Benefit Changes Leaving Leeds Families in Debt
Changes to the benefits system are causing local families to end up with spiralling debt problems.
That’s according to Real Life Reform which found here in Yorkshire, the amount people owe has increased by 50 per cent in the last 18 months.
Kate* from Leeds got into money troubles when the so-called ‘bedroom tax’ came into force.
“They said we could have housing benefit and then wrote to us and said we shouldn’t be getting housing benefit,” she says.
“So we had to pay it back. It felt awful to us, because this is a roof over our head. And it was over £1,000 and we didn’t know we had to pay that back.”
Kate and her husband got a debt relief order to help them get back on track – otherwise they would have had to pay £7,000 back.
“We were paying this out and paying that out, and then wondering ‘how are we going to pay the housing benefit back?’” she says.
“It was just a worry. I would not go on a housing benefit if I could help it.”
The study found that half of in-debt households surveyed are unable to regularly meet their weekly repayments – while the average amount owed has risen by 55% in 18 months.
The findings are revealed in the sixth report from Real Life Reform – a major study by social landlords into the lives of up to 100 Northern households affected by welfare reforms.
Lisa Pickard, co-founder of the Real Life Reform steering group and chief executive of LYHA, said: “For the last 18 months we have been following the experiences of households and it is clear that the challenge of keeping their heads above water remains extremely difficult for many.
“For those remaining in debt, average debts are significantly higher than at the start of the study and it is clear that people are finding it hard to make regular payments. Households in the study report constantly the struggle to juggle their money and tell us that they have no safety net to fall back on.”
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*We've changed her name to protect her identity