Housing Benefit: Parents – Parliamentary Written Answer

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of non-resident parents (a) in Bristol and (b) nationally who will be restricted to the local housing allowance shared accommodation rate as a result of increasing the age threshold to 35 in January 2012.
Steve Webb: It is estimated that around 10,000 of the people affected by the extension of the shared accommodation rate are non-resident parents who have some contact with children who live elsewhere. Estimates have not been produced at local authority level.
Source: DWP analysis of 2008/09 Family Resources Survey and 2008 Families and Children Survey