a sliding scale. (BBC News -- UK)
If you build it … will they come? Jul 9, 2009
Unlike the Habitat branches in Greenville and Brenham, which have similar populations and applicants lined up around the corner to become partners with the low-cost housing benefit, the Taylor branch has seen only minimal interest in Habitat s services, according to Wilco Habitat Executive Director Debbie Hoffman. I think we have not yet connected with families in Taylor and they may not know the quality of the homes or what the qualifications are, Hoffman said. (Taylor Daily Press, TX)
Billions in benefits go unclaimed Jun 26, 2009
However, the take-up of Income Support, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit all fell by around one percentage point. Jobseekers Allowance take-up remained relatively unchanged. (BBC News -- Business)
Help with paying your bills Jun 25, 2009
If you have not had the payment before and are not getting a state pension or another benefit (apart from housing benefit, council tax benefit or child benefit), the payment will not be automatic: you need to apply ... housing benefit (must include a disability premium) ... you have a child under 16, or are pregnant, and get income support or council tax benefit or housing benefit or income-based jobseeker's allowance or pension credit. (BBC News -- UK)
Living on 50 a week May 22, 2009
This would have meant losing her council tax benefit and some, if not all of her housing benefit, leaving her considerably out of pocket. Given that the margins on JSA are tight, this made it a very hard decision to make. (BBC News)
Expenses: the options for reform May 21, 2009
Page last updated at 17:01 GMT, Wednesday, 20 May 2009 18:01 UK. Britain's political leaders all now agree that MPs expenses need reform - but significant differences remain on what needs to be done. (BBC News -- UK)
Tenants 'in most debt since 80s' May 2, 2009
Apart from rising unemployment, another issue is that housing benefit is now paid directly to tenants ... There can also be a delay of up to two months before housing benefit comes through ... "The government needs to look to see how the payment of housing benefit can be speeded up. Otherwise more tenants are likely to become homeless.". (BBC News -- UK)
Landlords warn of homeless rise Apr 6, 2009
Changes to how housing benefit is paid to some private tenants will lead to rising homelessness and waste public money, a landlords' group has warned ... LHA applies to new housing benefit claimants in the deregulated private rented sector, and does not include council, social housing or supported housing tenants. (BBC News -- UK)
Room to rent Mar 23, 2009
" And there are plenty of people waiting to be housed. There are more than 70,000 people currently in desperate need. They are being housed in temporary accommodation like bed and breakfasts. More than two thirds of them are in London. Investigators But some local councils are taking the problem seriously. Southwark, in London, has a dedicated team of housing investigators specially trained to interview suspected tenancy fraudsters and find evidence using various data. Between them they recover... (BBC News -- UK)
Indian jailed for falsely claiming benefits Mar 21, 2009
Between October 2002 and January 2008, Bacheta claimed housing benefit, council tax relief, income support and disability allowances ... She was paid disability living allowance, council tax benefit and housing benefit while cruising around the Canary Islands. (India Times, India)
Bedridden benefit cheat went scuba diving Feb 24, 2009
They also found that she was not living on her own in various flats, for which she was claiming housing benefit, across the city ... Cole admitted four charges including false accounting over council tax benefit and housing benefit plus dishonestly obtaining bank credits, all in relation to Bacheta s false claims. (WalesOnline)
The baby shambles of Alfie Patten and Chantelle Steadman Feb 15, 2009
One estimate put their potential hand-outs, including income support, housing benefit, child tax credits and child benefit, at 30,000 a year. Once she turns 16, Chantelle will be eligible for benefits too. (Times Online)
Costa packet Feb 11, 2009
The government has to find a middle ground, so while housing benefit is not available to expats, some are entitled to the Winter Fuel Payment - despite the fact it is 20 degrees Celsius in the middle of February. Pensioners who collected it before they left can continue to claim when they are here, but it won't go up as it does as people get older in the UK, and those who moved here before they were 60 don't get it at all. (BBC News -- UK)
5bn pensioner benefits 'unclaimed' Feb 10, 2009
51 billion in council tax benefit and 770 million in housing benefit goes unclaimed, with people also missing out on 2 ... A further 350,000 older people are also not claiming housing benefit. (Ananova -- Headlines)
