84 per cent of Scotland’s councils will see households losing £30 a month or more in housing benefit
8 November 2010
84 per cent of Scotland’s local authorities will have households living in the private rented sector facing losses of more than £30 a month following cuts to housing benefit, Shelter Scotland says.
Hardest hit will be 28 percent of local authorities [9 of 32] who will have households facing the loss of more than £50 per month and at least 56 percent [18 of 32] losing between £30 and £49.
Only one council will see households losing less than £30 in housing benefit while no data was available for four councils. [All figures relate to the average loss per month for a two-bedroom household.]
Across Scotland the average loss per household for all bedroom sizes is equivalent to 11 percent or £44 of their housing benefit/local housing allowance.
The new analysis by the housing charity was aimed at establishing the UK picture outwith London, and it shows the impact of the cuts will hit more than 780,000 people outside of the capital who receive local housing allowance to live in the private rented sector.
Of the 283 local authorities outside London, 81 (29%) will see two bedroom households in their area lose an average of £50 or more, while 156 (55%) will see households losing an average of over £30 a month.
The findings come ahead of a parliamentary debate this Tuesday on changes to housing benefit and legislation to enact the first stages of the cuts expected later this month.
Shelter Scotland director, Graeme Brown, said:
“The focus of debate so far has been the cap to housing benefit and the impact on London, but this analysis shows that these cuts will affect hundreds of thousands of people across the UK – and will hit hard in Scotland.
"Many are those already on low incomes such as pensioners, those with disabilities, carers and people in low paid jobs who will really struggle to find the extra money they will need to keep a roof over their head. For a pensioner surviving on £98 a week, or those on the minimum wage of £218 a week, these losses represent a significant proportion of their income.
“We’re really concerned that many people will become trapped in a spiral of debt, arrears and eviction which for some, may end in homelessness. We could see children pulled out of schools and families forced to move away from their homes, which will have a big impact on local communities and services.”
Graeme Brown added:
“While Shelter Scotland supports reform of housing benefit, cuts on this scale are going to have a devastating impact across the country and we urge the government to urgently rethink them.”
Ends/
- All figures relate to the average loss per month for a two bedroom household.
- All figures from Shelter analysis of ‘Impacts of housing benefit proposals: changes to the local housing allowance to be introduced 2011 – 12’ (DWP). Based on analysis of local authorities where sufficient data is available.
- The basic state pension rate is £97.65 a week.
- Minimum wage rates are as follows assuming a 37.5 hour week: 22+: £5.80/hour or £217.50/week 18-21: £4.83/hour or £181.13/week 16-17: £3.57/hour or £133.88/week (All rates are before National Insurance and Tax)
- Local Housing Allowance is the housing benefit system for private renters who have claimed since April 2008. Currently more than three quarters of people claiming housing benefit in the private rented sector are on Local Housing Allowance.
- There are currently 4.8 million people claiming housing benefit across both social and private renting. Of these, over a million are claiming local housing allowance.
