Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment, consultation and other work was carried out to establish the Pay to Stay thresholds at £30,000 and £40,000, outside and in London, respectively.

The starting gross income threshold of £30,000 nationally is above the median average household income figure, which is just over £26,000 based on evidence from the Family Resources Survey - this figure represents gross income of the ‘household reference person’ plus a partner. It is only fair that social tenants who can pay more should pay more. There are more than 40,000 tenants in social housing who benefit from subsidised rents but where the annual household income is over £50,000. The Government consulted in October 2015 on a proposal for a taper which, if introduced. would ensure that rent rises are affordable for those households above the thresholds and protect the incentive to find and keep work.