Important:

This petition was submitted during the 2010-2015 parliament

Petition Stop delays for housing benefit on transition from income support to paid employment

More details

I would like benefit claims to be administered within a practical timescale.
When a claimant on income support gets paid employment, even if the paid work is a full time apprentice but only gets £105 per week, their housing benefit is suspended until 2 wage slips have been shown to the local council (this is the case with our local Nottingham City Council). Most employers insist on workers being paid monthly, so the housing benefit office will START the review after the first 2 months. Backlogs could mean, the review could take weeks. During these months no housing benefit will be paid. Private landlords do not take this lightly and most issue the threat of court proceedings or a section 21 notice to quit.
This discourages claimants trying to find work. It seems you have to have about £2000 saved up to act as a back up to pay living costs. Some turn to loan sharks to cover these living expenses and end up with huge debts.

This petition is closed This petition ran for 6 months

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