Benefits cap of £500 begins roll-out
By Anonymous on Jul 14, 2013 07:00 pm 14 July 2013 Last updated at 19:00 ET 
About 40,000 households will be affected initially
A cap on the total amount of benefits that people aged 16 to 64 can receive has begun rolling out across England, Scotland and Wales.
Couples and lone parents will now not receive more than £500 a week, while a £350 limit applies to single people.
The cap is part of the government's overhaul of the benefits system, the biggest since the 1940s.
Key payments including jobseeker's allowance and child and housing benefit count towards the cap.
Changes to the benefit system have been spearheaded by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, who argues that too many people are trapped on benefits.
Critics say the cap failed to tackle underlying issues, such as the cost of housing and regional differences.
The benefits cap will be completely implemented by 30 September.
Once a month The cap, not yet law in Northern Ireland, is said to reflect the average working household income.
It has already been implemented in four London boroughs - Haringey, Enfield, Croydon and Bromley - since April.
The benefits cap applies to people getting jobseeker's allowance, child benefit, child tax credits, housing benefits and other key support from the government.
There is no cap on people who receive Disability Living Allowance or its successor, the Personal Independence Payment, as well some other benefits, such as industrial injuries benefit or a war widow or widower's pension.
"The benefit cap returns fairness to the benefits systems," Mr Duncan Smith said. "It ensures the taxpayer can have trust in the welfare system and it stops sky-high claims that make it impossible for people to move into work.
"The limit of £500 a week ensures no-one claims more in benefits than the average household and there is a clear reason for people to get a job - as those eligible for Working Tax Credit are exempt."
His department says about £90bn was paid out in benefit payments to people of working age and their families in 2009-10. It hopes the cap will save about £110m a year.
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TA soldiers' deaths investigated
By Anonymous on Jul 15, 2013 03:28 am 15 July 2013 Last updated at 02:17 ET 
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Cemlyn Davies reports from the Brecon Beacons
Investigations are continuing into the deaths of two soldiers on a training exercise in the Brecon Beacons, Powys.
They were serving with the Territorial Army, the BBC understands.
A third soldier is in a serious condition after Saturday's incident, which is thought to have been linked to the hot weather.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) refused to comment on reports they were taking part in an SAS selection process.
The Brecon Beacons is home to the Infantry Battle School and makes up one of Britain's largest military training areas.
The MoD has released little information about the two soldiers who died, but BBC News understands they were with the TA.
An investigation is focussing on the weather conditions and the nature of the exercise.
The deaths occurred on the hottest day of the year so far in Wales, with temperatures reaching 30C (86F) in Powys.
It is understood live ammunition was not involved.
The MoD said it was working with Dyfed Powys Police.
A statement added: "The two servicemen's next of kin have been informed. More information will be released in due course but it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage."
The Brecon Beacons national park is used for military training because of its relative remoteness.
'Incredibly sad' The infantry regiments of the British Army train at Sennybridge in the area and there is an Army base in Brecon.
About 30 members of the four south Wales mountain rescue teams (MRTs) were called out to help in the emergency on Saturday near Pen y Fan.
Mark Moran, from Central Beacons MRT, said: "We were working alongside military personnel who remained extremely calm and professional during this tragic incident.
"Our thoughts are now with the families of those involved."
Mayor of Brecon and Powys county councillor Matthew Dorrance said: "It's incredibly sad for the friends and family of the people who have lost their lives and thoughts are with the person who is injured.
"In one way we've been blessed with the weather but for people working in this heat, they're tough conditions."
Mr Dorrance said local people regularly saw troops training in the area and were "proud of our links with the military".
Read in browser » Rent 'unaffordable' in third of UK
By Anonymous on Jul 15, 2013 02:35 am 14 July 2013 Last updated at 19:07 ET 
A third of Britain is effectively off-limits to lower-income working families because private rents are unaffordable, a new report claims.
