Jobless young people could be forced to live with their parents and denied housing benefit to cut welfare costs

04:10 EST, 6 April 2012

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04:10 EST, 6 April 2012


Downing Street wants unemployed youngsters off benefits and back home with their parents (file photo)

Downing Street wants unemployed youngsters off benefits and back home with their parents (file photo)

For most young people, it’s common sense to stay at home until you can afford to buy or rent a place of your own.

But thousands of unemployed youngsters are claiming housing benefit through a loophole the Government is hoping to slam shut.

Downing Street wants to force unemployed people under 25 to move back in with their parents while they look for work.

The initiative, still at a very early stage, is part of David Cameron’s plan to ensure people are better off working than on benefits.

Speaking of his plans to reduce Britain’s Welfare Bill, the Prime Minister said yesterday: ‘For years people said ‘you can’t reform and cut welfare – the bills are bound to get higher, this is a fact of British life and there’s nothing you can do about it.’

‘We said – hang on – it can’t be right that we pay people more to stay at home than go out to work. We’ve been the first government to come in and properly get a grip on this.’

‘It can’t be right to pay out £40,000, £50,000, £60,000 in housing benefit to families where no one works.’

The move is likely to be popular among voters, but some fear the Government could struggle to pass legislation.

David Cameron will outline plans to further slash Britain's welfare bill at a key speech in Wales

David Cameron will outline plans to further slash Britain’s welfare bill at a key speech in Wales

Emma Boon, campaign director of the TaxPayer’s Alliance told the Daily
Express: ‘It will be hard to tell whether or not a young person has
somewhere else appropriate to live.

‘However, in principle it is a good idea. It is right that jobseekers who
have some accommodation don’t live at taxpayer’s expense.’

Mr Cameron is expected to outline his plans to further attack Britain’s welfare bill at a key
speech, part of the Conservative Party’s Welsh local election campaign.

The Government has already slashed benefit allowances.

Adult housing benefit claims have been capped at a maximum of £400 a
week for a year –  and from next April families with dependent children
will only be able to claim a maximum of £500 a week, dropping to £350
for single people.

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