In its report ‘Managing the impact of housing benefit reform’, the NAO says the reform’s impacts won’t be clear until an independent survey is completed in early 2014.
Margaret Hodge, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said she was “astonished” that the DWP didn’t know what the effect of its reforms would be, and urged it to “urgently” assess whether local authorities can manage the extra burden.
The reforms are expected to increase the number of notifications of changes to claimants’ circumstances that will be dealt with by local authorities.