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Housing benefit reform: next steps
- Authors:
- KEMP Peter, WILCOX Steve, RHODES David
- Publisher:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation,|York Publishing Services
- Publication year:
- 2002
- Pagination:
- 54p.,bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- York
An exploration of the options for restructuring and simplifying the current Housing Benefit scheme. Among all social security benefits, it is widely accepted that housing benefit suffers from some of the greatest problems. The Government has declared its intention of tackling this longstanding issue. Tax and pension proposals due to come into effect in 2003 have brought added urgency. This book considers the rules restricting the amount of rent taken into account when housing benefit is assessed and the relationship between housing benefit and the new tax credits. It also suggests how to reduce the poverty trap which the current system of overlapping benefits and tapers has created. The report outlines the position of low income owner-occupiers who are not eligible for benefit, and who can be worse off in work than out of it. The authors argue that a reformed housing benefit system incorporating a flat rate element could offer significant advantages, would be more transparent and easier to manage. They suggest that a properly integrated tax credit system should help reduce those poverty traps and that including owners within the system would help break down the tenure divide and end the unemployment trap.