Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of allowing UK travellers awaiting repatriation to the UK to apply for universal credit from abroad while they are unable to travel as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson
Income-related benefits, such as Universal Credit, are only payable to people who are in the UK and cannot be claimed by those outside the UK.
Stranded British nationals with a job in the UK are eligible for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme on the same basis as other employees of the company. Additionally, if applicable, stranded British nationals who are small business owners can apply to the Small Business Grants Scheme and Coronavirus Business Interruption loan scheme (CBILS).
The FCO continues to work around the clock with the airline industry and other governments across the world to help British nationals abroad return to the UK.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what savings have accrued to the public purse as a result of the removal of the spare room subsidy; and what estimate his Department has made of the administrative costs of that policy since its introduction.
Answered by Will Quince
The Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy (RSRS), introduced in 2013, encourages mobility within the social rented sector, strengthens work-incentives and makes better use of available social housing, while providing fairness to taxpayers on expenditure on Housing Benefit.
The policy has saved over £2 billion since its introduction in April 2013. A breakdown by financial year is provided in the table below:
Total Estimated Housing Benefit RSRS Deductions, 2013/14 to 2019/20 (£m pa)
2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 |
385 | 365 | 355 | 335 | 320 | 288 | 290 |
Notes
In terms of the cost of administering the RSRS, funding was made available to local authorities (LAs). Information is published in Housing Benefit subsidy circulars available on Gov.UK.
To date (2019/20) administrative funding for the RSRS policy has been around £68m (which includes funding for the administration of Discretionary Housing Payments associated with the introduction of the RSRS policy).
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many foster carers are subject to the spare room subsidy in England and Wales.
Answered by Will Quince
The Removal of the Spare Subsidy (RSRS) policy allows one additional bedroom for approved foster carers, who have a child placed with them or are between placements. This is provided the period in which they don’t have a child or young person placed with them does not exceed 12 months.
Information on how many foster cares are subject to the spare room subsidy in England and Wales is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.