Committee announces new housing costs evidence session

• Parliament TV: Watch the evidence session
• Inquiry: Support for housing costs in the reformed welfare system
• Work and Pensions Committee

Topics covered

• How claimant advocates and welfare rights advisers are supporting tenants affected by the Benefit Cap and the Social Sector Size Criteria
• How supported and temporary accommodation currently interact with the Benefit Cap and the Social Sector Size Criteria and how they will interact with Universal Credit
• How changes to Local Housing Allowance have affected the options tenants have to rent accommodation in the private rented sector
• Whether Discretionary Housing Payments are being allocated to claimants affected by the welfare reforms most efficiently
• How localised support for council tax and reductions in council tax funding from Central Government are affecting claimants
• What more needs to be done to ensure that vulnerable claimants are supported to pay their rent to landlords under Universal Credit  

You can see the inquiry's terms of reference online, issued on 23 July 2013.

Witnesses

The witnesses are representatives of claimant advocates and welfare rights advisers:

• Geoff Fimister, Policy Researcher, Citizens Advice,
• Yvette Burgess, Unit Director, Housing Support Enabling Unit, Coalition of Care and Support providers in Scotland,
• Peter Tutton, Head of Policy, StepChange,
• Maria Zealey, Unit Manager, Surrey Welfare Rights Unit,
• Joanna Kennedy, Chief Executive, Zaccheus 2000 Trust.

Further information

The final evidence session has been provisionally scheduled as follows:

• 9.30 am, Wednesday 12 February 2014
• Witnesses: Lord Freud, Minister for Welfare Reform, DWP and Kris Hopkins MP, Minister for Housing, DCLG

All meetings will be in a House of Commons Committee room and will be held in public. Details will be confirmed in due course.

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