The report comes from the Resolution Foundation, which campaigns on behalf of low to middle-income families.
It says most of southern England is now beyond the reach of less affluent households.
The Resolution Foundation says this forces people to choose between a decent home and other essentials.
With social housing usually unavailable and home ownership unaffordable for many first-time buyers, renting privately is often the only option for households on lower incomes.
A BBC housing calculator also identifies how renting a modest two-bedroom home for less than £700 a month is almost impossible in London and much of the South East. Modest is defined as having a rent below 75% of similar properties in the area.
BBC housing calculator
- Lets you see where you can afford to live - and if it would it be cheaper to rent or buy
- Enter how many bedrooms, which end of the market and how much you want to pay each month
- As you move the payment slider, parts of the UK light up to show you where you can afford
- Based on pricing and rental data from residential property analysts Hometrack
The Home Truths report identifies local authorities that are "affordable" for a couple with a child requiring a two-bedroom property on a household income of £22,000 a year. Affordable is defined as a rent that is no more than 35% of net household income.
On that basis, 125 of 376 local authorities in Britain (33%) are unaffordable for less-affluent working families.
"The private rented sector is now, in large parts of the country, the most expensive form of housing," says Vidhya Alakeson, of the Resolution Foundation.
"It is also the only option for most low to middle income households, many of whom are faced with the unenviable choice of forgoing other essentials in order to pay for housing or living in overcrowded conditions to reduce their housing costs."
The BBC housing calculator also allows users to see where they can afford to buy a house. A deposit of £10,000 is only enough to buy a two-bedroom home in 41% of local authorities, because a deposit of at least 10% is needed to get a mortgage.
With a deposit of £20,000, almost 30% of the country remains unaffordable, including all of Greater London and much of the South East.
Blue = affordable | white = not affordable | grey = no data
Even with a £50,000 deposit, central London and areas to the south and west of the capital remain unaffordable. Analysts suggest recent rises in UK house prices have been driven by increases in London and the South East.
"Home ownership is out of reach for the vast majority of low to middle income families because few have the savings needed for a deposit," says Ms Alakeson. "While the crisis in London is well documented, there are affordability black spots in almost all regions of the country."
The government recently announced a Help to Buy scheme, offering loans for people moving into new-build homes worth up to £600,000. Another government scheme to assist those buying new-builds and existing homes is due to come into force next January. And shared ownership schemes provided through housing associations are also available to some first-time buyers.
However, there are concerns that without a significant increase in housing supply, additional demand generated by such schemes will push up house prices, exacerbating the problem of affordability.
The latest figures show that in the year to last March, just over 108,000 new homes were completed in England. But this is less than half the number needed to meet demand.
Homelessness is on the rise with more than 55,000 households in temporary accommodation in England - 10% higher than a year before. More than 1.8m households are currently on the waiting list for social housing - a 60% increase in the last 10 years.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has described the shortage of affordable housing as "the gravest crisis the city faces".
In his plan for the capital, 2020 Vision, published last month, Mr Johnson writes that high house prices have had "brutal consequences for many Londoners".
"Fewer and fewer take out mortgages in the way that their parents did, because they simply cannot afford the deposit," he says. "Rents are now punishingly high, and pre-empt an ever growing proportion of your disposable income."
There are concerns that London is pricing out the key workers it needs to function.
Cost to income ratio for a low income couple with one child
This map is for a couple with one child at the 35th percentile of the household net income distribution, living in a two-bedroom property at the cheaper end of the local housing market.
Source: Resolution Foundation analysis of Hometrack data 2012/13
In a recent speech to housing representatives, the Housing Minister Mark Prisk said there was "no single solution" to the country's housing needs, conceding that the government could not "overturn a generation of undersupply, in one parliament".
However, he said he believed the coalition was "making good progress".
"We're building 170,000 affordable homes and we're now committed to accelerate this to the fastest rate of building for at least 20 years."
