A London council is considering proposals that could lead to its obese residents having their benefits cut if they don't take exercise.
A new report by think tank the Local Government Information Unit (LGiU) recommends cutting welfare pay-outs for the obese if they refuse to exercise.
A plan to make people financially responsible, by paying their housing benefit directly into their banks rather than to their landlords, risks backfiring, according to social policy experts.
The National Housing Federation, which represents housing associations in England, is warning that up to a million people in social housing will be at risk of falling into debt when the "universal credit" is rolled out next year.
Social landlords taking part in trials where tenants are paid their benefits direct are reporting arrears of around double the norm.
Their experiences will be of interest to private landlords, who have long protested that tenants receiving Local Housing Allowance do not always pass the rent money on but spend it on other things.
Just 1.5 per cent of rental properties are available to single people on benefits, according to research from homelessness charity Crisis.
The charity for single homeless people organised ‘mystery shoppers’ to pose as renters looking for a room in shared properties in the private rented sector in Birmingham, Leeds and Lewisham.
The household benefits cap will be trialled in four London boroughs before being rolled out nationally over the summer.
The Department for Work and Pensions announced yesterday that the cap will apply in just four London council areas from April, rather than applying to all households across the country immediately as expected.
A Conservative MP has called for the introduction of 'Welfare Cash Cards' on which benefits would be paid, enabling claimants to make only priority purchases such as food, clothing, energy, travel and housing costs.
Alec Shelbrooke, Conservative MP for Elmet and Rothwell, said the cards - which would prevent the purchasing of luxury items like cigarettes, alcohol, sky television and gambling - would support the introduction of Universal Credit.
Landlords testing direct payment of benefit failed to collect 8 per cent of rent on average in the first four months of the six pilot projects.
Data released today by the Department for Work and Pensions showed 6,220 tenants across Great Britain were paid directly in the first four months of the projects. Of these, 92 per cent of rent was collected on average overall, meaning arrears were around double the normal figure. A total of 316 tenants have been switched back to payment of benefit to the landlord.
Now the facts are before us, politicians can no longer hide behind myth and conjecture. If any doubt remained over whether the era of Britain as a nation of homeowners is over, this week's census results provided final confirmation.
For the first time in decades home ownership is in decline, falling from 69% to 64% of all households. We can expect it to have fallen further by the next census in 2021 (if the fact-finding exercise survives government spending cuts) as Generation Rent reaches middle age.
England's top 15 eviction 'hotspots' are all in London, according to research published today by Shelter.
Figures released by the housing charity show that in the 12 months to September 2012, 198,470 households have been threatened with losing their home, leaving one in every 115 households at risk of becoming homeless. This equates to cities the size of Liverpool or Bristol being evicted or repossessed.
Despite being left out of chancellor George Osborne's Autumn Statement, it appears the Government is still thinking about cutting the automatic right for under-25s to claim housing benefit.
Work and Pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith said in Parliament this week that there is still a discussion and debate going on in Government but that "more work is required". The Liberal Democrats have said they would oppose any such move.