Government's £285m Mortgage Rescue Scheme helps just TWO families



Housing Minister Margaret Beckett admitted the scheme had not helped a large number of people

Just two homeowners have been helped by a flagship initiative to save families from repossession, it emerged last night.

The Mortgage Rescue Scheme has been running since January, during which time nearly 20,000 homes are thought to have been seized.

Yet Margaret Beckett yesterday admitted that the £285million package had helped just two owners to hold on to their properties.

Defending the lifeboat scheme - announced amid fanfare last year - the housing minister said ten other families had been offered help and another 77 families were in line for assistance.

Critics said the figures were a scandalous failure caused by ministerial dithering.

The Department for Communities and Local Government said 4,202 struggling households had approached councils.

Of these, 593 applied for assistance under the rescue package which is designed to help the most vulnerable families.

But just two - both in the East of England - have been given the go-ahead for help.



Bob Neill, Tory local government spokesman, told the Commons that the Government's failure to help more people was 'tragic, if not scandalous'.



Philip Davies, a Conservative backbencher, said the scheme was failing at a time when a house is repossessed every seven minutes.

He added: 'Is this not another example of the Government headline-seeking in a blaze of glory to try to pretend they are helping people, when they actually fail in reality to deliver any tangible help to people suffering hardship through no fault of their own.'

How the Daily Mail reported the story on December 4, 2008

Mrs Beckett admitted the number of households receiving help was small.

She added: 'It is a shattering blow to people to lose their homes - much worse than losing your job, much harder to recover from.

'We expect many more households to be helped in the coming months.

'Our objective is to ensure that repossession is always the last resort and this scheme is just one part of a comprehensive package of measures we've put in place to assist families at risk of losing their homes.'

The Mortgage Rescue Scheme is targeted at those earning less than £60,000 a year who would be entitled to be rehoused under homelessness legislation.

To qualify for assistance, a household must meet a string of criteria. These include the value of a person's home not exceeding the cap for their region.

For instance, in London it is £305,000, while in the North East it is £125,000.

And a family must show a clear need to stay in their home rather than move somewhere smaller or cheaper. A Government spokesman said many households had received financial advice under the scheme.



