Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Greater Manchester have been classified as under occupying their homes in each year since 2012.

The figures requested are in the table below:

Households classified as under-occupying: Greater Manchester, 2013-2016

Notes:

1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred.
2. Figures are numbers of households receiving Housing Benefit with a spare room subsidy deduction. This policy only affects working age households in the social rented sector.
3. Figures have not been provided for August 2012 as the social rented sector spare room subsidy policy did not exist until April 2013.
4. A small number of households now receive their housing support through Universal Credit. The table covers Housing Benefit only as equivalent Universal Credit data are not yet available.