Housing Benefits (18 to 21-year-olds) Debate

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Department: Department for Work and Pensions

Housing Benefits (18 to 21-year-olds)

Bob Blackman Excerpts
Tuesday 7th March 2017

(7 years, 2 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Caroline Nokes Portrait Caroline Nokes
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I have received a great deal of information from and had roundtables with a number of providers and charities, including some of the smaller ones. We have been very clear: those for whom it is inappropriate to live at home will be exempt from this policy.

Bob Blackman Portrait Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)
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The principal reason why young people become homeless is a relationship breakdown with their family. Will my hon. Friend assure the House that decisions will be taken by the Secretary of State, not by local decision makers who may discriminate against young people when they cannot live with their family?

Caroline Nokes Portrait Caroline Nokes
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I commend my hon. Friend for his excellent work on the Homelessness Reduction Bill. Absolutely: it is a question of young people informing a work coach, somebody in the local authority or a trusted medical professional of their inability to live at home because their relationship with their parent has broken down, and in those cases they will receive the exemption.