Universal Credit – Parliamentary Written Answer

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to paragraph 2.66 of the Autumn Statement 2012, what estimate he has made of the number of households that will be exempt from the household benefit cap as a result of the decision to disregard housing payments for those in supported exempt accommodation for the purpose of the benefit cap.

Mr Hoban: Figures approved by the Office for Budget Responsibility estimate that this change will reduce the total amount of households affected by the cap by around 2,000 to 54,000 and reduce the savings by around £10 million to £265 million. While disregarding housing costs for these households does not exempt them per se, there will be very few who remain affected by the cap.