Cllr Janet Finch-Saunders AM today called on members of the National Assembly for Wales to support the UK Government’s Housing Benefit reforms. Janet said:

"The UK Government is currently committed to the biggest shake-up of the Welfare State in over 60 years. The underlying rationale of the reforms is simple: we need to make the system fairer and less complicated.

"With regards to housing benefit, the changes that will be implemented are fair and sensible. This contrasts sharply with the system that was allowed to evolve under Labour which was complex and in some cases ludicrously unfair and where some claimants were awarded up to £104,000 a year in Housing Benefit.

"Under the new Welfare Reform Act, initially housing benefit will be capped and rates reduced so that, in theory, no one in receipt of benefit will be able to afford accommodation that is beyond the means of the average working family.

"As for the Welsh Labour Government who have tried to accuse these housing benefit reforms of hitting the poorest hardest – it is a completely disingenuous argument as any Government, of any stripe would be faced with the challenge of welfare reform were they in power today."