Responding to the Resolution Foundation report, the chief executive of the housing charity Shelter, Campbell Robb, said families were paying so much for housing, "they're forced to choose between putting food on the table, turning on the heating or paying their rent".
"Shared ownership schemes are one of the best ways to offer low-income families an affordable place to live. We need to see more schemes that are affordable for low-income families and that give them the stability and security that our current rental market sadly doesn't provide."
Read in browser » Rehabilitation plans 'ignore' women
By Anonymous on Jul 15, 2013 03:14 am 14 July 2013 Last updated at 19:00 ET 
More than half of women offenders are given short custodial sentences
Women offenders are being ignored in plans to overhaul rehabilitation services, a committee of MPs has said.
The Justice Select Committee said the women's prison population was not falling fast enough and more than half received ineffective short jail terms.
This is despite the 2007 Corston report which recommended jailing only the most serious or violent female offenders.
MPs said women were "an afterthought" in the plans but the government said it was committed to cutting reoffending.
In January, the Transforming Rehabilitation consultation paper set out plans to extend payment by results to independent providers of rehabilitative services in the community.
It is part of Justice Secretary Chris Grayling's promised "rehabilitation revolution" to stop former prisoners committing crimes, which the National Audit Office estimates costs up to £13bn per year.
'Slow' progress But the committee found that the government's focus on cutting reoffending was likely to lead to a further loss of funding for women's community centres.
The MPs said there was a case for commissioning services for women offenders separately.
Committee chairman Sir Alan Beith said: "This is not about treating women more favourably or implying that they are less culpable.
"It is about recognising that women face very different hurdles from men in their journey towards a law-abiding life.
"Prison is an expensive and ineffective way of dealing with many women offenders who do not pose a significant risk of harm to public safety."
Women's centres and other community provision offered a route for diverting vulnerable women and girls away from crime, he added.
He acknowledged steps had been taken towards this goal but it had been at a "disappointingly slow pace".
He called for a "systematic change" in approach and "strong ministerial leadership" to push this agenda.
Mental health treatment The committee argued that maintaining a network of women's centres and using residential alternatives to custody would be more effective and cheaper in the long run than short custodial sentences.
It did not recommend major changes to the sentencing framework for women but said there should be more emphasis on courts having alternatives to custody suitable for women.
The "custodial estate" for women needed to be gradually reconfigured with serious offenders held in smaller, more dispersed units, the MPs added.
Andrew Neilson, from the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: "Handing over probation to big private security firms is being given greater priority than making sure women in the justice system have the specialist support they need."
Baroness Corston was commissioned in 2006 to examine how to avoid vulnerable women ending up in prison after six women died at Styal prison in Cheshire.
Her report, published a year later, recommended using community sentences as the norm and developing a network of community provision for women at risk of offending.
Justice minister Helen Grant said the government was committed to seeing fewer women offending and reoffending.
"Some female offenders need to go to prison, but we must ensure they get the right support to stop them returning to crime."
She said steps included new legislation that would give all prisoners at least 12 months tailored supervision on release and increased funding for probation trusts to commission better services for women in the community.
She added that the government was "ensuring courts have credible and robust sentence options at their disposal".
Read in browser » China's economic growth slows again
By Anonymous on Jul 14, 2013 11:47 pm 14 July 2013 Last updated at 22:23 ET 
China's economic growth slowed in the April to June period, the second straight quarter of weaker expansion.
The economy grew by 7.5% compared to the previous year, down from 7.7% in the January to March period, data showed.
The numbers were in line with analyst expectations.
After decades of blistering growth in China, analysts say authorities now seem ready to accept a slower pace of expansion.
Read in browser » Call to tighten teenage mum benefits
By Anonymous on Jul 14, 2013 07:29 pm 14 July 2013 Last updated at 19:29 ET 
By Robin Brant Political Correspondent, BBC News 
David Cameron said party members' views on the proposals would "inevitably" differ
Tories in the most marginal seats in parliament are urging David Cameron to bring in tougher conditions on housing benefit for some teenage mothers.
