Dear Chancellor,
We write to you as business leaders who know the importance of getting Britain working and want to work with the government to support young people taking their first steps into work.
We have come together ahead of the Budget, to ask you to address a cruel quirk in the benefits system that blocks the ambition of young people ultimately leaving some of them better off out of work.
Under current rules, someone living in supported accommodation can only work a certain number of hours before they face a financial cliff edge, which leaves them with less money in their pocket to pay for rent and other essentials.
This only affects people in supported accommodation because, unlike those in the Private Rented Sector, they receive rent support through the legacy Housing Benefit system, rather than Universal Credit.
Young people in supported accommodation want to work and know what they need to do to escape homelessness for good. They want to find their next job and begin their careers, but the current system makes this harder and effectively punishes their ambition. This cannot be right.
Thankfully, you could fix this in the Budget with almost a stroke of the pen - and save the taxpayer money in the process. Centrepoint estimates that £13 million could be saved by the Treasury just from the number of young people supported into more work; the actual saving will be much higher as there are thousands more people living in supported accommodation over 25.
This benefit trap is a block on aspiration and a barrier to economic growth, effectively preventing young people from entering the workforce. You have a chance to fix this on 26 November, and we urge you to take it.
Yours sincerely,
Dame Debbie Crosbie DBE, Group Chief Executive Officer, Nationwide
Steve Hughes, Group Chief Executive Officer, Coventry Building Society
Andrea Melville, Chief Executive Officer, The Co-operative Bank & Group Chief Commercial Officer, Coventry Building Society Group
Susan Allen OBE, Chief Executive Officer, Yorkshire Building Society
Stuart Haire, Group Chief Executive, Skipton Group
David Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, Barratt Redrow plc