Housing Benefit: Private Rented Housing – Parliamentary Written Answer

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what payments his Department has made to each local authority since 2010-11 to ameliorate the effects of housing benefit caps on private sector tenants; and how much he expects to spend in this manner in (a) the current financial year and (b) 2014-15.

Steve Webb: The Government increased its contribution to discretionary housing payments (DHPs) by £360 million over the spending review period to help support tenants affected by the reforms to housing benefit, including the caps to local housing allowance (LHA) rates.  In addition to an increase in DHPs, a further £49 million transitional funding was made available over the spending review period for local authorities to provide targeted support for claimants affected by the housing benefit reforms to LHA.

Localising Support for Council Tax: Transitional Grant Scheme

The CLG is making available an additional £100million for one year to support those local authorities in developing well-designed council tax support schemes and maintain positive incentives to work.   The grant will be payable in March 2013 to those authorities who adopt schemes that must comply with criteria set by Government to ensure that low income households do not face an extensive increase in their council tax liability in 2013-14. This funding will enable councils to explore more sustainable approaches to managing the funding reduction that minimise the impact on vulnerable taxpayers.  Download a copy of the scheme details from the CLG website.