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<p> </p><p> </p><p>The removal of the spare room subsidy was a necessary change in
order to get the housing benefit bill under control, return fairness to the system
and make better use of social housing stock.</p><p> </p><p>For those that are vulnerable
and who may require more time to make the transition to change, the Discretionary
Housing Payment scheme administered by local authorities is available. Money management
and budgeting and debt advice is also provided by many local authorities and social
sector landlords.</p><p> </p><p>Additional Discretionary Housing Payment funding has
been made available to local authorities to help them support vulnerable claimants
to cope with the changes. For 2014/15 this totals £165m. At the end of 2013/14 £21m
of the £180m central Government funding remained unspent. This included £7m from a
bidding scheme fund that was available during the second half of the year and which
all local authorities were encouraged to apply for.</p><p> </p><p>Recently published
data from the Homes and Communities Agency shows housing association arrears in England
falling for the two quarters to the end of March 2014 compared to the same period
in the previous year. Rent collection remained at 99 per cent during the same period.</p><p>
</p><p>We are continuing to monitor and evaluate the policy. The final report of the
two year independent evaluation will be published during 2015.</p>
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