Housing Benefit – Parliamentary Written Answer

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what methodology he plans to use to calculate surplus bedrooms in respect of his planned changes to housing benefit eligibility; and how often he plans to make such an assessment.
Steve Webb: The level of under-occupation used to assess housing benefit for working-age claimants living in the social rented sector will be based on the local housing allowance size criteria used for assessing the level of housing benefit in the private rented sector. The number of bedrooms in properties in the social rented sector is designated by the landlord (registered provider or housing association) or local housing authority. This is intended to be used to determine the size of a property. As now, claimants will be expected to notify any changes in household composition so that the size criteria assessment can be reviewed as appropriate.