Latest news with #TrustforLondon
BBC News
20-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Sadiq Khan plans to end rough sleeping in London by 2030
The mayor of London has said he will end the "trauma" of people who have to be sleeping on the streets before they can access aims to ending rough sleeping by 2030, and has secured £17m in capital funding from central government for his Sadiq Khan said his new plan of action, would focus on "prevention and increasing the availability of rapid, sustainable routes away from the streets".But Lord Bailey, City Hall Conservatives' housing spokesman, said if the mayor wants to solve homelessness "that involves tackling the housing crisis, which he has failed to do - now Khan needs to force the government to do more". According to the Trust for London, the number of people sleeping rough in London was almost 12,000 in 2023/ charity's figures show a threefold increase in people sleeping on the streets last year than in 2008/ government funding will be used to open a new Ending Homelessness Hub, that provide 24/7 support to those most at risk of sleeping rough, and expand the Homes off the Streets programme by refurbishing up to 500 empty mayor said he will end the current requirement for Londoners to be seen sleeping on the streets before they can access support, and to ensure that those at greatest risk of rough sleeping are helped early, based on their specific Sadiq said: "During my election campaign, I promised to develop a plan to end rough sleeping for good by 2030. "I'm proud to be delivering on that promise. We know the best way to end rough sleeping is to stop it before it starts.""That's why we're putting prevention at the heart of our response."City Hall's rough sleeping budget is £44.8m in 2025/26, a fivefold increase on 2016 when the mayor took office. Lord Bailey said "press releases full of fake concern and small sums of money to window dress this issue are not enough".He added: "Londoners are suffering on the frontline of this, as are the councils who support them - because Khan and the Labour Party won't do enough."Dealing with rough sleeping is pushing council budgets into the red across the city as the issue becomes worse and worse."Emma Haddad, chief executive of homeless charity St Mungo's, said rough sleeping "is a crisis and should not be a prerequisite for help".She added: "Many of our clients face long-term mental and physical health needs, which can increase the risk of homelessness and make it that much harder for people to get the support they need. "We're also seeing more people locked out of an increasingly unaffordable private rental sector, exacerbated by poor supply of housing and intense demand for it."City Hall said the mayor's new strategy would include specialist services that recognise the needs of particular groups of Londoners, such as those who face additional barriers to accessing services due to high support needs or uncertain immigration status. 'Khan not the first mayor to pledge action' Analysis by Karl Mercer, BBC London political editorHe may be the latest mayor to promise to end rough sleeping, but Sir Sadiq Khan is not the first.A year after becoming mayor, as he launched his new London Delivery Board, Boris Johnson had declared: "It's scandalous in the 21st century that people have to resort to sleeping on the streets." He promised to end rough sleeping in the capital by the time the Olympics were coming in failed, even though he re-visited the issue in his winning 2019 manifesto on the national stage - promising to end rough sleeping by the end of the next parliament. He failed Sadiq's pledge is to end it by 2030 - promised during his election-winning campaign last year - but promised against statistics that show the problem is actually on the 2017/18 - a year after he took over at City Hall - there were around 7,500 rough sleepers annually, prompting the mayor to say a year later that he was "embarrassed and angry" that so many were on the rising to a then-high of 11,018 in 2020/21, numbers did they have been on the rise for the past two years - and last year reached an all-time high of 11, at a time when funding on rough sleepers initiatives has gone up from around £8m to around £ a deadline and targets will certainly focus minds on the issue, but rough sleeping is probably just the most visible sign of London's homelessness week, London's major housing associations told BBC London they're building 66% fewer affordable homes than they were two years ago - blaming high prices, tougher building regulations and the high cost of maintaining their current homes. A day later the government and the mayor agreed a 22% drop in the target for affordable home building in the mayor's focus will be on trying to prevent people ending up on the streets in the first place - but he will know delivering many more homes will also be a key part of any sustainable future plan.
