Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent evaluation her Department has made of the accuracy of the mechanism used to calculate the Local Housing Allowance.

The Secretary of State reviews Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates annually. LHA rates are not intended to meet all rents in all areas.

In April 2020 investment in LHA rates was boosted by nearly £1 billion when rates were set at the 30^th percentile of market rents, providing 1.5 million claimants with an average £600 more housing support in 2020/21 than they would otherwise have received. Rates have been maintained at their increased 2020 levels so that claimants continue to benefit from the significant increase.