Housing Benefit: Foster Care – Parliamentary Written Answer

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the potential effects on foster carers of the loss of housing benefit from April 2013 for those in social housing who have surplus bedrooms.
Steve Webb: The Government estimates that there are less than 5,000 foster carers under the age of 60, living in the social rented sector and in receipt of housing benefit. Figures from a survey undertaken by the Fostering Network during 2010 suggested that there were around 2,000 foster carers living in the social rented sector. The extent to which the April 2013 changes will affect individual foster carers will depend on their response to how they meet any shortfall, which is not possible to predict. In some circumstances local authorities may decide to make discretionary housing payments to help meet any shortfalls