Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 15 January 2019 to Question 207224 on Universal Credit: Support for Mortgage Interest, what the policy objective is of Support for Mortgage Interest.

The prime objective of SMI is to provide short-term help for owner-occupiers who have a liability to make mortgage payments and are unable to do so themselves to prevent their home from being repossessed. SMI makes a contribution towards owner-occupier payments (principally mortgage interest payments) in the form of an interest bearing loan to enable claimants to continue making mortgage repayments during periods of unemployment.