More teenagers at risk of ending up on the streets

The organisation responsible for providing leaving care services for 16 - 25 years olds throughout Greater Manchester’s boroughs is warning that more teenagers face ending up on the streets in Rochdale after government delays over a benefit shake up.

Ministers vowed in March to restore housing benefit for people aged 18 to 21 - reversing a policy they announced one year earlier.

The u-turn has still not taken effect - and will not do so until at least September.

Youngsters now face six months in the lurch after the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) failed to push through legal changes before MPs' summer holiday.

Independent Together provides support and accommodation services to 16+ year olds, while helping them acquire the necessary skills to move onto independent living says the delay.  The company was this year appointed to provide leaving care services for local authorities throughout the North West.

Director Paul Barlow says the government’s delays will increase the number of young people in the region at risk of homelessness in Rochdale.

He added: “This delay is unnecessary and could put lives at risk.  When will the Government realise that people are dying on our streets?

“Mayor Andy Burnham is doing all he can to tackle homelessness by calling on every one of Greater Manchester’s boroughs to provide a bed for every rough sleeper during autumn and winter this year.  But at the same time, unnecessary legislative delays are making the problem worse.  It’s one step forward and two steps back.

“Fortunately for our young adults we are in a position to support them financially while housing benefit comes in but if we were not in place it would be very difficult for them.”

Ex-Chancellor George Osborne pioneered the policy of withdrawing automatic housing benefit for those under 22.

Ministers drew up a huge list of exempted groups to head off protests, including parents, orphans, care leavers, domestic abuse victims, the disabled and people in temporary accommodation.

That meant only 90 people had their benefits cut in the first three months after the policy launched in April 2017.

Meanwhile 2,000 had to go through the process of proving they were exempted.

Charities claimed the cut would cost more in admin costs than it saved, and on March 29 ministers said it would be reversed.

In May Conservative minister Kit Malthouse admitted there must be a legal change and tweaks to the Universal Credit operating system before the U-turn can take effect.

That is currently unable to happen because any legal changes must be laid before Parliament, which will only return on September 4.