The New Homes Bonus scheme is not working effectively, the National Audit Office (NAO) stated today.<br> In its report on the scheme, which is designed to reward local authorities for accepting housebuilding in their area, NAO said that the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) had not been properly monitoring the £1.3 billion New Homes Bonus to be paid to local authorities up to 2013-14. <br> “While it is too early for the scheme to have had a discernible impact on the number of homes, the signs are not encouraging,” said head of the NAO Amyas Morse.<br> The watchdog found that DCLG had miscalculated the number of homes that the scheme would deliver over its first ten years. NAO said that the correct calculation would mean an additional 108,000 homes, not the 140,000 homes that DCLG announced.<br> NAO also said that because of the “distributive nature” of the bonus, some local authorities faced losing significant funding from central government.<br> NAO also spoke to some councillors and local authority officers who said that it was “difficult to change” the views of communities who did not want new housing.<br>