A third of all housing benefit claimants live in the
private rented sector, the latest government figures show. The figures showed
housing benefit was paid to 3.34 million tenants of social landlords and 1.66
million private tenants in February. The data also showed 3.7 million, or three
quarters, of the 5 million claimants were aged under 65. There were 3.92
million single housing benefit claimants, 1.21 million of them with at least
one child. Figures also showed that around 500,000 tenants were affected by the
bedroom tax. Of these, 397,000 had one spare bedroom and 78,000 had two.
Information was unavailable for the remaining 1,600. See the full set of
figures on the StatExplore website.
