The Government was criticised today for announcing it will only publish its further assessment of the impact on vulnerable groups of its controversial cuts to housing benefit on the same day that it changes legislation on benefit payments.

Critics of the housing benefit cuts have long argued that ministers are guilty of rushing through the changes, without first ensuring they have a full understanding of the way in which the reforms will hit vulnerable groups.

And ministers have now confirmed that they will publish the equality impact assessment later this month on the same day they change legislation to allow the introduction in 2011/12 of caps of £400 a week on properties of four bedrooms or more, and a change to peg housing benefit allowances to the bottom third of private sector rents in each area.

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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) did publish an equality impact assessment of the housing benefit changes in July, but admitted in several places that it did not have sufficient data from which to draw in-depth conclusions.

Of the impact of the changes on race equality it said: "It is not possible to provide the specific impact of this measure on race equality due to limitations in data."

Commenting on the new cap of £400 a week, it added: "As some ethnic minority groups tend to have a higher proportion of large families, these measures may impact on them disproportionately. However, limitations in current data prevent the scope to draw on quantitative evidence to establish the scale of this potential effect."

Under the introduction of the caps, payments for three bed properties will be limited to £340 a week.

The National Housing Federation – which believes the most vulnerable in society will be hit by the cuts the hardest – says the Government has failed properly to assess the degree to which vulnerable groups will be affected.

However, the report failed to assess the full extent of the impact on these groups.

The Federation says that ministers should first have established to what degree the proposed changes would hurt the vulnerable, before deciding to cut housing benefit.

In addition, the Federation says it is wrong for ministers to publish the new equality impact assessment on the same day that it lays down the regulations introducing the first round of cuts – as this will prevent organisations and individuals from responding to the new information before the legislation is altered.

(CD/GK)