New measures introduced by the government to assist struggling homeowners will only help a small number of them, according to the Homeowners Advice Centre.
A government initiative to help householders who lose their job will only benefit a small minority, it has been claimed.
From the start of this week, the government's Support for Mortgage Interest scheme now provides assistance for mortgages of up to £200,000, while the waiting time to receive the benefit has been lowered from 39 to 13 weeks. The measures are intended to help newly-redundant people who are struggling with mortgage repayments.
However, the co-owner of the Homeowners Advice Centre Chris Jenkins warned that the changes would only affect a "small percentage" of homes - namely those without any income whatsoever.
"If one partner is still working, no matter how small their income, then they would not be eligible for the scheme," he said. "This could possibly have the effect of actually encouraging families to stop work in order to gain mortgage interest relief."
Additionally, Mr Jenkins warned that payments to people on the scheme are based that on the assumption that interest on the mortgage is 6.08 percent. His organisation has seen some sub-prime homeowners having to pay interest of up to ten per cent - potentially leaving a "substantial shortfall" between their mortgage payments and the money they receive from the government.
