George Osborne told MPs during today’s budget speech: “We’ll turn support for mortgage interest payments from a benefit to a loan.
“We are also going to require those on higher incomes living in social housing to pay rents at the market rate.
“It’s not fair that families earning over £40,000 in London, or £30,000 elsewhere, should have their rents subsidised by other working people.”
The change comes as part of the Conservative’s pledge to reform Britain’s welfare system.
Osborne said: “The benefits system should not support lifestyles and rents that are not available to the taxpayers who pay for that system.
“We have already introduced a cap on the total amount of benefits any out of work family can receive, at £26,000. It encouraged tens of thousands into work.
“We will now go further, and reduce the benefits cap from £26,000 to £23,000 in London, and £20,000 in the rest of the country.”
