At what age should you be able to claim Housing Benefit

There's a very strong rumour going around that one of the planned welfare changes is to stop people under 25 from claiming HOusing Benefit (with some exemptions).

This seems such an arbitrary figure to me and very unfair on those that leave home whilst working and then who lose their jobs.

On a positive side it would free up a lot of Social Housing and on the negative side it could create serious tension in a lot of households.

On balance I'd leave it as it is.

25 used to be the minimum age in which you could claim a council house or housing benefits.

In my mind lowering this age limit led to the rise in young mums getting pregnant in order to get a house and devolving matters from a family responsibility to a public responsibility.

Obviously there are a plethora of other issues regarding the age limit and I will now wait for the incoming.

They plan to stop claiming from under 25

When somebody is 18 they are legally an adult and it's wrong to bake a woolly concept of continued parental responsibilities into legislation, say making the assumption that everybody has a family there to guide and care for them up to age 25. Many people who reach 18 are entering adulthood after suffering terribly during their upbringing. Not supporting those people is cruel IMO and the biggest kick in the teeth is people who don't understand life and who have never suffered telling them their families should still be there until they're 25, and they can't get any help because of that

I speak from experience having left home in the 1980s at 2 weeks past my 18th birthday to escape the person had viciously bullied me for 18 years - my dad. Went to London and made my own way in the world, not without help, but not everybody has the gumption to make a decisive move like I did.

25 used to be the minimum age in which you could claim a council house or housing benefits.

In my mind lowering this age limit led to the rise in young mums getting pregnant in order to get a house and devolving matters from a family responsibility to a public responsibility.

Obviously there are a plethora of other issues regarding the age limit and I will now wait for the incoming.

You make an interesting point and perhaps when we have some detail it will be interesting to see if thsoe with kids are exempt.

If they are then it could then act as an encouragement to have children, if theya ren't then it will put incredible pressure on the parents of the mum/dad.

There's a very strong rumour going around that one of the planned welfare changes is to stop people under 25 from claiming HOusing Benefit (with some exemptions).

 

This seems such an arbitrary figure to me and very unfair on those that leave home whilst working and then who lose their jobs.

 

On a positive side it would free up a lot of Social Housing and on the negative side it could create serious tension in a lot of households.

 

On balance I'd leave it as it is.

Its a stupid plan which will lead to poverty but thats what enough idiots voted for. Presumably the govt is counting on either 100% well paid employment and education or staying at mummy and daddies house.

---------- Post added 10-05-2015 at 11:45 ----------

When somebody is 18 they are legally an adult and it's wrong to bake a woolly concept of continued parental responsibilities into legislation, say making the assumption that everybody has a family there to guide and care for them up to age 25. Many people who reach 18 are entering adulthood after suffering terribly during their upbringing. Not supporting those people is cruel IMO and the biggest kick in the teeth is people who don't understand life and who have never suffered telling them their families should still be there until they're 25, and they can't get any help because of that

 

I speak from experience having left home in the 1980s at 2 weeks past my 18th birthday to escape the person had viciously bullied me for 18 years - my dad. Went to London and made my own way in the world, not without help, but not everybody has the gumption to make a decisive move like I did.

Good point. It targets the most vulnerable in our society and makes it much harder to achieve independence.

---------- Post added 10-05-2015 at 11:47 ----------

I actually dont think the current government give a toss...its pointless debating it really.

Its a stupid plan which will lead to poverty but thats what enough idiots voted for. Presumably the govt is counting on either 100% well paid employment and education or staying at mummy and daddies house.

 

---------- Post added 10-05-2015 at 11:45 ----------

 

 

Good point. It targets the most vulnerable in our society and makes it much harder to achieve independence.

 

---------- Post added 10-05-2015 at 11:47 ----------

 

I actually dont think the current government give a toss...its pointless debating it really.

Yes but titantic makes a vital point. Just how do you distinguish between young adults who genuinely need help, and those that really don't and will use the availability of support to make bad choices and play the system?

I think as a start anybody who turns 18 and is on the radar of the authorities as have suffered should be eligible for assistance. It won't catch everybody (wouldn't have helped me) but it would be a starting point.

The current government wouldn't care because its dominated by people who have most likely experienced strong parental and family support/guidance deep into their adult lives.

In my mind lowering this age limit led to the rise in young mums getting pregnant in order to get a house

is there actually any proper, peer reviewed, evidence that anyone actually did this and if they did was there a significant number or was it just the odd one or two?

Yes but titantic makes a vital point. Just how do you distinguish between young adults who genuinely need help, and those that really don't and will use the availability of support to make bad choices and play the system?

 

I think as a start anybody who turns 18 and is on the radar of the authorities as have suffered should be eligible for assistance. It won't catch everybody (wouldn't have helped me) but it would be a starting point.

 

The current government wouldn't care because its dominated by people who have most likely experienced strong parental and family support/guidance deep into their adult lives.

I havent heard the alternatives for people who obviously need assistance. A lifetime on benefits is no good, but taking away that safety net is completely wrong.

I havent heard the alternatives for people who obviously need assistance. A lifetime on benefits is no good, but taking away that safety net is completely wrong.

Me neither. We'll have to see what is planned but it's likely to be a big fat nothing.

The other angle to this of course is the housing shortage. Not supporting people under 25 to live independently forces them to stay at home, or into shared housing. This is a very difficult issue.

Back in the late 1980s when I was 17, I went down to London for the first time to stay with a friend for a few weeks who lived in Islington. We frequently passed through King's Cross to go back to her parents, and I remember being shocked at the amount of young people, people / children younger than me, selling themselves on the street.

I genuinely fear that this scenario, of vulnerable young people having to sell themselves to scrape together a living, will be played out all over the country....And we know much more about the prevalence of paedophilia now than we did back then.

If the Government are hell bent on slashing housing benefit, then at least they should ensure that local authorities have money to build direct access hostels, so that anyone who is vulnerable has somewhere to go.

When somebody is 18 they are legally an adult and it's wrong to bake a woolly concept of continued parental responsibilities into legislation, say making the assumption that everybody has a family there to guide and care for them up to age 25. Many people who reach 18 are entering adulthood after suffering terribly during their upbringing. Not supporting those people is cruel IMO and the biggest kick in the teeth is people who don't understand life and who have never suffered telling them their families should still be there until they're 25, and they can't get any help because of that

 

I speak from experience having left home in the 1980s at 2 weeks past my 18th birthday to escape the person had viciously bullied me for 18 years - my dad. Went to London and made my own way in the world, not without help, but not everybody has the gumption to make a decisive move like I did.

Unless of course, there is provision in the legislation allowing for those with difficult circumstances to be exempt from the rules in which case your argument is nullified.. On the contrary, if provision was removed from the whole of those currently allowed to claim, then more money would be available to those in desperate need.