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Coalition challenged over statistics for HB reforms
Interesting article in today’s Guardian that challenges the statistics used by the Coalition to make the case for reform of housing benefit.
The housing benefit shakeup – a deficit-cutting measure from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) intended to remove £1bn of government subsidy from the private rental sector – was introduced to parliament with the remarkable claim from the chancellor, George Osborne, that “there are some families receiving £104,000 a year in housing benefit”.
Assuming, in good faith, that the DWP were not repeating discredited claims, we submitted an freedom of information request for their evidence:
The response stated that in December 2010 there were “around 10 housing benefit claimants eligible for £1,917 or more per week”. This represents just one hundred thousandth of the total number of households receiving housing benefit – so not terribly representative.
As well as the use of misleading headline figures, there has been no good-quality published government analysis of the impact of the cuts. The housing minister, Grant Shapps, has previously suggested that families make up this shortfall in their housing benefit or move. How these stated outcomes might be achieved, as well as their feasibility and effects, has not been part of the government’s dialogue.
Did anybody think it was representative?
Well, IDS and Osborne clearly intended it to be seen as representative, given their repeated assertions about people taking the michael with their HB payments.