AUTUMN STATEMENT
A win for Big Issue as Hunt unfreezes Local Housing Allowance
Local Housing Allowance is being increased for the first time in three years, a victory for Big Issue, and our readers who’ve thrown their support behind our campaign to End Housing Insecurity Now.
After being frozen since 2020, housing benefit will now cover the bottom 30% of skyrocketing market rents, chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in last week’s autumn statement.
The £1bn investment is a win, albeit one that merely relieves some pressure on the housing crisis. Big Issue, backed by thousands of our readers, has been calling for the benefit to be increased. Hunt said it would give the 1.6 million private renter households receiving benefits an average of £800 a year.
Lord John Bird, founder of The Big Issue, said the move will “make a huge difference in keeping a roof over many people’s heads”.
But those living in poverty were again at the bottom of the pile in the government’s economic plans. A 6.7% rise in benefits was eclipsed by a 8.5% boost to pensions. Hunt boasted his surprise 2% cut in National Insurance, to be rushed through for January, would save somebody on the average salary £450 a year. But it’s slim pickings for those on lower incomes. A worker on minimum annual wage
