Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans he has to review the Local Housing Allowance tin the context of private rented costs.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates are annually reviewed, usually in the Autumn. At Autumn budget 2025, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions reviewed LHA and announced that rates would be maintained at their current levels for 2026/27. Rent levels across Great Britian were considered alongside other factors such as the challenging fiscal context and welfare priorities, including the removal of the two-child limit which will bring 450,000 children out of poverty.
Renters facing a shortfall in meeting their housing costs can apply for Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) from local authorities. From April 2026 DHPs for England will be incorporated into the Crisis and Resilience Fund.
Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the amount of money paid directly from housing benefit to private landlords in each region of England.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on the average weekly amount of Housing Benefit paid to private landlords, by regions, is available on Stat-Xplore via the Housing Benefit official statistics (https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/). The information can be found in the Housing Benefit – Data from April 2018 dataset and is currently available to August 2025.
Users can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest, and if needed, can access guidance on how to extract the information required. There is also a Universal Credit Official Statistics: Stat-Xplore user guide.
Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's report into women’s State Pension age changes, published on 21 March 2024, if he will hold discussions with the Leader of the House on enabling Members to vote on the Government's financial redress proposals before 23 July 2024.
Answered by Paul Maynard
In laying the report before Parliament at the end of March, the Ombudsman has brought matters to the attention of this House, making it clear that Parliament has a role in responding to the report. The Government intends to engage fully and constructively with Parliament. The Secretary of State has also committed to provide a further update to the House once the report's findings have been fully considered.
Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many personal assistants are employed under the Independent Living Fund.
Answered by Lord Harper
The Independent Living Fund does not collect or record data on how many personal assistants are employed by its users, either directly or through an agency.
Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans he has to increase the Access to Work budget upon the closure of the Independent Living Fund in June 2015.
Answered by Lord Harper
The Independent Living Fund (ILF) provides direct cash payments to enable severely disabled people to purchase personal care or help with domestic duties from a care agency or a privately employed personal assistant. Following closure of the Fund in June 2015 funding and responsibility for former ILF users will transfer to local authorities in England and the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales.
Access to Work provides support for disabled people in work or engaged in a work centred activity, it has limited overlap with the Independent Living Fund and no discernible budget impacts from this change.
Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what criteria his Department applies to ensure the level of the Access to Work budget is responsive to need.
Answered by Lord Harper
DWP operates a continuous planning cycle which incorporates forecast for demand, changes in economic indicators and resource requirements to deliver agreed service standards. Access to Work is part of this planning cycle.
This planning process ensures Access to Work funding is set at a level that enables the scheme to meet existing customer demand and support new customers eligible for support.
Asked by: Jeremy Corbyn (Independent - Islington North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average housing benefit paid in (a) Islington, (b) Greater London and (c) England was for tenants of (i) council property, (ii) housing associations and (iii) the private sector in each of the last three years.
Answered by Steve Webb
The information we have is for the average weekly Housing Benefit award, by tenure and various geographies, up to November 2014 and this is available at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk
Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:
https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Stat-Xplore_User_Guide.htm