Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households in the private rented sector are in receipt of housing benefit in payment; how many of those households have rents which exceed the local housing allowance rate (LHA); what the median average gap is between the rent and the LHA rate, for each broad rental market area in (a) England, (b) Scotland and (c) Wales, for the most recent period for which data is available.
The requested information is in the following attachment.
In April 2020 we increased Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of local rents, costing nearly £1 billion and providing 1.5 million claimants with around £600 more housing support in 2020/21 than they would otherwise have received. Local Housing Allowance rates have been maintained at their increased levels in 2021/22 and will remain at those levels for 2022/23.
Median differences between rent and Local Housing Allowance in different broad rental market areas, reflect variation in rental markets.
The Government is providing £12 billion of support to ease cost of living pressures, with help targeted at working families, low-income households and the most vulnerable. A further
£9 billion has been announced to protect against the impact of rising global energy prices.