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Written Question
Housing Benefit
Thursday 28th January 2016

Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to enable special circumstances to be taken into account when making the decision to withhold housing benefit from people who are away from their homes for a period of more than four weeks.

Answered by Justin Tomlinson

The temporary absence rules allow Housing Benefit to continue where under the normal conditions of entitlement it would not do so. They are therefore extensions of entitlement rather than withdrawals of it.


It is the intention from April 2016, that Housing Benefit claimants who leave Great Britain for longer than 4 weeks will no longer be able to get Housing Benefit while they are away. This aligns the Housing Benefit rules with other benefits including Universal Credit.


We intend that the period of 4 weeks could be extended in exceptional circumstances (for example, if their reason for being abroad is due to the death of a family member).

Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 22 Jun 2015
Oral Answers to Questions

"The Minister has just extolled the virtues of his Department’s support for people with mental health problems, but in reality we know that too many people with mental health issues are coming through the Work programme and not getting work. Is it not time that, for the benefit of those …..."
Meg Hillier - View Speech

View all Meg Hillier (LAB - Hackney South and Shoreditch) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions
Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 09 Mar 2015
Oral Answers to Questions

"Those on both sides of the House agree that it is important to encourage and support people into work, but under the new benefit cap announced by the Prime Minister, there is not a single three or four-bedroom property that somebody could rent when they need that safety net...."
Meg Hillier - View Speech

View all Meg Hillier (LAB - Hackney South and Shoreditch) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions
Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 09 Mar 2015
Oral Answers to Questions

"indicated assent...."
Meg Hillier - View Speech

View all Meg Hillier (LAB - Hackney South and Shoreditch) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions
Written Question
Personal Independence Payment
Monday 1st September 2014

Asked by: Meg Hillier (Labour (Co-op) - Hackney South and Shoreditch)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how long the average wait for an assessment for a personal independence payment was on the latest date for which figures are available.

Answered by Lord Harper

The wait for an assessment faced by some claimants is unacceptable. We are committed to putting that right by clearing backlogs and improving processing times.

We intend to publish statistics on the time taken to clear cases in the near future and my analysts are considering what information the publication will include. We will pre-announce the publication in due course, in line with the UK Statistics Authority code of practice.

Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 09 Jul 2014
Universal Credit

"I have been absolutely staggered to hear the Secretary of State defending a system that, as I have heard repeatedly at the Public Accounts Committee, has had very poor planning from day one and at subsequent stages. We are glad that there is a plan to get it back on …..."
Meg Hillier - View Speech

View all Meg Hillier (LAB - Hackney South and Shoreditch) contributions to the debate on: Universal Credit
Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 13 Mar 2014
Oral Answers to Questions

"Is not one of the big tragedies resulting from the loss of local newspapers the impact on journalistic training and the quality of scrutiny of our councils? Is the Minister having discussions with colleagues in the Department for Communities and Local Government about this important matter?..."
Meg Hillier - View Speech

View all Meg Hillier (LAB - Hackney South and Shoreditch) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions
Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 24 Feb 2014
Oral Answers to Questions

"T9. Further to the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Dundee West (Jim McGovern), a number of my constituents have been on the employment and support programme for two years, or nearly two years, and have had not a sniff of a work opportunity. Do the Government …..."
Meg Hillier - View Speech

View all Meg Hillier (LAB - Hackney South and Shoreditch) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions
Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 10 Dec 2013
Universal Credit

"The Secretary of State has been very keen to talk about what the previous Government did, but he is in charge now and he was in charge of one of the worst possible procurement processes in government. He has not yet told the House what will happen to the employment …..."
Meg Hillier - View Speech

View all Meg Hillier (LAB - Hackney South and Shoreditch) contributions to the debate on: Universal Credit
Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 14 Oct 2013
Oral Answers to Questions

"How can the Secretary of State continue to defend the bedroom tax when there are not enough smaller properties for people to move into, even if it were the right thing to do?..."
Meg Hillier - View Speech

View all Meg Hillier (LAB - Hackney South and Shoreditch) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions