BENEFIT FREEZE - Today the Government has announced that the freeze on benefits, which has been in place since 2015, will come to end an end next year.
Working-age benefits such as universal credit and jobseeker's allowance will rise by 1.7% from April 2020, the Department for Work and Pensions said.
George Osborne's introduced the benefit freeze April 2016.
Labour called it a "cynically-timed" announcement ahead of the general election on 12 December.
Responding to the announcement Jon Sparkes, Crisis Chief Executive, said: “Everyone across Britain should be able to rent a safe, affordable home where they can build their lives from. So, it’s extremely disappointing to see the government’s commitment to lift the freeze on housing benefit fall short of enabling people to afford to keep their homes.
“Right now, families on the lowest incomes are facing agonising stress and anxiety because they cannot afford to pay their rent. This is made all the worse when we know it doesn’t have to be this way. Our research shows that by investing in housing benefit, so it covers the true cost of rents, government could lift more than 35,000 children out of poverty.
“Putting families at risk of homelessness cannot be allowed to continue. We can make renting affordable for everyone, but we need to see all parties commit to investing in housing benefit rates, so they cover at least the cheapest third of rents across the country. The time for action is now.”
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