5. Statement by the Minister for Housing and Local Government: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:47 pm on 29 April 2020.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 5:47, 29 April 2020

Thank you for that. We have actually just tweaked the system as a result of being asked to do so by a large number of local authorities towards the north and west of the country who have a very—Gwynedd, in particular, has a very large number of these. We looked again at the criteria that we were setting out, and we've shifted the criteria so that you now have to have rented your home out for a 140 days, not 70 as it was previously, and that it has to be a substantial part of your income—probably 50 per cent as a rule of thumb. However, it is a discretion for the local authorities. So, if a legitimate business has, for whatever reason, not been able to satisfy the criteria, the local authority still has discretion to pay the grant out. What we've done is changed the presumption the other way around. So, originally the presumption was that everybody would get it unless you could prove they weren't a legitimate business; we've simply shifted it so that now they don't get it unless they can prove they are. If they can prove they are, then the authority has the ability to use its discretion to pay out the grant. I've responded to local authorities' request to do that, and I'm very happy that we did that. I have, myself—. I'm aware of one or two people who are complaining about it, but, you know, the discretion exists for the local authority, and we've directed them to the local authority to ask them to exercise it in that way.