The proposals announced in the Summer Budget to reduce
social rents by one percent per year over the next four years will
have major implications for stock retained
councils.
The powers to enforce this are contained within the Welfare
Reform and Work Bill which will reach the Committee stage in
Parliament in September 2015.
We intend to submit evidence at the Committee Stage of the
Bill and are calling for evidence from ARCH members of the impact
of these proposals.
The Welfare Reform and Work Bill is currently making its way
through parliament and the Public Bill Committee will now
scrutinise the detail of the Bill, which includes the provisions to
decrease social sector rents by one percent each year for the next
four years, and the Committee has launched its call for
evidence.
We would like to make a submission to the committee on behalf of
ARCH members. We'd like to include evidence of the adverse impact
that the proposed rent cuts in the sector will have on stock
retained councils' HRA Business Plans and new build programmes as
well as your work on tackling worklessness, providing
apprenticeships and training, if any.
Our submission needs to be made by the beginning of September in
order to give the Committee sufficient time to consider it before
the committee stage ends (Thursday 15 October).
- We're therefore asking all ARCH member councils to submit their
evidence on the impact of the proposed rent cuts by email to matthew.warburton@arch-housing.org.uk.
- We'd also like you to complete the
questionnaire circulate by the District Council's Network
in July.
Please complete both surveys by Thursday 20 August. This will
give us sufficient time to review and put together a submission for
early September.
We recognise that it is likely that each council will be
impacted in different ways. However, if you can assess the impacts
on your own individual HRA business plans and highlight the
necessary changes in services, additional projects or plans for new
development that you would otherwise be considering, it would be
most appreciated. We will also look to use some of this evidence in
our submission to the CSR.
It's important that the stock retained sector highlights the
impact that these proposals will have on their Business Plans. we
look forward to hearing from you and also urge your authority to
consider making representations and submitting evidence direct to
the Public Bill Committee.
Details of the Public Bill Committee and timetable for
consideration of the Welfare Reform and Work Bill can be found here.