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 a seven per cent rise in social rents on the finances of social housing tenants in receipt of Universal Credit.

At Autumn Statement 2022 the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC) announced plans to cap the maximum social rented sector rent increase in England to 7% in 2023/24. Prior to this, the rent settlement for 2020 to 2025 permitted social housing rents in England to increase by up to CPI plus 1% per annum which would have resulted in increases of up to 11.1% in 2023/24. The 7% cap will therefore restrain the rent increases for renters in social housing.

Households in receipt of the housing element of Universal Credit (UC) in the social rented sector will receive support that will cover the full amount of the 7% rise in their rent unless their award is reduced, for instance because of their income or savings, or limited by the benefit cap or the removal of the spare room subsidy (RSRS). Households with these reductions may need to fund part of the 7% rise from other sources of income.

18% of households in the social rented sector in receipt of the housing element of UC are subject to an RSRS deduction.

Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available for eligible households who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs. This includes households impacted by the benefit cap or RSRS. Since 2011 we have provided nearly £1.6 billion in funding to local authorities for DHPs.

More generally a significant support package was announced at Autumn Budget including uprating benefits by 10.1% and extending the Household Support Fund for 2023/24.