Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support DWP is providing to social security benefit claimants using the Support for Mortgage Interest scheme who are coming to the end of a mortgage fixed rate term.

The purpose of Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) is to enable people to stay in their homes without fear of repossession and, as such, it makes a contribution towards the interest on their mortgages.

The rate of SMI we pay is based on the Bank of England published average rate and recently increased from 2.09% to 2.65% on May 2023. Any further changes to the interest rate will occur when the Bank of England average mortgage rate differs by 0.5 percentage points or more from the rate in payment.

As we use an average figure, some people will receive more than the amount of interest charged on their mortgage and other less. We have broad agreement with the lending industry that the amount we pay in SMI will be sufficient to avert any threat of repossession, even where that is less than the borrowers contracted liability.

To support benefit claimants with rising interest rates, on 3 April 2023, we extended the support SMI provides by offering UC claimants loans after three months, instead of nine. We have also extended SMI to in- work UC claimants so they can now receive support while working. The SMI reforms will extend support to an additional approximate 200,000 low income homeowners, providing an additional approximate £50m in support.