A new scheme launched by the Housing Minister Grant Shapps will improve removals amongst social housing and help tenants swap homes easier.

The government has brought together four existing services- House Exchange, Abritas, Locata and Homeswapper- to create HomeSwap Direct. The provider will enable social housing tenants to look at properties across the UK and move nearer to family or to find work.

An estimated eight million people currently live in social housing across the UK and from April, all UK social landlords will have to make properties available for swaps under the Localism Bill.

Mr Shapps says that only 5% of people in social housing moved each year, compared with 20% of people in the private sector.

He said: “This quite literally gives millions of people the ability to be able to see whether there is somewhere else in the country they can swap with, if they want to move for absolutely any purpose at all. It’s good for them in terms of perhaps pursuing employment or being closer to family.”

Before the services were brought together, each site had different information and they didn’t share it. It meant that not everyone had all swaps available across the country and that social tenants could only use the swap service their current landlord was registered with.

The new system will enable families looking for bigger properties to swap with those whose children have left home and who want to downsize.

Swap homes under the new structure and hire Robinsons International as your expert removals service.

So, you’ve gone to all the effort of giving in your notice, selling the house, pulling the kids out of their school away from their friends, hiring the Removals firm and shipping out to the other side of the world.

But what if you get there and it’s not quite what you expected? Maybe you should have done more research!

Here’s a guide to what has been stated as the ‘worst’ countries ever to move to…

5  - Cyprus

While no battles have been fought in recent years, the island is still divided in two; the independent Republic of Cyprus and the Turkish Republic of Cyprus. The UN administers the peace, which most proves to be an constant annoyance to islanders who would rather get on with life. While the economy is relatively developed, the lingering political problems could potentially be a flash point one day. The British also control a large part of the island with sovereign military bases.

4 – Albania

Albania hasn’t been in the news in the last few years but many remember when the whole country collapsed under massive pyramid scheme. This practically trashed the economy and turned the country into a hub for organized crime. The country has slowly rebuilt itself and is modernising its economy, becoming part of the EU. There are lots of  business opportunities for the brave but time would be on your side.

3- Nauru

Nauru is a small dot in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It’s only valuable resource was phosphate, thanks to thousands of years of guano build up. At one time, the islanders were some of the richest people in the world.. Now, phosphate mining is gone and the island is a wasteland. The island has mass unemployment, no tourist industry whatsoever and very few reasons to actually go there. Recently, the island served as an internment camp for Australian illegal immigrants. The island subsists on international aid currently.

2- Mexico

Mexico has a long history and is sometimes a pleasant place to visit. The problem is that no one wants to live there. Every year millions of it’s citizens attempt to flee, most of them to the USA. Mexico has a relatively developed economy but it’s unstable as is its’ government. Generally it’s wise to avoid going against the tide of immigrants leaving a country.

1- North Korea

North Korea is an isolated country that is heavily censored. It features an undeveloped, crumbling economy and non-existent infrastructure and political suppression. The people live in starvation, terrible living conditions and many North Koreans are extremely poor. Thousands are starved to death after flooding and drought in what was a massive famine in 1995. Two out of every three North Koreans are chronically malnourished or suffering from stunted growth.

For more information on International Removals visit Robinsons today.