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Under-occupancy Penalty
The under-occupancy penalty (also known as the under occupation penalty, under-occupancy charge, under-occupation charge or size criteria) results from a provision of the British Welfare Reform Act 2012 whereby tenants living in public housing (also called council or social housing) with rooms deemed "spare" face a reduction in Housing Benefit, resulting in them being obliged to fund this reduction from their incomes or to face rent arrears and potential eviction by their landlord (be that the local authority or a housing association). The under-occupancy penalty is more commonly referred to as the Bedroom Tax; especially by critics of the changes who argue that they amount to a tax because of the lack of social housing (or in some areas, any rented accommodation) for affected tenants to downsize to (and the refusal to accept the risk of taking in lodgers). In 2016 it was announced that the penalty would be extended to pensioners. Caroline Abrahams of Age UK said: "Imposing th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Welfare Reform Act 2012
The Welfare Reform Act 2012 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom which makes changes to the rules concerning a number of benefits offered within the British social security system. It was enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 8 March 2012. Among the provisions of the Act are changes to housing benefit which came into force on 1 April 2013. These changes include an "under-occupancy penalty" which reduces the amount of benefit paid to claimants in social housing if they are deemed to have too much living space in the property they are renting.(This already applied to tenants in private rental accommodation). Although the Act does not introduce any new direct taxes, this ''penalty'' has been characterised by the Labour Party and some in the media as the "Bedroom Tax", attempting to link it with the public debate about the "Poll Tax" in the 1990s. Advocating the Act, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (George Osborne) stated that the changes would reduce welfare ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lord Freud
David Anthony Freud, Baron Freud, (born 24 June 1950) is a British politician, life peer, and former investment banker who served as Minister for Welfare Reform from 2010 to 2016. Before he joined the Conservative Party, he was vice-chairman of investment banking at UBS and a government adviser on welfare reform. Early life and career Freud is the son of Walter Freud and a great-grandson of the physician and pioneering psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. He was educated at Whitgift School, Croydon, and Merton College, Oxford, where he took a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. After starting out at the ''Western Mail'', Freud worked at the ''Financial Times'' for eight years as a journalist. In 1983, Freud was hired by the stockbroking firm then known as Rowe & Pitman. Later, he worked for S G Warburg, which was taken over by UBS. He was vice-chairman of investment banking at UBS before he retired. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
UK Independence Party
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest party representing the UK in the European Parliament. The party is currently led by Neil Hamilton. UKIP originated as the Anti-Federalist League, a single-issue Eurosceptic party established in London by Alan Sked in 1991. It was renamed UKIP in 1993, but its growth remained slow. It was largely eclipsed by the Eurosceptic Referendum Party until the latter's 1997 dissolution. In 1997, Sked was ousted by a faction led by Nigel Farage, who became the party's preeminent figure. In 2006, Farage officially became leader and, under his direction, the party adopted a wider policy platform and capitalised on concerns about rising immigration, in particular among the White British working class. This resulted in significant breakthroughs at the 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trade Unionist And Socialist Coalition
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is a socialist electoral alliance launched in Britain for the 2010 general election. TUSC's co-founder was the RMT union general secretary Bob Crow. Members of the PCS, NUT, FBU and POA unions are on the steering committee. The biggest component section of TUSC was the RMT until they disaffiliated at the 2022 RMT AGM. The most prominent participating political groups are the Socialist Party and the Resistance Movement. TUSC stood 135 (parliamentary) candidates across England, Wales and Scotland at the 2015 general election and 619 the same day in local government elections. Following the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party, TUSC did not stand candidates in the 2017 UK general election and suspended electoral activity in November 2018. In July 2020, the Socialist Party called for the relaunch of the alliance and in September the TUSC steering committee agreed to resume standing candidates in the 2021 U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of social democrats, democratic socialists and trade unionists. The Labour Party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum. In all general elections since 1922, Labour has been either the governing party or the Official Opposition. There have been six Labour prime ministers and thirteen Labour ministries. The party holds the annual Labour Party Conference, at which party policy is formulated. The party was founded in 1900, having grown out of the trade union movement and socialist parties of the 19th century. It overtook the Liberal Party to become the main opposition to the Conservative Party in the early 1920s, forming two minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in the 1920s and early 1930s. Labour served in the wartime coalition of 1940–1945, after which Clement Attlee's Labour government established the National Health Service and expanded the welfa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2017 United Kingdom General Election
The 2017 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 8 June 2017, two years after the previous general election in 2015; it was the first since 1992 to be held on a day that did not coincide with any local elections. The governing Conservative Party remained the largest single party in the House of Commons but lost its small overall majority, resulting in the formation of a Conservative minority government with a Confidence and supply agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of Northern Ireland. The Conservative Party, which had governed as a senior coalition partner from 2010 and as a single-party majority government from 2015, was defending a working majority of 17 seats against the Labour Party, the official opposition led by Jeremy Corbyn. It was the first general election to be contested by either May or Corbyn; May had succeeded David Cameron following his resignation as prime minister the previous summer, Corbyn had succeeded Ed Miliband wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Private Members' Bills In The Parliament Of The United Kingdom
