Housing Benefit: Expenditure

(asked on 15th July 2015) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of an increase in rents on housing benefit spending.


Answered by
Justin Tomlinson Portrait
Justin Tomlinson
This question was answered on 20th July 2015

The package of measures announced in this month’s Budget should limit the scope for rent growth to increase Housing Benefit expenditure, particularly in the private rental sector where most Local Housing Allowance rates will be frozen for the next four years.

Local Housing Allowance rates are set within Broad Rental Market Areas. These are determined by rent officers and intend to reflect the areas in which people live and access local services. In areas where rents rise rapidly there should be no presumption that Housing Benefit will always pick up the bill.

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