Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the effect of his decision to end the Support for Mortgage Interest allowance on the financial situation of those currently in receipt of that allowance.

All existing claimants will be offered a support for mortgage interest loan paid at the same rate that is currently available as part of their benefit entitlement. The new loans-based support for mortgage interest will only affect claimants’ financial situation on the sale or transfer of the property, when the loan will be recovered from any available equity.

The Government does not propose to undertake formal evaluation of this change. However, we are committed to monitoring the impacts of our policies and will use evidence from a number of sources to assess the impact on an on-going basis. This will include the updated data that is available to DWP on a quarterly basis, survey data (such as the Family Resources Survey) and feedback from stakeholder groups, including via our regular liaison with UK Finance, to assess whether there are unintended consequences for particular groups.