Housing Benefit Social Rented Housing

Written Question

Housing Benefit: Social Rented Housing

Tuesday 12th March 2024

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he made an assessment of the potential merits of removing the under-occupancy penalty during the preparation of the Spring Budget.

Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

No assessment has been made.

The removal of the spare room subsidy (RSRS) policy applies to claims for housing support where the claimant is living in the social rented sector in a property that is considered to have more bedrooms than the household requires.

The policy helps encourage mobility within the social rented sector to make better use of the existing social housing stock and strengthens work-incentives.

There are no plans to abolish this policy and easements are available to support disabled people and carers, the families of disabled children, foster carers, parents who adopt, parents of service personnel and people who have suffered a bereavement. The deduction does not apply to pensioners in receipt of Housing Benefit.

For individuals who may require additional support, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) may be available. DHP payments are entirely at the discretion of the local authority and since 2011 the Government has provided nearly £1.7 billion to local authorities.

Written Question

Housing Benefit

Tuesday 12th March 2024

Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much his Department spent on housing benefits in the last financial year; and how much of that was spent on housing provided by (a) local authorities, (b) other social housing providers and (c) private sector landlords.

Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

In 2022/23 the Department spent £28.97 billion on Housing Benefit and Universal Credit Housing Element combined.

£15.00 billion was spent on Housing Benefit and £13.97 billion was spent on Universal Credit Housing Element. The quoted Housing Benefit expenditure excludes expenditure funded by Local Authorities.

Housing Benefit expenditure by tenure in 2022/23:

£4.05 billion spent on Local Authority accommodation.
£7.17 billion spent on accommodation provided by Registered Social Landlords.
£3.78 billion spent on private rented sector accommodation.

Universal Credit Housing Element expenditure by tenure in 2022/23:

£7.20 billion spent on social rented sector accommodation. The available data does not allow us to breakdown expenditure on social rented sector into accommodation provided by (a) local authorities and (b) other social housing providers.
Available data does not allow us to split out expenditure on accommodation provided by (b) other social housing providers.
£5.95 billion spent on private rented sector accommodation.
£0.83 billion spent on other/unknown tenancy types.

The expenditure figures include only amounts subsidised by the Department for Work and Pension and do not include housing expenditure funded by local authorities.
Figures may not sum due to rounding.

Written Question

Social Security Benefits: Housing

Monday 29th April 2024

Asked by: Alex Cunningham (Labour - Stockton North)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the impact of changes in the level of social security benefits on people living in unsuitable housing.

Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Department for Work and Pensions spends around £30bn a year on housing support for renters in both the private and social rented sectors. Benefit rates and the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) are reviewed annually.

From April this year the Government is investing £1.2 billion increasing LHA rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents. This significant investment ensures 1.6 million private renters in receipt of Housing Benefit or Universal Credit gain on average, nearly £800 in additional help towards their rental costs in 2024/25.

LHA provides a reasonable level of housing support towards rental costs in the private rented sector. LHA rates are not intended to cover all rents in all areas.

The Department works closely with other government departments, stakeholders, jobcentres, and local authorities to understand the impact of its policies.

For those who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs and need further support Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available from local authorities. Since 2011 the Government has provided nearly £1.7 billion in DHP funding to local authorities.

Deposited Papers

Apr. 23 2024

Source Page: I. Universal Credit guidance April 2024 [update of previous guidance, deposited Oct 2023, DEP2023-0791]. 204 docs. II. Letter dated 15/04/2023 from Jo Churchill MP to to the Deposited Papers Clerk regarding documents for deposit in the House libraries. Incl. file list at Annex 1. 9p.
Document: 159._Social_Rented_Sector_V4.0.pdf (PDF)

Found: Social Rented Sector : Guidance Contents Social Rented Sector Value of the additional amount

Deposited Papers

Apr. 23 2024

Found: Housing Payments are made When a Benefit Cap and a Managed Payment to Landlord is in place Application

Deposited Papers

Apr. 23 2024

Found: Eligibility for housing support Contents Eligibility Claimant not a tenant Start date of

Lords Chamber
Housing: Young People - Thu 14 Mar 2024
Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities

Mentions:
1: Lord Best (XB - Life peer) Top of the list comes direct development of so-called “social rented housing”: this part of the housing - Speech Link
2: Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab - Life peer) all tenures but particularly affordable rented and social rented homes —makes matters far worse for - Speech Link
3: Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con - Life peer) rented sector, we have enshrined in law, through the Social Housing (Regulation) Act, a rebalancing - Speech Link
4: Lord Young of Cookham (Con - Life peer) the housing benefit costs of older people was a valid one. - Speech Link

Select Committee

Shelter

DPH0036 - Disabled people in the housing sector

Written Evidence Feb. 02 2024

Inquiry: Disabled people in the housing sector
Inquiry Status: Closed
Committee: Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee (Department: Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities)

Found: DPH0036 - Disabled people in the housing sector Shelter Written Evidence

Westminster Hall
Social Housing Occupancy - Tue 12 Mar 2024
Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities

Mentions:
1: Catherine West (Lab - Hornsey and Wood Green) It is about overcrowding in social housing, and indeed the housing crisis. - Speech Link
2: Catherine West (Lab - Hornsey and Wood Green) changes to the local housing allowance mean that councils are forced to use the dwindling private rented - Speech Link
3: Catherine West (Lab - Hornsey and Wood Green) For 4.2 million of those people, social rented housing would be the most appropriate tenure to address - Speech Link
4: Jacob Young (Con - Redcar) That is why we are taking action to ensure that those who abuse the housing system should not benefit - Speech Link

Lords Chamber
Affordable Housing: Supply - Thu 25 Apr 2024
Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities

Mentions:
1: Lord Best (XB - Life peer) the private rented sector and the social rented sector, the commonly acknowledged solution is to increase - Speech Link
2: Baroness Swinburne (Con - Life peer) social rented homes. - Speech Link
3: Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe (Lab - Life peer) For 4.2 million of these—around 1.6 million households—social rented housing would be the most appropriate - Speech Link

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