Asked by: Hannah Spencer (Green Party - Gorton and Denton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate he has made of the number of older private renters in receipt of Housing Benefit whose rent exceeds the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rate; and what assessment he has made of the impact the extended freeze of LHA rates has had on these households.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on the number of older private renters in receipt of Housing Benefit, and if it covers rent (after application of Local Housing Allowance, reductions and deductions), is available on Stat-Xplore via the Housing Benefit official statistics. The information can be found in the Housing Benefit – Data from April 2018 dataset and is currently available to February 2026. https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/).
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions reviewed LHA rates and confirmed in his written ministerial statement on 26 November 2025 that rates would be maintained at their current levels for 2026/27.
Renters facing a shortfall in meeting their housing costs can apply for discretionary support through the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) Housing Payments from local authorities in England. In Wales and Scotland Discretionary Housing Payments apply.