Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people were affected by the under-occupancy charge in each of the past five years.

Department for Work and Pensions administrative data on the number of people affected by the under-occupancy charge, formally known as the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy (RSRS), in Housing Benefit and Universal Credit, is shown in the table below. The figures represent the position as of August for each year from 2020 to 2025.

This information is publicly available through the DWP’s Stat-Xplore service at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk.