 |
answer text |
<p>The removal of the spare room subsidy is an important tool to make better use of
the existing social housing stock, enable mobility within the social rented sector
and contain growing housing support expenditure. It also aligns the size criteria
rules used in the private rented sector in the social sector.</p><p>The policy allows
for the provision of an additional bedroom 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. Additionally, those in receipt
of pension age housing benefit are exempt.</p><p>Those who need additional support
with their housing costs can seek assistance from their local authority via the Discretionary
Housing Payment (DHPs) scheme. Since 2011 the Government has provided almost £1.5
billion in DHP funding to local authorities.</p><p>The number of Households affected
by the removal of the spare room subsidy is set out in the table below.</p><p><strong>Households
with a reduction due to the removal of the spare room subsidy, Great Britain, February
2022</strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>One bedroom</p></td><td><p>Two or more bedrooms</p></td><td><p>Reduction
applied but bedroom information is unknown</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>396,100</p></td><td><p>84,900</p></td><td><p>500</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Notes:</p><p>i.
Figures are from <a href="https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/" target="_blank">Stat-Xplore</a>
and are rounded to the nearest hundred.</p><p>ii. Includes Housing Benefit and Universal
Credit Housing Element. Universal Credit data for February is provisional and will
be within two per cent of revised figures in future releases.</p>
|
|
