Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to review the implementation of the removal of the spare room subsidy.

We need to keep the system simple for both claimants and landlords. The Government therefore has no plans to review the removal of the spare room subsidy so that local authorities are required to measure bedrooms.

When calculating housing benefit, local authorities take account of the number of bedrooms as designated by the landlord and compare this with the composition of the household in order to establish whether or not to apply a reduction due to under-occupation. Information about the size of those bedrooms is not required.

It is up to landlords and tenants to decide between them whether a property is appropriate for their needs, including financial viability.

The Government provides £60 million per year specifically for this policy, to Local Authorities through Discretionary Housing Payment funding to help support vulnerable people, which includes £25 million per year for disabled people living in significantly adapted accommodation.