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
PIP could be ‘replaced' as consultation begins on new benefit
Work has begun on plans to completely replace the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) with a brand new benefit designed to make the system more 'fair and dignified'. The Commission on Social Security has announced that it is launching a consultation to introduce a new 'Additional Costs Disability Payment' in place of PIP. They have opened the scheme to all people with experience of the system through an online survey and a series of upcoming focus groups. Funded by the Trust for London, the Commission says it is run by 'experts with lived experience of the UK social security system.' It has been working on proposals to improve the UK benefit system since 2018, and is now running the new consultation after a hiatus in 2023/24. They said: 'Like the rest of the Commission's work, we are putting forward proposals for a reimagined social security system that is designed by and works for those of who rely on it. It would be vastly different to the current system.' Claimed by 3.6 million people, PIP is one of the main health or disability-related benefits that can be accessed in the UK. It is designed to help with extra living costs for those who have a long-term physical or mental illness that affects their ability to do everyday tasks or get around. It is not the same as Employment Support Allowance (ESA), which is an out-of-work benefit claimed by 1.5 million people. PIP can be claimed whether someone is regularly working or not, and it is not means-tested. At the moment, PIP is paid based on two parts – daily living and mobility – at a higher or lower rate dependent on severity. This means there are four possible weekly payment levels ranging from £28.70 to £184.30. The Commission said in its 2022 'Plan for a decent social security system' that it would like to see these rates overhauled and simplified to three levels: £83.70 for claimants who don't need much support, £152.15 for claimants who need more support, and £230.77 for claimants who need a lot of support. The plan also expands the eligibility criteria for PIP to look in more detail at the kind of support claimants need. This could be with things like personal care, staying safe, running their home, going out and socialising, moving around, and more. Finally, it specifies that assessors should 'work with' claimants 'to see what [they] need,' as opposed to looking for grounds to deny the benefit. PIP should then also be granted 'for the rest of [their] life if necessary' and not subject to regular reassessment. Results from the consultation will shape the proposals that the Commission puts forward to the DWP later this year. The group explains that it 'covers key areas such as eligibility criteria, assessment processes, and the structure of advocacy and support services. 'It also explains some of the wider systemic changes we might need to see to make the new system a reality, like the creation of a National Independent Living Service.' The consultation comes ahead of green paper due to be released by the DWP in Spring which will reveal Labour's plans to 'overhaul' the health and disability benefit system. Details have not yet been confirmed, but the government has committed to matching the £3 billion in welfare savings pencilled in by the previous Conservative administration. Earlier in February, the department also confirmed it was pressing ahead with changes to PIP under a separate programme launched by the previous government. These will 'transform' the entire service, social security minister Sir Stephen Timms said, with changes to eligibility, decisions and payments all in scope. Ken Butler, welfare rights and policy adviser at Disability Rights UK said: 'DR UK would encourage Disabled people and their organisations to take part in the Commission's survey. It's a very welcome and timely antidote the DWP's forthcoming Green Paper aimed a making £3 billion of cuts to disability and health benefits expenditure. As the Commission says, the results of the consultation can be a building block to secure 'fair, dignified, and holistic support' to Disabled people, addressing the additional costs and systemic barriers that they face and ensure it reflects the needs and realities of those it seeks to support.' The DWP has been approached for comment.
The Independent
14-02-2025
- Business
- The Independent
PIP could be ‘replaced' as consultation begins on new benefit
Work has begun on plans to completely replace the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) with a brand new benefit designed to make the system more 'fair and dignified'. The Commission on Social Security has announced that it is launching a consultation to introduce a new 'Additional Costs Disability Payment' in place of PIP. They have opened the scheme to all people with experience of the system through an online survey and a series of upcoming focus groups. Funded by the Trust for London, the Commission says it is run by 'experts with lived experience of the UK social security system.' It has been working on proposals to improve the UK benefit system since 2018, and is now running the new consultation after a hiatus in 2023/24. They said: 'Like the rest of the Commission's work, we are putting forward proposals for a reimagined social security system that is designed by and works for those of who rely on it. It would be vastly different to the current system.' Claimed by 3.6 million people, PIP is one of the main health or disability-related benefits that can be accessed in the UK. It is designed to help with extra living costs for those who have a long-term physical or mental illness that affects their ability to do everyday tasks or get around. It is not the same as Employment Support Allowance (ESA), which is an out-of-work benefit claimed by 1.5 million people. PIP can be claimed whether someone is regularly working or not, and it is not means-tested. At the moment, PIP is paid based on two parts – daily living and mobility – at a higher or lower rate dependent on severity. This means there are four possible weekly payment levels ranging from £28.70 to £184.30. The Commission said in its 2022 'Plan for a decent social security system' that it would like to see these rates overhauled and simplified to three levels: £83.70 for claimants who don't need much support, £152.15 for claimants who need more support, and £230.77 for claimants who need a lot of support. The plan also expands the eligibility criteria for PIP to look in more detail at the kind of support claimants need. This could be with things like personal care, staying safe, running their home, going out and socialising, moving around, and more. Finally, it specifies that assessors should 'work with' claimants 'to see what [they] need,' as opposed to looking for grounds to deny the benefit. PIP should then also be granted 'for the rest of [their] life if necessary' and not subject to regular reassessment. Results from the consultation will shape the proposals that the Commission puts forward to the DWP later this year. The group explains that it 'covers key areas such as eligibility criteria, assessment processes, and the structure of advocacy and support services. 'It also explains some of the wider systemic changes we might need to see to make the new system a reality, like the creation of a National Independent Living Service.' The consultation comes ahead of green paper due to be released by the DWP in Spring which will reveal Labour's plans to 'overhaul' the health and disability benefit system. Details have not yet been confirmed, but the government has committed to matching the £3 billion in welfare savings pencilled in by the previous Conservative administration. Earlier in February, the department also confirmed it was pressing ahead with changes to PIP under a separate programme launched by the previous government. These will 'transform' the entire service, social security minister Sir Stephen Timms said, with changes to eligibility, decisions and payments all in scope. Ken Butler, welfare rights and policy adviser at Disability Rights UK said: 'DR UK would encourage Disabled people and their organisations to take part in the Commission's survey. It's a very welcome and timely antidote the DWP's forthcoming Green Paper aimed a making £3 billion of cuts to disability and health benefits expenditure. As the Commission says, the results of the consultation can be a building block to secure 'fair, dignified, and holistic support' to Disabled people, addressing the additional costs and systemic barriers that they face and ensure it reflects the needs and realities of those it seeks to support.' The DWP has been approached for comment.