The 40 Group also wants the party to make an election promise of a cap on the number of non-EU foreign students allowed into some UK universities.
The group represents Tory MPs from the 40 seats with the thinnest majorities.
The ideas are among dozens featured in a pamphlet, seen by the BBC, which is due to be published soon.
It covers a diverse range of policy areas and has taken a year to compile.
West Midlands MP James Morris, who is one of the authors, described the proposals as "an offering to the prime minister from the battleground".
He said "quite a lot" of the 40 proposals came "from the mouths of swing voters".
'Boris Island' In a foreword seen by the BBC, the prime minister described the proposals as "interesting" and "valuable", although he added that he thought party members would "inevitably have different views" about them.
The Tory MPs admitted their proposals on benefits for teenage mothers were "controversial", but they said a "more radical approach" was needed to get pregnancy rates down.
They claim the current system has led some young people to think, incorrectly, that they had an automatic right to free housing if they got pregnant, "encouraging them to have a child".
So they suggest "all benefits to teenage mothers should be made on the condition of them living with their parents or in supervised hostel accommodation".
The group is calling for a tougher approach to truancy. It says parents of children who persistently skipped school should have fines automatically deducted from their child benefit.
There was also a slap in the face for fellow Conservative Boris Johnson.
The group wants a new runway at Birmingham Airport to deal with an expansion in air traffic instead of a major new airport in the Thames estuary, favoured by the London Mayor and dubbed "Boris Island".
The pamphlet is an unofficial element of the Conservatives 40/40 strategy to try to win the next general election in 2015.
After last year's autumn conference the party unveiled a plan to retain its 40 most marginal seats - some of which the authors of this pamphlet represent - and win a further 40 of the most marginal seats held by Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
Part of that strategy focuses on a big push in the north of England where the Tories have been hit hard.
The idea of moving to regional pay in the public sector is roundly rejected.
The chancellor outlined plans to consider the controversial change in the Budget last year, which could see people in areas with a lower cost of living awarded smaller pay deals.
George Osborne subsequently changed his mind and the government has stuck with national pay deals for public workers.
The group has also called for more civil servants to be moved out of London.
And the chancellor also comes under renewed pressure to scrap higher rate tax relief for people paying into a pension.
The group suggests that as one part of a major overhaul of pension provision.
It is a move which could also insulate the Conservatives against claims that they have favoured the wealthy in some of their changes on tax.
One of the pamphlet authors told the BBC that no suggestions were left out because they were considered too radical or controversial.
But several words that are noticeably absent are "UK Independence Party".
The group does not mention UKIP but it is clear it has Nigel Farage's party in its sights.
It is very hostile to renewable energy like wind farms, something UKIP has made a central plank of in its campaigning in some traditional Tory areas.
It calls for a rethink on government subsidies for renewables, instead favouring a big push on shale gas and even geothermal water heating.
Foreign student cap A major suggestion on immigration comes right at the end, with a cap on non-EU foreign students allowed into some universities.
They write "while Britain undoubtedly benefits from foreign students we must not forget that they are also consumers of housing, the NHS, transport and other national infrastructure".
But the limit will not apply to the top universities.
Sensitive to strong criticism - some of it from within the coalition - about the negative effects on universities and industry of an immigration cap, they suggest that the top 30 institutions would be exempt.
There is a nod too, to trade away from the EU.
The UK should look to capitalise more on its historical links with the Commonwealth countries, the 40 Group says, which is something Mr Morris described as "possibly a neglected network".
There are signals that the group's ideas are being taken seriously by Tory high command.
The BBC understands that the prime minister's new policy chief Jo Johnson has had "early sight" of the pamphlet and it has been passed on to some of his policy groups.
He is expected to meet some of the authors later this week.
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