Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which method her Department used to estimate the number of recipients of Support for Mortgage Interest who have access to funds and therefore would not need to use the new loan system.

Information on the Department’s estimate of current SMI recipients who have access to funds and therefore would not need to use the new loan system is available here:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2017/117/pdfs/ukia_20170117_en.pdf

The estimate is based on analysis of the Family Resources Survey on the number of mortgage holders not in employment who receive help with mortgage payments e.g. from friends or relatives.