Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment has he made of the effectiveness of the under-occupancy penalty; and what steps he is taking to help ensure that penalty does not contribute to household poverty.

No assessment has been made.

The removal of the spare room subsidy policy applies to claims for housing support where the claimant is living in the social rented sector in a property that is deemed too large for their needs. The policy aims to strengthen work incentives and seeks to encourage greater mobility within the social rented sector.

The policy allows for the provision of an additional bedroom in certain circumstances such as to support the needs of disabled people and carers.

For those who require additional support Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) are available from local authorities. DHPs can be paid to those who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs. Since 2011 we have provided nearly £1.6 billion in DHP’s to local authorities.

In November 2022 at Autumn Budget the Chancellor announced a significant package of cost of living support for the most vulnerable claimants for 2023/24, meaning around 8 million households on eligible means-tested benefits will get up to a further £900 in Payments in 2023/24. We are also continuing to provide support to all households through the Energy Price Guarantee which will save the average UK household £500 in 2023-24. The benefit cap will also be uprated by 10.1% in 2023-24.

In addition, to protect the most vulnerable, working-age and disability benefits will be increased in line with inflation for 2023-24.

The government is also extending the Household Support Fund providing an additional £1bn to help with the cost of household essentials, for the 2023-24 financial year, on top of what we have already provided since October 2021, bringing total funding for this support to £2.5 billion. In England this will be delivered through an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £842 million, running from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, which local authorities use to help households with the cost of essentials. It will be for the devolved administrations to decide how to allocate their additional Barnett funding.