Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:31 pm on 14 June 2022.
Of course, as we've said, and as we know—and the Minister for Climate Change is with us this afternoon and engaged with all of these discussions—it's a cross-government responsibility in terms of tackling the cost-of-living crisis, with housing providers, social housing providers, but also the private rented sector being engaged as well.
Just in terms of cuts to the local housing allowance, the cuts have been over the years and it hasn't been increased and it's remained frozen. But, I think you will be aware of the statement made by the climate change Minister on 8 April about the discretionary housing payments. I've raised all of the points that have been raised with the UK Government about what we expect them to do in terms of energy costs and support, the Warm Homes discount, et cetera, but also, as Julie James did last April, we've called upon the UK Government to reinstate its funding for discretionary housing payments—another round of substantial cuts to this valuable source of funding. That money is used by local authorities, as you know, to mitigate the impacts of other welfare reforms, including the bedroom tax, people affected by the benefit cap, and, of course, the impact of rising rents. And it does help tenants from getting into rent arrears when people are facing this cost-of-living crisis, as you say, with rents increasing. And it is impossible to fathom why—and I'm quoting the Minister for Climate Change:
'it is impossible to fathom why the UK government has seen fit to inflict such savage cuts', in terms of discretionary housing payments. Many people are not aware of all these details, are they, and what's going on, but, actually, the reduction in DHP funding available to Welsh local authorities in this financial year amounts to approximately a 27 per cent cut compared to 2021-22. So, we've topped it up. The Welsh Government's topped up the fund last year by £4.1 million, and the amount of money that we are now putting into all of these schemes and also the top-ups, to something that is a UK Government responsibility, this has to be addressed by the UK Government, and I can assure you that's what we're seeking to call for.