YORKSHIRE Building Society is backing a petition calling on the Government to reverse its decision to remove some 18 to 21-year-olds’ entitlement to housing benefit.

The petition has been started by the YBS’s charity partner End Youth Homelessness, which says 9,000 young people could be put at risk of homelessness.

Pauline Giroux, corporate responsibility manager at YBS, said: “There is a real concern that the change in legislation will require young people to prove that they cannot live at home in order to access housing benefit.

“That would be extremely difficult to prove to an assessor, especially in cases of family breakdown, which is the leading cause of youth homelessness.

“One of the key aims of our partnership with EYH is to campaign for policy change, that is why we are supporting this petition.”