The Welfare Reform and Work Bill completed its passage through
Parliament and received Royal Assent on Wednesday 16 March.
We previously reported that
the Bill was in "ping pong" between the Commons and Lords in
pursuit of a version on which both can agree.
All outstanding issues were resolved on 7 March 2016 when the
Lords withdrew its objections to Clauses 13 and 14, the Commons
having refused to accept amendments proposed by the Lords to these
clauses.
Matthew Warburton, ARCH Policy Adviser, has produced
a briefing on the provisions of the Act relating to social
housing rents.
The Act provides for mandatory reductions in
social housing rents over the next four years from April 2016 and
most stock retained councils have had to take decisions on rents
for 2016/17 in advance of the Bill receiving Royal Assent.
The DCLG has informed us that they intend to lay the associated
Regulations as soon as possible. (DCLG cannot lay the Regulations
until the day after Royal Assent at the earliest). They hope to
have Ministers make the Regulations within the next few days,
however this will depend on their availability.
The DCLG has advised us that they also intend to publish plain
English guidance on how providers should apply the reductions on
the DCLG website, together with links to relevant legislation and
other documents.
We'll advise our members as soon as the information is
available.