'A risk of re-offending if welfare payments change'

Changing welfare payments could force former offenders back into a life of crime, warned the Bishop of Bath and Wells.

The Rt Rev Peter Price used time in the House of Lords' debate over an amendment to the Welfare Reform Bill to point out that people could lose their independence by being forced into expensive temporary or institutional accommodation.

The Bishop spoke in support of those who used the discretionary Social Fund – the pot of money used to make one-off aid payments to those faced with funerals, maternity or other crises.

The fund is to be abolished and the money instead given to local authorities.

The amendment, aimed at protecting the safety net in the social security system, was later withdrawn but Bishop Price said those applying to the Social Fund included people leaving institutional or residential care, the homeless and people leaving prison.

He said: "These groups are much less likely than others to be able to demonstrate local connections, and without crucial assistance from community care grants to buy essential items such as cooking equipment and bedding, they may struggle to sustain and maintain a home.

"That puts those who have been offenders at risk of re-offending or of moving back into temporary or institutional accommodation, which is far more costly and means they lose their newly found independence."

He made the point that vulnerable people who had no connection to areas they wished to live in still had to be assisted by the local authority and this rule should apply if the Social Fund disappears, especially as the independent review of turned-down fund applications would also be abolished.

The welfare debate took place late on Wednesday of last week.