Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of benefit claimants who are accommodated in domestic violence refuges whose overall benefit entitlement has reduced as a result of changes to the benefit cap level after housing benefit paid to households in supported accommodation has been disregarded from the benefit cap calculation.

This information is not available. However, the numbers affected are likely to be small.

Housing Benefit paid to claimants in specified accommodation (which includes refuges) is not taken into account for the purposes of the benefit cap. Circumstances can vary and where such cases arise, the Discretionary Housing Payments are available as additional support. The DHP Guidance Manual highlights that DHPs may be directed towards those individuals or families fleeing domestic violence.

Notes:
• The Department does not hold information on individuals in domestic violence refuges as part of Housing Benefit or Universal Credit data

• It is unlikely that many cases would still be in scope for the cap once housing costs regarding specified accommodation have been disregarded. Examples of where this could happen are: if the claimant has several children and is in receipt of a large Child Tax Credit award, or if they are receiving Housing Benefit for both the refuge and their home address, where the Housing Benefit for their home address would still be counted as income towards the cap.