News Update

The Communities and Local Government Select Committee has conducted an inquiry into the implementation of the welfare reforms by local authorities

A case study survey of housing associations and welfare reforms

A lack of attractive retirement housing and negative perceptions are preventing larger family homes being made available for younger buyers, a study has found

The hidden costs of renting private accommodation in Northern Ireland have been revealed in an undercover survey carried out by the Housing Rights Service

This note outlines issues about high cost credit lending and attempts to reform it. It looks at evidence from various academic research and other reports into the impact of the sector on individuals both here and abroad. It also looks at the opportunities for other lenders to enter the market and to offer more competition to the current market leaders

Three judges ruled on Wednesday that the eligibility procedure currently used by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) disadvantages people with mental health problems, learning disabilities and autism

This report found:- Only 5.5% of shared properties in London are affordable to under 35s on benefits. Welfare reforms have added an additional 12,000 claimants competing for rooms in shared accommodation. Private Rent levels have increased by 37% in the last five years and are predicted to rise by a further 29% in the next five. Less than 1% of landlords state they are willing to accept tenants claiming benefits. This competition is likely to create more homelessness unless more affordable housing can be found

This report is one of a series of outputs from the independent evaluation of a programme of projects demonstrating the direct payment of Housing Benefit to social renting tenants across the UK. It highlights the key learning since the programme began early in 2012.

Largest ever study of payday loan customers in UK highlights reasons for the industry's growth and the lessons it must learn

This report contains findings from a mixture of quantitative and qualitative elements: interviews with landlords which were undertaken between November 2011 and January 2012; claimant interviews that were undertaken in early 2012; and interviews with front line housing and benefits advisors between May and June 2012.

This table lists the benefit changes announced in the last five years. It is not comprehensive but captures much of what has or will happen.

Preliminary estimates for fraud and error in 2012/13 show £1.2bn of benefit spending is lost due to fraud, £1.6bn due to claimant error, and £0.7bn due to official error

This study investigates the geography of wage inequality and employment polarisation in British cities, their determinants and implications.

The report, Will Universal Credit work?, says that although Universal Credit will improve some aspects of the benefits system, its ability to lift families out of poverty and remove barriers to working will be severely undermined by the government's wider tax credit and benefit changes - with nine in ten families gaining nothing overall from its introduction

The regulatory framework for smart meter rollout in Great Britain has been under development for a number of years. This report looks at the The Government's vision is for every home and small business in Great Britain to have smart electricity and gas meters by the end of 2019

This SCVO Welfare Reform Mapping Report incorporates evidence from around 400 people across the third sector on how welfare changes are affecting their organisations

Shelter's new report has uncovered the damaging impact of a childhood spent in England’s volatile private rental market.

Study the issue in depth and learn all you need to know about what happens next with the Guardians essential guide

Family Matters opens a window onto the lives of 11 families, providing a vivid illustration of the delicate balancing act necessary to sustain household budgets and keep family life on track in difficult times.

This study is the first in an annual series of reports monitoring how many people live in households with not enough income to afford a 'minimum acceptable standard of living'. This research looks at changes in the adequacy of household incomes in the early part of the recession, as measured by households' ability to reach the Minimum Income Standard

Social hearted, commercially minded examines the changing role of housing associations and challenges they face as they adjust to a future with little or no subsidies. Fifty leading players in the social sector were interviewed in late 2012 and early 2013. The report finds one of the big tests for housing associations is the penalty for under-occupation of social housing, or 'bedroom tax'.

Almost everyone experiencing homelessness in England will be affected by the current raft of changes to the welfare system - but are local authorities prepared to support them through it? 42 local authorities were interviewed for this report to try to understand their priorities, particularly around single homeless people.

Rents rise for the first time since October last year. Average rent in England and Wales 0.5% higher than February and 4.2% up from last March. As rents rise, tenant finances worsen once again - with 8.5% of all rent in England and Wales now in arrears.

This report contains the findings of research commissioned by the Committee into the impact of welfare reform on Scotland

Welfare cuts will take more than £1.6bn a year out of the Scottish economy and hit the poorest parts hardest, according to this independent research

This briefing outlines the implications of welfare reform for sheltered housing tenants including the transfer of housing benefit to Pension Credit Plus

The replacement of Council Tax Benefit with Council Tax Support marks a historic move from a nationally devised system to one of 326 different local schemes in England. This restructuring, along with a 10 per cent cut in funding, will create considerable challenges for local authorities, advice services and benefit recipients alike

This month (April 2013) three absolute benefit cuts come into effect in the UK: Replacement of council tax benefit by council tax support, estimated to cost 2.4 million families in England an average of £2.60 per week; The under-occupation penalty (commonly known as the bedroom tax) expected to cost 660,000 families an average of £14 per week; The household benefit cap expected to affect 56,000 families with an average cut of £93 per weekiv Alongside this, the value of the income-based benefits income support, jobseeker's allowance, and employment support allowance have been up-rated by only 1%. This is less than the rate of inflation in the previous September (2.2%) which until now was how up-rating has been calculated. The estimated impacts that have been published so far deal with the scope and depth of each cut on its own. What have not been published are estimates of the extent to which families are affected by more than one such cut. This paper reports NPI's own estimates of the extent of these overlaps, based on official data and building on previous single estimates.

This report focuses on implementation and the part that local authorities are playing. It identifies four key areas that will be crucial to the successful implementation of the changes. According to the report none merit a red card but idetifies that the Government will need to act swiftly to address a number of concerns.

Ashton-under-Lyne will be the first Jobcentre to accept claims for Universal Credit from 29 April. Wigan, Warrington and Oldham jobcentres will first trial the new claimant commitment and will take claims for Universal Credit beginning in July, informed by the early testing in Ashton-under-Lyne.