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 adequacy of the Support for Mortgage Interest scheme, in the context of the increase in the bank rate in June 2023.

No assessment has been made of the adequacy of Support for Mortgage interest (SMI) since interest rates have risen, although the Department continues to monitor the impact of our policies on an on-going basis.

SMI is intended to provide reasonable support by making a contribution towards mortgage interest to protect claimants against the threat of repossession. The rate of SMI we pay is based on the Bank of England average and recently increased from 2.09% to 2.65% in May 2023. Any further changes will occur when the average differs by 0.5 percentage points or more.

To support low-income mortgage borrowers with rising interest rates, from April 2023, we extended the support SMI provides by allowing those on Universal Credit to apply for a loan after three months, instead of nine. We also abolished the rule which prevented Universal Credit claimants from receiving support if they were in work.