I would be interested to hear of any experiences of the new Local Housing Allowances. Whilst I work in social sector, it would be of interest to hear from the pilot areas. DWP report all going well. Is this the reality? What about payments to tenants? Are there problems opening bank accounts, rent arrears, etc? Are any social landlords moving away to payments direct to tenants? If so what is therir experience.

Any comments welcomed

My daughter lives in one of the pilot areas and not had any real problem with the LA payments yet. The area attracts a relatively high allowance which WAS higher than her then comparatively reasonable rent so she thought she might be a few quid a week better off. Surprise surprise the landlord increased the rent to that of the allowance.

What was this government thinking of when they thought it would give tenants the incentive to look for cheaper properties if they could pocket the difference - did they really not consider the greed of private landlords.

The latest issue of the DWP publication HB Direct has a supplement about the experience of LHA in the original 9 pilot authorities. Rightsnet normally posts a link to this I think. Within that supplement are further links to DWP research which has been done on the effects of LHA.

For a summary of the DWP research highlighted by Andy, and a link to the new HB Direct special LHA supplement, see today's rightsnet news story -

LHA pathfinder area performance: DWP update