Inside Housing has been following up some of the requests for amendments. here is a useful summary of what they have found:
“Amendments sought by a London group of Labour MPs to the Welfare Reform and Work Bill would see an exemption for people who have “not received a reasonable offer of employment”.
The changes to the bill, tabled by members including Islington MP Emily Thornberry and Brent MP Dawn Butler, would also exclude homeless people living in temporary accommodation from the cap.
The proposed legislation, which passed its second reading in the House of Commons in July, would reduce the government’s overall cap on benefits from £26,000 a year to £20,000 (£23,000 in London).
Social landlords have warned the reduction could make larger properties financially unviable to build or let.
Members of the current Labour leadership, including shadow chancellor Chris Leslie, have also tabled amendments to the bill, which would exempt domestic violence victims and new parents from the cap. It is not clear however, due to the ongoing leadership election, whether Labour will support the amendements . Jeremy Corbyn, the frontrunner in the leadership election, has pledged to scrap the benefit cap.
SNP MPs have tabled alternative amendments, calling for there to be no lowering of the benefit cap inside or outside of London.
The bill is now due to go to the committee stage, with a date having not yet been set.
The £26,000 benefit cap currently applies to homeless people living in temporary accommodation, which London councils blame for forcing them to seek cheaper housing outside their boroughs.
A total of 22,500 households were subject to the benefit cap in May, statistics published last month show.
The chancellor George Osborne announced the lowering of the cap in July. He said at the time: “The benefits system should not support lifestyles and rents that are not available to the taxpayers who pay for that system.” “