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1253264

registered interest
date	18/11/2020
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Housing Benefit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the benefits of excluding (a) savings in lifetime and (b) help-to-buy ISAs from the eligibility calculation for housing benefit.
tabling member constituency	York Outer
tabling member printed	Julian Sturdy
uin	117242
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/11/2020 answer text <p>No assessment has been made. The fundamental purpose of Housing Benefit is to help people on low incomes pay their rent. As it is an income related benefit, regard must be had to all income and capital when assessing entitlement. Whilst it is important to encourage saving, it has never been thought right for substantial amounts of capital to be ignored altogether when deciding entitlement to a benefit based on need.</p><p> </p><p>However, as ISAs are treated as capital, entitlement to Housing Benefit is only affected if the amount held in an ISA exceeds £6,000 for working age people or £10,000 for people over pension age. Housing Benefit claimants who are also receiving a passporting benefit such as Income Support or Pension Credit have all their capital disregarded.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 27/11/2020 13:50:56 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4079 label Biography information for Julian Sturdy

1249763

registered interest
date	09/11/2020
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Housing Benefit
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the benefit cap on tenants in the private rented sector.
tabling member printed	Baroness Grender
uin	HL10069
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/11/2020 answer text <p>The Benefit Cap aims to provide fairness for hard-working taxpaying households, whilst providing a reasonable safety net of support for the most vulnerable.</p><p> </p><p>We introduced £9.3bn of welfare measures that benefit those facing the most financial disruption and, in May 2020, less than five per cent of the two million Housing Benefit and Universal Credit claimants living in the private rented sector, 93,830 tenants, had their benefit capped.</p><p> </p><p>From April 2020 Local Housing Allowance rates were increased to cover the lowest 30th percent of local rents. This £1bn investment will benefit over 1 million households with an average increase of £600 this year. This will help alleviate the pressure on Discretionary Housing Payments that claimants can apply for through their Local Authority if they need additional support to meet rental costs.</p><p> </p><p>We have provided £180m in Discretionary Housing Payments to Local Authorities in England and Wales for 2020/21, which includes an additional £40m to help tackle affordability pressures in the private rented sector.</p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 24/11/2020 17:25:23 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
tabling member	4291 label Biography information for Baroness Grender

1197711

registered interest
date	20/05/2020
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Housing Benefit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many new claims for housing benefit were made in week since 1 March 2020.
tabling member constituency	Leeds East
tabling member printed	Richard Burgon
uin	49775
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/06/2020 answer text <p>The available information on the number of new claims processed for housing benefit is published quarterly and is available at:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/housing-benefit-and-council-tax-benefit-statistics-on-speed-of-processing--2" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/housing-benefit-and-council-tax-benefit-statistics-on-speed-of-processing--2</a></p><p> </p><p>The latest statistics were published in April 2020 and provide data to December 2019.</p><p> </p><p>New claims for Housing Benefit can only be made by people over pension age and working age people living in temporary or supported accommodation. Otherwise, if a working age person requires help with their housing costs they must claim Universal Credit.</p><p /> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 02/06/2020 13:25:49 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4493 label Biography information for Richard Burgon

1196268

registered interest
date	15/05/2020
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Housing Benefit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to exclude future increases to the State Pension from the calculation of income for the purpose of housing benefit eligibility.
tabling member constituency	North East Bedfordshire
tabling member printed	Richard Fuller
uin	47231
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/05/2020 answer text <p>Housing Benefit is an income-related benefit which is intended to assist people who need help to pay their rent. Any income that is available to meet those expenses, such as a State Pension, is normally taken fully into account when working out how much Housing Benefit can be paid.</p><p> </p><p>There are no plans to amend regulations to allow a disregard for State Pension income, including any increases each year.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 22/05/2020 13:25:28 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	3912 label Biography information for Richard Fuller

1185913

registered interest
date	17/03/2020
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Housing Benefit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to (a) make housing benefit available to applicants immediately and (b) increase awards to cover median local rents.
tabling member constituency	Vauxhall
tabling member printed	Florence Eshalomi
uin	30914
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/03/2020 answer text <p>Housing Benefit is only available to those of pension age or those living in temporary or supported accommodation. We are not looking to extend eligibility criteria beyond these groups. However, housing cost support is available through Universal Credit, for those of working age, from the point of claim and advances up to 100% of a claimant’s eligibility are available immediately.</p> answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince question first answered 31/03/2020 11:09:22 answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince previous answer version 14196 answering member constituency Colchester answering member printed Will Quince answering member 4423 label Biography information for Will Quince
tabling member	4870 label Biography information for Florence Eshalomi