A private members' bill (PMB) in the Parliament of the United Kingdom is a type of public bill that can be introduced by either members of the House of Commons or House of Lords who are not Ministers. Less parliamentary time is given to such bills and as a result only a minority of PMBs actually become law. Such bills can be used however to create publicity for a cause or issue and can affect legislation indirectly. Methods There are three methods by which a Member of Parliament can introduce a Private Members' Bill: by ballot, by the Ten Minute Rule, and by presentation. Ballot Under this method Members who apply are drawn from a ballot and, if successful, are given Parliamentary time for their bill. Members of Parliament who are successful in the ballot often have a higher chance of seeing their legislation passed, as greater Parliamentary time is given to ballots than other methods of passing a PMB such as under the Ten Minute Rule. It is normal for the first seven ballot bills ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrew George (politician)
Andrew Henry George (born 2 December 1958) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of St Ives in Cornwall from 1997 to 2015, when he was defeated by the Conservatives' Derek Thomas. He was the Vice-Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Housing and Planning Group in the 2010 parliament. He currently serves as a Cornwall Councillor for Ludgvan, Madron, Gulval and Heamoor, having been elected in the 2021 local elections. Early life George was born in the village of Mullion near The Lizard, on the southwest coast of Cornwall, one of eight children born to a horticulturist father and music teacher mother. Education George was educated locally at Helston Grammar School, in the town of Helston in Cornwall, before attending the University of Sussex where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in cultural and community studies in 1980. He finished his education at University College at the University of Oxford, where he was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inside Housing
''Inside Housing'' is a monthly trade publication that covers the United Kingdom's social housing sector. The magazine was first published on 30 March 1984, and is part of Ocean Media Group. The headquarters is in London. In 2007, the majority stake of Ocean Media was acquired by AAC Capital Partners. ''Inside Housing'' presents development awards each year for: *Best older people's housing development (under 70 homes and 71 or over) *Best shared ownership development *Design quality *Best build-for-rent development *Best approach to modular construction *Best partnership (under 100 units and 101 or over) *Market sale development of the year *Best development team (under 20 members and 21 or over) *Best regeneration project (under 70 homes and 71 or over) *Best inclusive development *Best affordable housing Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median as rated by the national government or a local government by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Leech (politician)
John Sampson Macfarlane Leech (born 11 April 1971) is a British Liberal Democrat politician who was Member of Parliament for Manchester Withington from 2005 to 2015. Since 2016, he has represented Didsbury West on Manchester City Council. He is best known for Alan Turing's pardon, and the Turing Law which granted a posthumous pardon to more than 49,000 men convicted of gross indecency. He was also the first MP to speak out against the bedroom tax in Parliament. Leech served on the city council from 1998 and was elected to the House of Commons at the 2005 general election. In the 2005–2010 Parliament he was a member of the Transport Select Committee and a Shadow Transport Spokesperson on the Liberal Democrat frontbench team from 2006 to 2010, when the Liberal Democrats entered a coalition with the Conservatives. He held his seat with an increased majority in 2010. He has campaigned in particular on gay rights, affordable housing and refugees. He played a role in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liberal Democrats (UK)
The Liberal Democrats (commonly referred to as the Lib Dems) are a liberal political party in the United Kingdom. Since the 1992 general election, with the exception of the 2015 general election, they have been the third-largest UK political party by the number of votes cast. They have 14 Members of Parliament in the House of Commons, 83 members of the House of Lords, four Members of the Scottish Parliament and one member in the Welsh Senedd. The party has over 2,500 local council seats. The party holds a twice-per-year Liberal Democrat Conference, at which party policy is formulated, with all party members eligible to vote, under a one member, one vote system. The party served as the junior party in a coalition government with the Conservative Party between 2010 and 2015; with Scottish Labour in the Scottish Executive from 1999 to 2007, and with Welsh Labour in the Welsh Government from 2000 to 2003 and from 2016 to 2021. In 1981, an electoral alliance was established b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iain Duncan Smith
Sir George Iain Duncan Smith (born George Ian Duncan Smith; 9 April 1954), often referred to by his initials IDS, is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2001 to 2003. He was Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2010 to 2016. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Chingford and Woodford Green, formerly Chingford, since 1992. The son of W. G. G. Duncan Smith, a Royal Air Force flying ace, Duncan Smith was born in Edinburgh and raised in Solihull. After education at the training school and Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he served in the Scots Guards from 1975 to 1981, seeing tours in Northern Ireland and Rhodesia. He joined the Conservative Party in 1981. After unsuccessfully contesting Bradford West in 1987, he was elected to Parliament at the 1992 general election. He was not a minister during the premiership of John Major. During the leadership of William Hague he served as Shadow Secretary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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