Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the effect on tenants in the private rented sector of the changes in local housing allowance rates of housing benefit to the 30th percentile of local market rents and the freeze of those rates since April 2016.

The Department commissioned an independent evaluation of the changes to Local Housing Allowance (LHA) which were introduced from April 2011 and included setting LHA rates at the 30^th percentile of local rents. The final report was published in July 2014 and can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-housing-allowance-monitoring-the-impact-of-changes

We have no plans to formally evaluate the effect of the LHA ‘Freeze’ policy, but will continue to monitor the relevant administrative and survey data.