Conservatives revive proposal to dock benefit from antisocial families...

In a pledge made on Wednesday after the general election was confirmed for 5 May, party leader Michael Howard said the Conservatives would give councils “the power to withhold housing benefit from families whose immediate members are convicted three or more times of antisocial behaviour”.

Howard made the pledge despite the housing sector’s misgivings about a similar proposal put forward by Labour MP Frank Field three years ago.

At the time, the Chartered Institute of Housing, the National Housing Federation and the Local Government Association highlighted a number of problems with the plan, including its adverse effect on reducing homelessness (HT 13 June 2002, page 13).

A Conservative party spokeswoman said this week: “The withholding of housing benefit would, unlike Labour’s proposal, be effective because it would be used in conjunction with other powers.”

Additional powers proposed include delaying the right of antisocial youngsters to obtain a driving licence if they do not already have one.

But the LGA said the Tory proposals were not feasible.

Richard Kemp, deputy chair of the LGA, said: “These proposals were widely panned by local government as they are wholly unworkable. You could have five law-abiding members of a family and one that is uncontrollable. Often these families are highly dependent on housing benefit.

If it’s withheld, they’ll steal.

“This is not a solution, it merely shifts the problem.”

A CIH spokesman said benefit docking could reduce landlords’ ability to control antisocial behaviour. “These measures take away the discretion of landlords to take the most effective course of action when tackling antisocial behaviour,” he said.

Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat shadow home secretary Mark Oaten MP said far too many antisocial behaviour orders were failing to have an effect.