Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the impact of the removal of the spare bedroom subsidy on levels of spending on (a) housing benefit and (b) discretionary housing payments in Wales in each year since April 2013.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has not made an assessment of the full impact of the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy on levels of spending on Housing Benefit (HB). We estimate that the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy (RSRS) policy, between May 2013 and February 2023, has seen deductions from Housing Benefit (HB) expenditure in Wales of £190 million. This is broken down for each financial year below:
Financial Year | Total RSRS deductions for HB in Wales |
2013/14* | £21m |
2014/15 | £22m |
2015/16 | £22m |
2016/17 | £22m |
2017/18 | £22m |
2018/19 | £21m |
2019/20 | £18m |
2020/21 | £16m |
2021/22 | £14m |
2022/23* | £12m |
*These years do not include the full 12 months. 2013/14 excludes April 2013 as there is no data for this month. 2022/23 excludes March 2023 as this data is not yet available.
This estimate is based on those households with the RSRS deduction applied. For a full impact assessment, the behavioural impact of the policy would need to be considered, for example where households with a spare bedroom have moved to a right-sized property.
As asked for the total RSRS deductions are for Housing Benefit only, and do not include deductions for those in receipt of the Universal Credit Housing Element (UCHE). Over the time period shown there has been migration of cases from HB to UCHE, and the majority of new claims for housing support for those of working age will be for UCHE since its introduction.
The impact of the RSRS on Discretionary Housing Payment spending has not been fully assessed. DHP funding has historically been distributed using four funding streams based on DWPs best measures of housing need, these are Local expenditure on Housing Benefit (HB)/Universal Credit Housing Element (UCHE), Local Housing Allowance (LHA) shortfalls, RSRS deductions and Benefit Cap deductions. Although the funding is distributed using this broad methodology, local authorities spend according to their own criteria. As part of annual returns LAs include a breakdown of their expenditure by measure including RSRS, though DHP stats include this breakdown only at national level.
The overall RSRS expenditure reported to DWP by Welsh Local Authorities between April 2013 and March 2022 has been over £30 million. This is broken down for each financial year below:
Financial Year | RSRS Expenditure in DHP by Local Authorities in Wales | Percentage of LA’s information is available for |
2013-14 | £3,116,498 | 73% |
2014-15 | £4,427,275 | 86% |
2015-16 | £3,045,024 | 77% |
2016-17 | £3,360,025 | 82% |
2017-18 | £3,062,745 | 77% |
2018-19 | £3,204,905 | 86% |
2019-20 | £2,821,180 | 82% |
2020-21 | £3,702,173 | 91% |
2021-22 | £4,247,069 | 100% |
* Monitoring returns were not provided by all local authorities; for those that did, not all could provide the detailed breakdown
This table shows the expenditure of Welsh LAs on DHPS in respect to RSRS, not what DWP provide to Welsh LAs as a contribution of funding DHPs. DHP statistics are available online:
Discretionary Housing Payments statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a review of the under-occupancy penalty.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
There are no plans to review the Removal of the Spare Room policy.
The policy applies to claims for housing support where the claimant is living in the social rented sector in a property that is deemed too large for their needs. The policy aims to strengthen work incentives and seeks to encourage greater mobility within the social rented sector.
There are easements to the policy which allow for the provision of an additional bedroom in certain circumstances, such as to support the needs of disabled people. Pensioners in receipt of Housing Benefit are exempt from the policy.
Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available for those who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs. Since 2011 we have provided nearly £1.6 billion in funding to local authorities for DHPs.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when each cost of living payment will be made in the 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and is taking action to help through the Cost of Living Payments and through a wider package of support.
We will be delivering the means-tested cost of living payment of up to £900 in three separate payments. The first payment of £301 will be made from spring 2023, the second payment of £300 from autumn 2023 and the third payment of £299 from spring 2024. People on qualifying disability benefits will receive a Payment of £150 during Summer 2023 and pensioner households will receive a £300 Pension Cost of Living Payment alongside their winter fuel payment in winter 2023.
