Frustration over reform failure

The Government has not yet delivered on a pledge to reform a discretionary system for additional housing allowance. As Sunil Peck reports, this is having a direct impact on personal choice and independent living

Campaigners are growing frustrated with the Government’s failure to review legislation that discriminates against disabled people who rent privately and who require live-in care or a larger property to accommodate adaptive equipment.

The rules for Local Housing Allowance (LHA) state that a single person, whether disabled or not, is only entitled to housing benefit that covers the market rent of a one-bedroom property. But disabled people can apply for a discretionary payment from their local authority to contribute to the cost of a larger property.

Campaigners say that officials in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) recognise that the existing legislation discriminates against disabled people and that, in June, they promised that a public consultation into housing benefit was imminent.

The case for reform of the existing legislation has also been strengthened by a first-tier tribunal that found that the rules for LHA are incompatible with human rights legislation in relation to disabled people who require room for
live-in care.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission told Disability Now of its concern that a disabled person’s right to independent living is being compromised by the existing legislation and that it has urged the DWP to review the LHA.

Linda Burnip, campaign co-ordinator of the Local Housing Allowance Reform Group, says that even though many disabled people are not affected by the existing legislation, the impact on their lives is significant because disabled people do not know before entering into a tenancy agreement how much they will receive in discretionary payments towards their rent or for how long they will receive it.

“There’s one case I know of where someone is in the process of being evicted because they need 24-hour care and a second bedroom and they can’t get funding for it. So it can prevent disabled people moving into their own place.”

Burnip says that some local authorities only have a small budget for discretionary payments and has heard that one of those may be about to run out.

A spokeswoman from the DWP said the Government intends to publish a wide-ranging consultation paper on Housing Benefit reform shortly that is expected to cover a number of aspects of LHA, including the size criteria and the impact of those criteria on different groups.

In the meantime, Burnip says the Government needs to revise LHA guidelines and give local authorities more funding to cover the additional housing needs of disabled people.