Ed Miliband will today set out Labour Party plans for devolving more powers to councils and communities over welfare and house building.
Alongside wide-reaching reforms to out of work benefits, the Labour leader will outline plans to empower local authorities and residents to tackle issues driving up welfare spending.
‘We cannot bring the change we need simply by pulling levers at the centre by relying on Whitehall and Westminster. We can only do it by devolving power drawing on the expertise of the British people themselves,’ Miliband is expected to say.
‘The last few years have shown that no-one has done better at doing more with less than local government - whether that is getting work for our young people or investing in housing.’
Miliband will say the ‘historic problem’ of rising benefit costs and falling residential investment can be answered by ‘devolving more powers to local authorities so that they can reduce the housing benefit bill and keep some of the proceeds to reinvest in housing in their own communities.’
Labour plans to replace entitlement to out of work benefits for 18 to 21 year olds with a parental means-tested youth allowance, which will be conditional on claimants being in training.
The party would also introduce a higher rate of Jobseeker’s Allowance to those who have been in work for longer, which could be funded by extending the time people need to have worked in order to qualify.
‘The next Labour government will change the way Job Seekers’ Allowance operates to make sure that someone who has been working for years and years and paying in to the system gets more help if they lose their job than someone who has been working for just a couple of years,’ Miliband will say.
Responding to today’s announcement, chief executive of homelessness charity Crisis, Leslie Morphy, said: ‘We welcome a greater focus on training and equipping young people with the skills they need to find work. Yet it is not clear how today’s proposals will protect those young people who are cannot rely on the support of their parents.
‘Last year 9,000 people became homeless because their parents wouldn’t or couldn’t house them. Already around one in three homeless people are aged between 16 and 24. Without the safety net of benefits, many more could be left at risk of homelessness.’
