Dear Chancellor
We write to you as business leaders who share your vision for a Britain with a strong economy, supported by companies and people ready to roll up their sleeves for the job ahead.
Ahead of your historic Budget this month, we wanted to reach out and ask you to use the opportunity to fix a cruel quirk that leaves people living in supported accommodation better off out of work than in.
Currently, someone living in this type of home can be doing everything right but find the system is working against them. Time and again, thousands are finding their path to leaving homelessness behind has been blocked because their housing benefit is cut by the taper rate faster than their pay would increase if they started working more hours.
This means that, if they took on more work, they simply wouldn’t be left with enough money to pay for essentials.
What is worse is that this only affects people living in supported accommodation because they receive their rent via legacy Housing Benefit. Private renters – who receive Universal Credit to support their rent – have a much more lenient taper rate and so get a fairer deal.
This cannot be right.
Thankfully, you can fix this in the Budget and save the taxpayer money in the process. Centrepoint estimates that £12 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.
An unjust benefit system that disincentivises work and tempers ambition is a broken system. On 30 October you have a chance to fix it, we urge you to take it.
Yours sincerely,
Debbie Crosbie, Chief Executive Officer, Nationwide Building Society
Steve Hughes, Chief Executive Officer, Coventry Building Society
Nick Slape, Chief Executive Officer, The Co-operative Bank