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Government to spend £12m a year on tackling housing benefit fraud
The government has announced extra cash to help local authorities crack down on housing benefit fraud and error, as part of the housing announcements in today’s Budget.
Council resources to tackle fraud and error associated with the benefit will be bolstered by an extra £12m a year.
But the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said the policy is likely to see “diminishing returns”.
The OBR noted that housing benefit is being replaced by Universal Credit for working-age claimants but government is providing the same funding – £12m – each year, despite less people claiming housing benefit as a result of the switch.
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The OBR said: “As a result it will target a diminishing caseload over time and [an] increasing proportion of which will be pensioners.
“This is likely to generate diminishing returns on compliance interventions because the remaining caseload is less likely to be in work or experience frequent changes in circumstances, so less likely to make errors in their claims.”
Overall the independent forecaster said this policy had a ‘high’ uncertainty rating.
Under current government plans, the housing benefit will be replaced by Universal Credit by 2023.
According to research in November by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, housing fraud cases fell by 23% in 2018/19.
Cases of council housing fraud fell from 4,733 in 2017/18 to 3,632 in 2018/19, while Right to Buy fraud cases more than halved from 1,518 cases to 652.
More on the Budget 2020
Inside Housing is bringing you up-to-date news, analysis and comment from the first post-Brexit Budget.
Here are the details of all our coverage so far:
Shared ownership Right to Buy likely to be applied to all rented homes funded under £12bn programme The government is looking at allowing tenants renting homes built through the new Affordable Homes Programme the right to shared ownership of their homes
Fire safety costs ‘could still hit development pipelines’ despite £1bn fund Concerns remain in sector despite cladding removal fund
Budget 2020: an improvement on recent years but questions remain Jules Birch gives his verdict on the first post-Brexit Budget
Housing figures react to ‘positive’ Budget announcements for sector Reaction from key sector figures to the measures unveiled
The housing bits of Sunak’s speech in full Read the key passages from the chancellor’s speech to the House of Commons
PWLB rates for social housing cut to pre-hike levels The cost for councils of borrowing to fund social housing will fall
Budget 2020: the key housing measures at a glance An at-a-glance guide to the key Budget announcements for the sector
Chancellor announces additional £12bn for Affordable Homes Programme Rishi Sunak announces the largest affordable grant programme in years
£650m fund to tackle rough sleeping The chancellor promises to fund 6,000 new places for rough sleepers to live
£1bn Building Safety Fund to remove ‘all forms’ of cladding The government pledges money to make all buildings safer
Housing secretary to announce planning reforms Ministers will set plans to reform the planning system on Thursday
Pre-Budget:
What should the housing sector look out for in today’s Budget? Peter Apps runs through the issues the sector should be looking out for
The housing sector is right to feel anxious about tomorrow’s Budget The government has indicated that its main focus with regard to housing policy is homeownership. The sector should be nervous about what this means for its spending priorities, writes John Perry
What the sector wants from the chancellor James Wilmore sifts through the submissions from the sector’s biggest players to find out what they want from the Budget later today
Conservative MPs urge chancellor to use Budget to build more social housing A group of 27 Conservative MPs and the mayor of the West Midlands have written to chancellor Rishi Sunak ahead of the Budget statement to urge him to allocate more money to building social housing.
How this Budget will signal the government’s direction of travel on housing With the first post-Brexit Budget due, Kate Henderson assesses the issues on which the sector has been lobbying
