To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households are in receipt of local housing allowance (LHA) in payment; how many of those households have rents which exceed the local housing allowance rate; and of the latter households, what the median gap is between the rent and the LHA, by the number of children in the household in (a) England, (b) Scotland and (c) Wales, for the most recent period for which data is available.
Answered on
21 October 2021
In May 2021 there were 1,896k households in receipt of LHA via Housing Benefit or Universal Credit in Great Britain. Of these, 982k had rents which exceeded the LHA and the median gap was £100/month. This breaks down as attached table.
In response to Covid-19 we increased LHA rates to the 30th percentile of local rents in April 2020. This significant investment of nearly £1billion has provided 1.5 million claimants with an average £600 more housing support last year than they would otherwise have received. We have also maintained Local Housing Allowance rates at the same cash level for 2021/22.
For those who require additional housing support Discretionary Housing Payments are available. Since 2011 we have provided over £1 billion in Discretionary Housing Payments funding. We have allocated a further £140 million for Discretionary Housing Payments for 2021/22 in England and Wales.