- The Guardian Sat urday 31 Aug ust 2019
(^16) National
Robert Booth
Social aff airs correspondent
More rich than poor households are
benefi ting from a £25bn public sub-
sidy that the former prime minister
Theresa May claimed was “restoring
the dream of home ownership for a
new generation”.
More than 5,500 households with
an annual income of more than
£80,000 have been given help to buy
loans in the last year compared with
4,142 households earning less than
£30,000, government fi gures have
revealed. A total of 2,279 households
had incomes in excess of £100,000.
The scheme has previously been
criticised for swelling housebuilders’
profi ts by creating more demand for
new properties and pushing up their
prices. In 2018 help-to-buy transac-
tions underpinned around half of
Persimmon’s sales as the housebuilder
racked up profi ts of more than £1bn.
However, millions of renters have
not been able to access the scheme.
Rob Davies
Prof Hans Rausing, the head of what
became Britain’s richest family thanks
to his father’s invention of Tetra Pak
food containers, has died aged 93.
In a statement, his family said that
Rausing had “died peacefully in his
sleep” at Wadhurst Park, his private
estate in East Sussex, with his wife,
Märit, at his side.
Sweden-born Rausing was the
son of Ruben Rausing, who report-
edly came up with the idea for Tetra
Pak after his wife suggested that he
invent a lightweight alternative to milk
bottles.
Hans and his brother Gad marketed
the product and today 137bn patented
Tetra Paks are sold each year
The brothers moved to the UK in
1982 and topped the Sunday Times
rich list in 1993 thanks to their pack-
aging empire, before Hans sold his
share of the business to his brother
for £3.5bn in 1995.
Whitehall figures now show that
average renting households, with an
income of £27,000, are missing out and
a mere 0.2% of England’s private rent-
ing households used the help-to- buy
scheme in 2018/19.
Shelter, which analysed data from
the English Housing Survey, said it
show ed the policy had done little for
the large majority of private renters
looking for a stable home.
“Help to buy is often touted by the
Rausing, who was known for being
scrupulously frugal to the extent that
he wore a cheap Timex watch, faced
criticism for seeking to minimise his
UK tax bill despite his vast wealth.
But he was also known for his phi-
lanthropy, for which he was knighted
in 2006 in recognition of his support
for organisations involved in innova-
tion and research in medicine, human
rights, culture and the environment.
According to a statement by the
family, he and his relatives have
donated more than £1bn since 1998.
He is survived by his wife , three
children –Lisbet, Sigrid and Hans Kris-
tian – and seven grandchildren.
“Our father was an extraordinary
man, achieving so many things in his
long and distinguished career as entre-
preneur and industrialist, and then as
a philanthropist ,” said his children in
a joint statement. “We are very proud
of that, but most of all we will cherish
our fond memories of him as a loving
father .”
government as a major success, when
in truth it’s a major failure,” said Polly
Neate , chief executive of the char-
ity. “It’s a policy that boosts the bank
balances of big developers but has
nothing to off er the average renter.”
Between the start of the scheme in
April 2013 and September 2018, 38% of
all new-build property sales were sup-
ported by loans through the scheme,
according to a report by the Commons
public accounts committee. Govern-
ment research found that three-fi fths
of buyers could have bought a property
without the subsidy.
When the scheme was launched it
was also intended to encourage house-
builders, still recovering from the
credit crunch, to start building more.
The government lends fi rst time buy-
ers up to 20% of the cost of a newly
built home, so they only need a 5%
cash deposit and a 75% mortgage. But
even fi nding 5% is too much for many
average income renters.
By 2023, the net amount lent
through the scheme is forecast to peak
at about £25b n in cash terms, accord-
ing to the National Audit Offi ce.
“At the crux of this crisis is the
desperate shortage of genuinely
aff ordable social homes,” said Neate.
“ This is where the new government
should be taking decisive action, and
where the greatest opportunity to help
trapped renters lies.”
The Ministry of Housing has been
contacted for comment.
Richer households have
benefi ted more than poor
from help-to-buy subsidies
Philanthropist
and head of
Tetra Pak family,
dies aged 93
▲ Hans Rausing was knighted in
2006 for his philanthropic work
60%
Proportion of people who benefi ted
from help to buy who could have
bought a home by themselves
2,
Number of help-to-buy households
with an income over £100,000,
according to offi cial fi gures
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