Welfare

Over 86,000 Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) awards totalling over £44 million were made by Scotland’s councils over a six month period to support housing costs and mitigate against the ‘bedroom tax’. The DHP scheme provides financial assistance towards housing costs for those claiming hou

The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) has highlighted that 241,000 more tenants in Scotland will be affected by the announcement that all social housing tenants on Universal Credit will be brought under the new Local Housing Allowance (LHA) cap when it is introduced in 2019. Ministe

Lord Freud The UK government’s cap on Local Housing Allowance (LHA) has been delayed for another 12 months for general needs accommodation but will now apply to all tenants who receive Universal Credit when it is introduced in 2019.

Derek Mackay The UK government must use the Autumn Statement to reverse its freeze on benefits and the damaging reduction of the benefit cap, and ensure low income families will not face any further welfare cuts, according to finance secretary Derek Mackay.

Social housing sector tenants who challenged the so called ‘bedroom tax’ have received a mixed outcome at the Supreme Court. Two families who claimed that the removal of the spare room subsidy was unfair won their appeals against the UK government but five other claimants had their challenges di

Jeane Freeman Low income households have benefitted from £9.2 million in grants in the first three months of this financial year thanks to the Scottish Welfare Fund, new figures have shown.

More than a million Scottish families will see their income fall by £360 a year by 2020 as inflation rises and welfare payments such as housing benefit are frozen, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned. The think tank estimated in March that 11.5 million working families across the UK w

Angela Constance At least 2,000 people who have direct experience of receiving benefits are to help shape Scotland’s first ever social security system.

David Bookbinder LHA restrictions will hamper the Scottish Government’s plan to deliver 50,000 homes over the next five years, writes David Bookbinder.

Angela Constance UK and Scottish government ministers met again this week as part of the on-going process to transfer the remaining welfare powers under the Scotland Act 2016.

Link Group has been awarded an additional £40,715 to extend its Welfare Reform project until March 2017. The initiative is one of over 100 projects funded as part of the Scottish Legal Aid Board’s (SLAB) Making Advice Work (MAW) programme, which has gained an extra £6 million from the Scottish G

Mary Taylor The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced that proposed changes to its policy on Local Housing Allowance (LHA) will apply to all tenants in supported housing, not only those with new tenancies.

Damian Green The UK government has announced that its policy to cap Local Housing Allowance (LHA) for supported accommodation will be put on ice until 2019 when the funding for Scotland will then be transferred to Holyrood.

The good work of two housing associations has been highlighted in Parliamentary motions by MSPs ahead of a debate on housing in the Scottish Parliament today. Renfrewshire South MSP Tom Arthur congratulated Barrhead Housing Association on its 30th anniversary, praising the exceptional work in provid

After First Minister Nicola Sturgeon set out the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government to MSPs at Holyrood yesterday, Scottish Housing News highlights the details of interest to housing associations and the wider sector. House building