1144160

registered interest
date	03/09/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Housing Benefit
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the case for increasing the (1) scope, and (2) total amount, of housing benefit, including any resulting savings on temporary accommodation and other costs.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL17648
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2019 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.</del></p><p><strong><ins class="ministerial">No assessment has been made of the case for increasing the scope of housing support. Housing support in the private rented sector is based on the Local Housing Allowance and decisions on the uprating of Local Housing Allowance from April 2020 will form part of the discussions in support fiscal events later this year.</ins></strong></p> answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott question first answered 09/09/2019 15:39:15 question first ministerially corrected 30/09/2019 12:02:40 answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott previous answer version 134928 answering member printed Baroness Stedman-Scott answering member 4174 label Biography information for Baroness Stedman-Scott
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

1092795

registered interest
date	21/03/2019
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Housing Benefit
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Buscombe on 20 March (HL14427), what guidance they have given to local authorities to assess the amount of housing benefit to which those individuals identified as entitled to income-related employment and support allowance (ESA) but who were moved to contributory-based ESA from incapacity benefit would have been entitled, and on the steps taken to compensate those individuals for any loss.
tabling member printed	Baroness Sherlock
uin	HL14746
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/04/2019 answer text <p>As part of the ESA underpayment exercise we are informing local authorities of any new, past awards of income-related ESA in line with our business as usual procedures; including guidance on treatment of awards for past periods. This will support local authorities to consider any possible impacts of the ESA underpayment exercise and pay any arrears of past Housing Benefit that are due.</p><p> </p><p>Our focus is on paying arrears to claimants in line with the primary legislation.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 03/04/2019 14:45:47 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	4147 label Biography information for Baroness Sherlock

997097

registered interest
date	29/10/2018
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Housing Benefit
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the claim by the Centre for Social Justice in its report, A Social Housing Strategy, published on 27 October, that the cost of housing benefit will treble to more than £70 billion a year by 2050.
tabling member printed	Lord Taylor of Warwick
uin	HL11101
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2018 answer text <p>In their 2018 Fiscal Sustainability Report, the Office for Budget Responsibility projected that relative to the size of the UK economy, spending on Housing Benefit in 2050/51 will be very similar to current levels, at 1.2% of GDP.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe question first answered 05/11/2018 12:36:15 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
tabling member	1796 label Biography information for Lord Taylor of Warwick

997427

registered interest
date	29/10/2018
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Housing Benefit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average shortfall is between housing benefit and the rent of people affected by the benefit cap who are in receipt of (a) jobseekers allowance, (b) employment support allowance, (c) income support and (d) another benefit.
tabling member constituency	Westminster North
tabling member printed	Ms Karen Buck
uin	184859
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/11/2018 answer text <p>The information in the table shows average shortfall between housing benefit and the contractual rent of people affected by the benefit cap in May 2018.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Main Benefit</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Average Shortfall</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>a) Jobseeker's Allowance</p></td><td><p>£ 64.38</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>b) Employment Support Allowance</p></td><td><p>£ 61.53</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>c) Income Support</p></td><td><p>£ 59.48</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>d) Other</p></td><td><p>£ 78.57</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>We acknowledge there could be a potential rental shortfall due to various Welfare Reforms, for example:</p><p> </p><ul><li>the Benefit Cap;</li><li>Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy (RSRS) in the social rented sector;</li><li>Changes to Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates, including the 4 year freeze.</li></ul><p><strong> </strong></p><p>These figures don’t isolate which deductions a benefit cap claimant has applied to their Housing Benefit. It should be noted however DHPs can be used by local authorities to mitigate rental shortfalls faced by claimants.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 06/11/2018 16:10:32 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	199 label Biography information for Ms Karen Buck

983190

registered interest
date	08/10/2018
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Housing Benefit
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much housing benefit has been paid to affordable rent tenants in each year since the introduction of the affordable rent tenure in 2010.
tabling member constituency	Croydon Central
tabling member printed	Sarah Jones
uin	176594
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/10/2018 answer text <p><strong> </strong><strong> </strong>The information requested is not available.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p>Limited information on Housing Benefit paid to Affordable Rent tenants of Local Authorities is available on GOV.UK at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/housing-benefit-expenditure-and-subsidy-data" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/housing-benefit-expenditure-and-subsidy-data</a>, but the large majority of Affordable Rent tenancies are with housing associations, and the Department does not hold data which allows the expenditure on these tenancies to be identified.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 11/10/2018 10:06:33 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
tabling member	4631 label Biography information for Sarah Jones