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Four out of 10 families in inner London are dependent on housing benefit, figures reveal today.
Claims have risen in the recession to the point where 42 per cent of homes in Hackney and 38 per cent in Tower Hamlets are reliant on the weekly payment. In Greater London as a whole, a quarter of households rely on the benefit to meet their rent.
That is far higher than the national rate, at 18 per cent, and significantly above the next highest region, the North-East, where 22 per cent of families claim housing benefit.
Each claim costs £81.03 a week on average and the total bill for claims runs to £16billion. London accounts for more than a quarter of that.
Tony Blair pledged in 1997 to bring the costs down but ministers have failed to find a way to trim the bills without forcing hard-up families out of their homes. Instead the costs have risen by a total of £180billion in the past 12 years.
The latest figures were revealed by shadow work and pensions secretary Theresa May who said: "These are truly shocking figures and once again provide more damning evidence of Labour's complete failure to tackle welfare reform.
"Housing benefit can provide valuable help to people in work or pensioners, but the reality is that for too many people it represents part of a broader picture of benefit dependency."
Higher rents in London mean the benefit is worth more to unemployed claimants and pensioners than other welfare payments. Jobseeker's allowance or income support is worth £64.30.
Two thirds of claims are made by people of working age, almost half because they are unemployed.
Reader views (9)
The figures are not surprising if at the same time we take into account the very high number of Londoners who are born overseas and to overseas born parents. A high proportion of arrivals will be without skills or language. Those without skills or means are shunted to the big crime ridden estates in outer boroughs, hardly offering opportunities in the available job markets. It has been easier for the powers that be to add the naturalised Britons and their school leaving children onto the benefits culture, than to attempt job training and skills. By failing to disperse some of the incoming arrivals around the country, we've created a London bottleneck. This high proportion of unemployed have added to the indigenous unemployed, at a time now when jobs are scarce and becoming scarcer.
This leaves London obviously coping with serious economic burdens. Far worse and very serious are the social and community burdens stacking up ahead for London. We have an unprecedented youth force in the capital who are unemployed. Some will be unemployable as crime acts as an acceptably viable alternative when the benefits culture becomes deeply ingrained.
- James, London
I would be very interested to see a breakdown based upon
1) how many in the family are currently working, but earning so little that they qualify for benefit
2) How many have been made redundant or sacked in the last two years
3) How many whose last NI contribution was over 5 years ago
4) How many are Non-UK EU nationals
5) How many are Non-EU Nationals.
6) How many of these are disabled
7) How many families with one NI contributing person has a child below school age.
It does not take a genius to say that we should assist those who are working but not earning enough to live on, likewise we should help those made redundant or sacked because of the banking crisis, even help those where a partner cannot work because they have a child below school age although my personal view is that they should not have children they cannot afford ( ie they earn enough to fully support it). I am afraid that all of the others can go to the wall. I do not pay tax to go to layabouts, loafers, spongers and malingers.
No The people must understand what poverty really is and work or starve and find shelter in hostels that they must pay for. However the Government must do its bit by throwing out all of those that do not belong here and ensuring that UK residents take preference to EU residents for work, perhaps making some sort of rule that any employee must take say 85% of the Nations long term nationals for work before offering a job elsewhere, regardless.
- Jacqui, Kent
they are forgetting to mention these people don't pay council tax either so more lost revenue
- Li, london
Sadly not true Li, housing benefit pay the council tax as well.
- P Staker, London
So thats where Labour gets its votes.
- Dave Davies, Basingstoke, Hants
The gap between the rich and poor has become appalling after years of Labour. The Evening Standard does a great job in highlighting this. In one one article you report millions being spent on inviting so called celebes to a party in Monte Carlo, then in another column you show how dreadful the recession is for many.
Keep up the good work but i would like to see more pictures showing the conditions many people live in.
- Alan Green, England. The forgotten country.
they are forgetting to mention these people don't pay council tax either so more lost revenue
- Li, london
Labour is only spending the money that the people of Britain think is theirs, because when the NWO does kick in everything will belong to the ruling elite.
So get used to it.
- Bill, Hay~Heath UK
Housing Benefit is not the problem.
The problem is that NuLiebour are very happy to see over 4,000,000 on the dole scrap heap.
- Reuben Camara, Plot 1, Morecambe Compound, EUSSR
Quote from the article, "Two thirds of claims are made by people of working age, almost half because they are unemployed."
Labour has nothing to be proud of, of its tenure in government. Unemployment, the Uk level of debt etc have all gone up since it came to power to staggering proportions. The number of people out of work claiming benefit of one kind or another is mind blowing. The minimum wage is now keeping pay artifically low - which means employers can get away paying very low wages, knowing full well that the government will top it by by a miriade of benefits, tax credits etc. When will this bunch of idiots wake up to the fact that it cannot go on like this. Labour`s core voters may come from the unemployed and low paid and turkeys don`t vote for xmas; but pure economics now means that the employed cannot any longer pay the consequences of the government`s social engineering. But as usual Labour will walk away and leave it to someone else to clear up their mess.
- Brian G, Norfolk Gorleston
