Mortgage Interest Payment Assistance (Hansard, 18 June 1992)

§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Social Security (Lord Henley)
My Lords, social security help with mortgage interest is given through the income support scheme. We have no plans to extend that.

§ Earl Russell
My Lords, is my noble kinsman aware that the tying of help with mortgages to income support creates a number of situations in which people are better off not working? In particular, is he aware that the change in the definition of full-time work from 24 to 16 hours has already produced numerous cases of people who have given up work in order to retain help with their mortgage payments? Does he agree that that situation contradicts not only common sense but also government policy?

§ Lord Henley
No, my Lords. Obviously I accept that there can be relatively rare occasions when an individual receiving help with his mortgage interest may be better off receiving benefits than in work. However, we do not see any scope for altering the targeting of family credit, which is an in-work benefit, to bring in relatively high earners with relatively large mortgages. That would dramatically change the nature of family credit, which is very much a broad brush scheme, and would have considerable far-reaching cost and operational implications.

§ Lord Molloy
My Lords, will the department consider giving some help to prevent repossessions? For tens of thousands of families, that is the greatest tragedy of their lives. It affects the father, the mother and the children, who are all evicted. Repossession is a blight upon our country. Will the Government not have a good look to see what can be done to prevent repossessions, wherever possible?

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, the noble Lord will be aware that we have done quite a lot since last December to assist with that problem. The Council of 286 Mortgage Lenders, which colleagues in the Government saw on 2nd June, assess that the measures taken since December will probably prevent some 55,000 repossessions this year, which is a very large number.

§ Lord Dormand of Easington
My Lords, is the Minister aware that unemployment is the biggest cause of difficulty in meeting mortgage payments? In view of that, what has he to say about the figures issued today, which show yet another large increase—the 24th consecutive increase in the numbers unemployed? Are the Government not going to learn anything? Are they not going to change their mind about any of their policies? Perhaps I may say to the Minister that it is not a matter to smile about; it is an extremely serious matter. We should be discussing the 2.7 million unemployed. If we have the fundamental changes of policy which have been advocated from these Benches for many months now, we shall reduce not only the problems of those trying to pay their mortgages but many other problems too.

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, perhaps the noble Lord should have tabled his monthly question about unemployment figures. We give help to those unemployed who are in receipt of income support if they are having difficulties in paying their mortgage.

§ Baroness Hollis of Heigham
My Lords, is it not the case that in the past decade the Government have sharply reduced the number of council homes to rent, thus pressing many families on low incomes into buying their own homes, which, because of the recession, high interest rates and high unemployment, they can now neither afford nor sell? The mortgage rescue scheme has failed and it is clear that it cannot be made to work. Will the Government now introduce a cost-effective, targeted mortgage benefit scheme to help those 300,000 families seriously in arrears and at risk of losing their homes?

§ Lord Henley
My Lords, we have not forced anyone to buy their own home. I do not accept that the mortgage rescue scheme failed. As I stated, some 55,000 repossessions - the estimate of the Council of Mortgage Lenders—will be prevented as a result of the measures taken. Obviously one cannot prevent every single repossession. One cannot cater for the folly of individuals in the debts that they may take on. However, we have offered a great deal of support; first, through the measures that have taken place since December and, secondly, through the income support scheme.