Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claims for which the local housing allowance did not cover rent were subject to deductions for (a) universal credit advances, (b) universal credit overpayments and (c) tax credit overpayments in February 2021.

a) There were 311,000 claims for which the Local Housing Allowance did not cover rent that had a Universal Credit Advance Deduction. This accounts for 6% of households on Universal Credit.

b) There were 57,000 claims for which the Local Housing Allowance did not cover rent that had a Universal Credit Overpayment Deduction. This accounts for 1% of households on Universal Credit.

c) There were 110,000 claims for which the Local Housing Allowance did not cover rent that had a Tax Credit Overpayment Deduction. This accounts for 2% of households on Universal Credit.

Claimants can also apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) from their local authority if they need additional support to meet housing costs. We have provided over £1 billion in DHP funding since 2011 to support thousands of families and local authorities are able to top up payments up to 2.5 times their allocation.

Notes:

Figures are provisional and are subject to retrospective change as later data becomes available.

Claim numbers may not match official statistics caseloads due to small methodological differences.