Housing Benefit under the Coalition

Official Housing Benefit figures from the DWP record the figures up to May 2014 and the first four years under the coalition. Snapshot is:

·         Overall HB bill is now £24.11 billion up from £20.87 billion in May 2010

·         June 2010 coalition says it will reduce HB bill by £2 billion yet it has increased by £3.24 billion meaning the total HB bill is £5.24 billion more per year than the coalition promised the welfare reforms to HB of LHA caps, benefit cap and the bedroom tax would achieve

·         May 2010 cost of Housing Benefit to those in work was £2.90 billion and four years later that cost is now £5.13 billion per year.

Time for a closer look at just how bad these figures are for the coalition and, for once dear reader, we can read some FACT about Housing Benefit from the DWP’s own hand. Let’s start with the 3 points above. The overall bill -

·         The figures show that there are 4,985,741 HB claimants.

·         The figures show that the average each receive is £92.69 per week

·         Simple multiplication reveals the total HB cost is at May 2014 £24, 113, 196,250 or £24.11 billion

Read more on the Speye blog.