Information Bulletin

Summary of News and Publications from the Week ending 31 May 2013

JRF Activity
Publication - Supporting people to legitimise their informal business. Blog from Maeve McGoldrick - Helping Cash-in-Hand Businesses to become Legitimate. Publication - Poverty, Participation and Choice. Blog from Laurie Martin - Volunteer graduates help raise educational attainment for less privileged young people.

Poverty
Three out of ten young people believe they will be self-employed in the future and a quarter expect to be self-employed within 5 years. These are the findings of a survey of 1,600 16-30 year olds in a report published by the Princes Trust. The Start Up Generation. Over half a million people in the UK are now reliant on food aid such as food parcels and food banks. The reduction, delay or withdrawal of benefits is estimated to be the main reason for up to half the attendees at food banks. Oxfam, Church Action on Poverty and The Trussell Trust are calling on the Government to launch an urgent Parliamentary enquiry on the matter. The findings are from the new report Walking the Breadline. The Local Government Association (LGA), is warning that new planning rules which will make it easier for certain buildings on the high street to change use, which come into force in England this week, will lead to an increase in pay day lender shops in town centres. The Citizens Advice Bureau is calling on the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to ban payday lenders which are causing harm to borrowers. The CAB is collecting evidence of improper practices and found that out of feedback on 2,000 loans between November and May, 12 in 14 promises to treat customers fairly were broken, and 3 out of 4 people are struggling to repay the loan. The Department for Work and Pensions claims that an estimated 800,000 low income households will benefit from the new single tier pension, from 2016. The changes are expected to particularly benefit women who may have more than one lower-paid part-time job. Those earning less than 5,668 are currently excluded from the basic state pension. The European Commission is taking Britain to the European Court of Justice over claims that it is discriminating against EU nationals who have been living and working in the UK, who seek to claim welfare payments. The Commission alleges that an extra residency test may have unfairly denied benefits to some migrants.

Place
A new strategy for the private rented sector in Scotland has been published by the Scottish Government, A Place to Stay, a Place to Call Home. It lists key actions which aim to attract new investment, improve the quality and supply of rented properties and create a more effective regulatory system.

Live Guardian discussion from 12-2pm on Monday June 3: Do we need fewer, bigger, better housing associations? Discussion on the drawbacks and benefits of consolidation. Guardian Housing Network. A survey for the National Housing Federation found that 70% of the employers questioned reported that the lack of affordable housing was affecting their ability to attract and keep employees, while four in five employers believe that high housing costs are stalling local community economic recovery. New figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders, show a 5% increase in first time buyers in Wales in quarter one of 2013 compared to the same quarter of 2012, a 10% increase in Scotland and an 8% fall in Northern Ireland. A survey of over 1,700 social housing tenants by Orbit Group, indicates that of the 23% of their tenants without internet access, one in ten are not interested in getting online. The survey also revealed that just 35% of Orbits tenants over the age of 60 are online. British house prices are and 21% over-priced compared to incomes and 31% too high compared to rents, according to figures from the OECD, making Britain the eighth most overpriced housing market among the 27 world countries surveyed. Belgium emerged as the most over-priced housing market, while Japan is the most under-priced. In England and Wales, house prices rose by 0.4% from March to April bringing the average house price to 161,456, according to the latest report from the Land Registry. The largest gain as usual was in London at 1.4%, while the biggest fall in prices was in the North East at -1.6%. The Scottish Government is formulating proposals to replace stamp duty and a Scottish MP is calling for the new payments to be varied depending on the energy efficiency of the house. The idea will be presented to Holyroods finance committee.

An Ageing Society
The Older Peoples Commissioner for Wales, has announced a review of the quality of life and care of older people in care homes across Wales. Article summarising the roundtable discussion held by the Guardian on malnutrition amongst older people. The Scottish Government has published a new Bill for the integration of adult health and social care. The proportion of people in Scotland who are aged over 75 will rise by 80% by 2035. This Information Bulletin is produced on a weekly basis as an update for staff at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) and the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust (JRHT) for the purposes of their work it is not intended to be comprehensive but represents a selection of news and reports appearing in the last week. The items contained in this Bulletin are for information only and do not necessarily reflect the views of the JRF and JRHT.