Hairdressers

Perhaps you've heard that the council caps housing benefits. There is a cut off point up to which they'll pay after which, if your rent is higher, you pay the difference. I've tended to think this is beyond shite what with the astronomical rents landlords charge, particularly for all the people on a low income or benefits.

At the hairdresser's yesterday a woman was having her hair cut who worked for the housing benefits office. and we got talking about benefits. She told me there are different rates for studios, one beds etc and different cut off points for individuals, families, single parents. She also said though that if the rent is lower than the cut off point, then the goverment gives a free £15 handout. Ooh was my initial reaction.

My phone isn't working because my service provider still hasn't come to fix it so I can't call the office to find out what the rate is for a two bed. But for argument's sake I'll take a low rental figure like £200 a week (as if) because that's what she gave me in her explanation.

This woman said if that rent is lower than the cut off point then £15 of that is disregarded. That leaves £175 for the tenant to pay. Because, she said, the goverment believes that £90 a week is enough for a lone parent to live on, money owed for rent and council tax is taken from that waged figure to make up the difference.

She claimed the £15 freebie was advantageous to landlords who can use it to raise their rents to just below the allocation, keeping all rents, effectively, high. (my one bed is £225 a week so the rent I've posted for a two bed really is incredibly fictitious)

I'm having trouble understanding this. If I were a journalist I would make it my job to understand it better. However I am a stigmum. If I do make it my business to understand, when my phone is fixed and I've gleaned rents from findaproperty.com I'll see if I can write a little something for the local rag. Otherwise I hope the Big Issue takes it up, they're good at stuff like this.

The upshot for me though, is that the government thinks £90 a week is enough to live on for basic necessities such as electricity, water, gas, council tax.... Have they tried living on it? I really am better off on benefits where I don't have to pay council tax (or rent, of course). In a council flat, my rent would be about £100 a week for a two bed. You may begin to understand why people want one, need one, why I do.

The cuttings you get at a hairdresser's, honestly. The woman asked me not to reveal who she was so I said "I won't ask your name."