Asked by: Baroness Grender (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the benefit cap on tenants in the private rented sector.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The Benefit Cap aims to provide fairness for hard-working taxpaying households, whilst providing a reasonable safety net of support for the most vulnerable.
We introduced £9.3bn of welfare measures that benefit those facing the most financial disruption and, in May 2020, less than five per cent of the two million Housing Benefit and Universal Credit claimants living in the private rented sector, 93,830 tenants, had their benefit capped.
From April 2020 Local Housing Allowance rates were increased to cover the lowest 30th percent of local rents. This £1bn investment will benefit over 1 million households with an average increase of £600 this year. This will help alleviate the pressure on Discretionary Housing Payments that claimants can apply for through their Local Authority if they need additional support to meet rental costs.
We have provided £180m in Discretionary Housing Payments to Local Authorities in England and Wales for 2020/21, which includes an additional £40m to help tackle affordability pressures in the private rented sector.