Housing Benefit: Private Rented Housing

(asked on 2nd September 2016) - View Source
Questioner
Jim McMahon Portrait
Jim McMahon
(Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much in housing benefit has been paid (a) to tenants in private-rented sector accommodation and (b) directly to private landlords in each year since 2011.

Answered by
Caroline Nokes Portrait
Caroline Nokes
This question was answered on 8th September 2016

The available information is in the table below.

Housing Benefit paid for private rented sector accommodation split by payment destination (£millions, real terms 2016/2017 prices)

Financial Year

(a) Paid to Tenants

(b) Paid directly to Landlords

Total

2013/2014

6,630

2,970

9,600

2014/2015

6,390

2,870

9,260

2015/2016

6,220

2,770

8,990

Source: DWP Stat-x-plore and Benefit Expenditure tables

Notes:

  1. Payment destination was unknown in around 1% of cases. This expenditure was assumed to be split between landlords and their tenants in the same proportion as the rest.
  2. Payment destination statistics for financial years before 2013/2014 are not available.
  3. Figures have been rounded to the nearest £10m and may not sum to totals due to rounding.
  4. Expenditure for 2015/16 is based on statistical data for the full year but the financial total is a forecast.
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