Housing and Social Security: follow-up paper on Welfare Reform

A report following the 2017 Annual Report on Welfare Reform focusing on the impact of UK Government Social Security policy on housing.

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Footnotes

1. Scottish Government (June 2017) ' Welfare Reform (Further Provision) (Scotland) Act 2012: Annual Report 2017'. ( SG2017 A)

2. Note that the overall impact has been revised down from an estimate of £3.9 billion as published in June 2017. This is due to the reversal of the policy to apply LHA rates to social rented sector accommodation.

3. Number of households in Scotland: ONS (March 2013) ' 2011 Census: Population and household estimates for the United Kingdom' Numbers of households in receipt of HB / UC: Analysis of StatXplor and DWP Caseload assesments.

4. Scottish Government (June 2017) ' Equality characteristics of people in poverty in Scotland, 2015/16'.

5. P.30 SG2017 A

6. Scottish Government Supported accommodation funding

7. DWP (November 2017) ' More detail on £1.5bn package of support for Universal Credit'

8. The Universal Credit (Miscellaneous Amendments, Saving and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2018

9. E.g. Lord Freud "…it [may] start to free up properties for the 250,000 or so families who are living in overcrowded accommodation." "Just a few hours' work may help some of those affected cover the shortfall." House of Lords Hansard 14 February 2012

10. Scottish Government (February 2017) ' Social Tenants in Scotland 2015' ( SG2017 B) (calculation based on a median ratio figure),

11. Joseph Rowntree Foundation (June 2014) ' The impact of welfare reform on social landlors and tenants '

12. Research by Shelter identified that perceived or actual problems with housing benefit where a common factor identified by landlords with so called 'no DSS' policies : Shelter Scotland (October 2017) ' No DSS'. A recent court decision in relation to a case brought under the Equality Act found that such policies might represent indirect discrimination. (On the grounds of gender as more women were in receipt of housing benefit than men.) – ' Landlords who say 'no DSS' breaking equality laws'.

13. pp.4-5, 73 SG2017 B; Scottish Government (June 2017) ' Poverty Equality Analysis'

14. 74% of social rented households had a net income of less than £20k, compared to £49% PRS, 49% owner occupiers and 17% mortgage payers, p.4; 37% are in the lowest income quintile, compared to 21% PRS, 20% owner occupiers and 6% mortgage payers, p.67 : SG2017 B.

15. CIH (October 2017): ' The Introduction of the LHA cap to the social rented sector' p.49

16. Scottish Government Unviersal Credit Choices

17. A household is excluded from the Benefit Cap under Universal Credit if monthly earnings are more than £520 per week (equivalent to 16 hours at the National Living Wage)

18. SG2017 A

19. This is the case for any change initiated by the UK Government, on Scottish Changes the Fiscal Framework notes that "The Governments have also agreed that the UK government's Benefit Cap will be adjusted to accommodate any additional benefit payments introduced by the Scottish Government." : Paragraph 90, ' The agreement between the Scottish government and the United Kingdom government on the Scottish government's fiscal framework' . A specific agreement was reached between the UK Government and Scottish Government to ensure that the abolition of the bedroom tax was not affected by the application of the benefit cap.

20. DWP statistics https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/benefit-cap-number-of-households-capped-to-november-2017

21. Breakdowns of the 140 UC cases affected by the benefit cap were not available at time of writing.

22. IPPR Scotland (February 2018) ' Reducing Child Poverty in Scotland'

23. DWP Support for Mortgage Interest

24. More detailed statistics are available online: ' UC Scottish choices management information'. It is the Scottish Governments intention to publish official statistics on a quarterly basis.

25. CIH (May 2016) ' Mind the gap'

26. Scottish Parliament Social Security Committee inquiry pages, UK Parliament Committee Inquiry: UK Parliament Work and Pensions Committee inquiry pages .

27. DWP (November 2017)

28. National Federation of Arms Length Management Organisations and Association of Retained Council Housing.

29. East Lothian Council (February 2018), ' Council House Rent Arrears'

30. SFHA (March 2017) ' Submission to the UC Update Inquiry'

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