Government sees off changes to welfare reform bill
Thursday, 2 February 2012 11:22 AM
The government has overturned two key housing amendments made by the House of Lords to its flagship welfare reform bill.
Ministers saw off changes to its proposals to cut the housing benefit of social housing tenants who have a spare room and cap total household benefits at £26,000 a year. They then claimed financial privilege so as to deny the Lords any further votes.
Housing campaigners claim the charge on under-occupying tenants amounts to a bedroom tax that will cause severe hardship without necessarily saving any money. And they also say the cap amounts to a cap on housing costs in high-rent arrears like London that will force thousands of families to move home.
However, ministers say the cuts are vital to their plans to control the deficit and to their wider aim of making work pay.
Concessions announced in the House of Commons yesterday, including a nine-month grace period before the cap applies for anyone losing their job, were enough to convince most Liberal Democrat MPs to vote with the government.
Work and pensions minister Chris Grayling said: "If we walk out onto the streets this afternoon and ask the public what they think about a benefits' cap, we will discover virtually 100 per cent behind this policy."
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Tags:
- housing benefit ,
- parliament ,
- welfare