Qualifying dates for the means-tested and disability Cost of Living Payments are being set out in secondary legislation and payment dates for the vast majority of people will be announced on our dedicated page on gov.uk once the relevant regulations have been made. We have an extensive communications plan in place, including a media and digital campaign, that sets out everything customers need to know about Cost of Living Payments.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an estimate of the average difference between the rent being paid by individuals in receipt of Local Housing Allowance (LHA) and the LHA rate in each local authority in Wales in the most recent period for which data is available.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As of August 2022, the average monthly difference between the contractual rent for individuals in receipt of Local Housing Allowance (LHA) and the LHA rate in each Welsh local authority is as below, figures are rounded to the nearest £1:
Local Authority | Average Difference between rent and LHA rate |
Blaenau Gwent | £87 |
Bridgend | £61 |
Caerphilly | £82 |
Cardiff | £9 |
Carmarthenshire | £67 |
Ceredigion | £54 |
Conwy | £78 |
Denbighshire | £70 |
Flintshire | £55 |
Gwynedd | £72 |
Isle of Anglesey | £54 |
Merthyr Tydfil | £66 |
Monmouthshire | £98 |
Neath Port Talbot | £74 |
Newport | £61 |
Pembrokeshire | £77 |
Powys | £86 |
Rhondda Cynon Taf | £68 |
Swansea | £30 |
Torfaen | £62 |
Vale of Glamorgan | £84 |
Wrexham | £48 |
Shared Accommodation Rate (SAR) cases have been excluded due to data quality issues. Average difference figures include both households where the rent paid by individuals is lower than the LHA and households where the rent paid by individuals is higher than the LHA. Positive values relate to where monthly rent is higher than the monthly LHA rate on average in a local authority.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in (a) Wales, (b) Scotland and (c) England who are only eligible for the Shared Accommodation Local Housing Allowance rate reside in one-bedroom homes.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants living in Wales were moved into the Intensive Work Search regime following the most recent increase in the Administrative Earnings Threshold.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The information is not yet available.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many of the 30 new job centres added to the Additional Jobcentre Support pilot are in Wales.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The pilot rollout started on 27th February (Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament (opens in a new tab).
None of the 30 Jobcentres are in Wales.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of social security benefit rates.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government has brought forward legislation to raise State Pensions and benefits by 10.1% which the House of Commons passed on 6 February.
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many instances of benefit overpayment that were not attributable to a fault made by the claimant in each year since 2018.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Information on the levels of official error in the benefit system is captured in the annual Fraud and Error in the Benefit System publication, which reports that the rate of official error within the department has remained steady at 0.4% since 2018, except for 2021-2022 where the rate dropped to 0.3%.
Year | Official Error Rate | Value of Error |
2021-2022 | 0.3% | £700m |
2020-2021 | 0.4% | £800m |
2019-2020 | 0.4% | £800m |
2018-2019 | 0.4% | £700m |
Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2021 to 2022 estimates - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru - Arfon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many instances of benefit overpayment that were not attributable to a fault made by the claimant were (a) requested to be waived by claimants and (b) waived by his Department in each year since 2018.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Department for Work and Pensions only started to categorise waiver requests in 2020/21. Information from 2020/21 onwards can be found in the table below.
| Waivers requested relating to Official Error | O/E Waived |
20/21 | 12 | 3 |
21/22 | 97 | 5 |
22/23 (to date) | 104 | 25 |
Section 105 of The Welfare Reform Act 2012 states that any overpayment of Universal Credit, new style JSA or ESA, in excess of entitlement, is recoverable. The department therefore seeks to recover benefit overpayments accordingly, but remains committed to doing so without causing undue financial hardship.
Any claimants struggling with the proposed rate of deductions are encouraged to contact DWP Debt Management to discuss a temporary reduction in their rate of repayment.