Support For Housing Costs In The Reformed Welfare System Hc 720

Reforms to the support provided for housing costs - including the Social Sector Size Criteria (SSSC) (also known as the "Bedroom Tax" and the "Spare Room Subsidy") and the household Benefit Cap are causing financial hardship to vulnerable people who were not the intended targets of the reforms and are unlikely to be able to change their circumstances in response. The SSSC is having a particular impact on people with disabilities who have adapted homes or need a room to hold medical equipment or to accommodate a carer. Anybody living in a home that has been significantly adapted for them should be exempt from the SSSC and all recipients of Carers Allowance where the carer lives with the disabled person should be exempt from the Benefit Cap. The Report further urges the Government to exempt all households that contain a person in receipt of higher level disability benefits (DLA or PIP) from the SSSC. Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are only temporary, and whether or not a claimant is awarded DHP is heavily dependent on where they live because different local authorities apply different eligibility rules. Local authorities often have no option other than to place homeless households in expensive temporary accommodation and claimants can then fall within the scope of the Benefit Cap. Local authorities then often have to pay the shortfall for those affected by the Cap so there is no overall saving to public funds. All households in temporary accommodation should therefore also be exempt from the Benefit Cap.

It remains uncertain how the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will manage the housing costs element of Universal Credit without increased risks of fraud and error. The Government has stated that an IT system (the Integrated Risk and Intelligence Service (IRIS)) will allow it to cross-check data and provide similar safeguards against fraudulent claims under Universal Credit as are currently operated by local authorities within the Housing Benefit system. However, the National Audit Office found that IRIS was 'missing' from the UC Pathfinders, and it remains unclear how or when DWP will achieve automated access to the range of property data currently available to local authorities. The official estimated benefit fraud rate is 0.7% of total benefits expenditure. The general public's misperception is that it is some 34 times higher. To reduce the risk of confusion or conflation in media reporting, DWP should publish statistics relating to the estimated level of benefit fraud on a separate day from those related to error in the benefits system. Fraud and error rates have plateaued from 2005/06 to 2012/13 and DWP must employ innovative approaches which are aligned with the known risk factors associated with each benefit to achieve reductions. Biometric identity systems could have an important role to play in identity verification processes across government. The Single Fraud Investigation Service (SFIS), which will investigate all social security benefit fraud across DWP, HMRC and local authorities, should be implemented in line with the roll out of Universal Credit.

Sociological perspectives can be used to analyse societal and structural influences on human behaviour at individual, group and community levels. The authors link sociological concepts, debates and theories relating to key areas such as poverty, social exclusion, education, social class and social justice to develop your students′ understanding of how sociological perspectives will impact upon their social work placements and practice. This book begins by taking you step-by-step through the ins and outs of why sociology is important to social work. It explains the relevance of sociology to everyday social work practice, introducing you to the core sociological perspectives that you′ll need to get to grips with during your course, including functionalism, Marxism, symbolic interactionism and postmodernism. The book then moves on to explore various social issues in detail (i.e. poverty, social class, social exclusion, education, moral panics), with extended case studies, activities and links to skills in practice illustrating the many opportunities and challenges that each aspect brings to everyday practice. There are also important chapters on family, community and the role of sociology in social work training.

This book is an evaluation of the effectiveness of housing enforcement and tenant protection in England’s private rented sector using policy analysis to evaluate regulatory provisions and local authority guidance to identify the advantages and limitations of existing policies. From the environmental health practitioner perspective, the targeted health problem is occupiers privately renting from negligent or criminal landlords who are subsequently exposed to hazardous conditions arising from disrepair. Paul Oatt’s analysis looks at the powers local authorities have to address retaliatory eviction when enforcing against housing disrepair and digs deeper into their duties to prevent homelessness and powers to protect tenants from illegal eviction. He then explores the potential for tenants to take private action against landlords over failures to address disrepair, before finally discussing proposals put forward by the government to abolish retaliatory evictions and improve security of tenure with changes to contractual arrangements between landlords and tenants, based on successive stakeholder consultations. The policy analysis looks at these aspects to define the overall effectiveness of housing strategies and their implementation, examining causality, plausibility and intervention logic as well as the unintended effects on the population. Equitability is examined to see where policy effects create inequalities as well as the costs, feasibility and acceptability of policies from landlords' and tenants’ perspectives. The book will be of relevance to professionals interested in housing and health, as well as students at universities that teach courses in environmental health, public health, and housing studies.

An understanding of social policy is crucial for social workers as it underpins and shapes the legislative framework that they work within. From safeguarding service users and enabling them to improve their lives, to protecting the most vulnerable in society, social policy also has a vital role to play within social work education. It is important therefore for students to engage critically with social policy. This book introduces policy and shows how it has changed and evolved over time, how it reflects changes in society and how it is applied to everyday practice.

This is the first book to challenge the idea that paid work should be seen as an essential means to independence and self-determination for the disabled. Writing in the wake of attempts in many countries to increase the employment rates of disabled people, the contributors show how such efforts have led to an overall erosion of financial support for the disabled and increasing stigmatization of those who are not able to work. Drawing on sociology and philosophy, and mounting a powerful case for the rights of the disabled, the book will be essential for activists, scholars, and policy makers.

Access to Work (AtW) is an important element of specialist employment support for disabled people. It is unique in providing help to people already in, or about to start, mainstream work. It has the potential to be an extremely effective model, helping to address the substantial gap between the employment rate for disabled people and that of the rest of the population. Where it works well, it transforms the lives of disabled people, many of whom would be unable to work without it.There is strong evidence that AtW currently supports only a minority of disabled people whom it might benefit. There is a misperception that the sole purpose of AtW is to provide physical aids, equipment and transport for people with sensory impairments and physical disabilities; consequently relatively few people with other types of disability, and different support needs, currently use the programme. In scaling up the programme DWP needs to address this imbalance. Its priority should be supporting a much greater number of people with mental health problems, and intellectual, cognitive and developmental impairments, including learning disabilities and autism spectrum disorders. AtW's focus should remain on removing barriers to employment for the full range of disabled people who can benefit from it. DWP should make a strong and evidence-based case to HM Treasury for substantial additional funding for AtW and then aim to increase take-up through much more high profile marketing, and proactive promotion of AtW, including through Jobcentre Plus Work Coaches and contracted employment services providers.

With unrivalled political savvy and a keen sense of irony, distinguished political scientists Anthony King and Ivor Crewe open our eyes to the worst government horror stories and explain why the British political system is quite so prone to appalling mistakes.