Universal Credit: Private Rented Housing

(asked on 26th January 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households in receipt of universal credit there are in the private rented sector with the housing element in payment where one or more members has limited capability for work or for work-related activity; how many of those households have rents which exceed the local housing allowance rate and what the median gap is between the rent and the LHA in (a) England, (b) Scotland and (c) Wales, for the most recent period for which data is available.


Answered by
David Rutley Portrait
David Rutley
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This question was answered on 8th February 2022

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.

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