Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to (a) support older renters and (b) increase the uptake of pension age housing benefit.
The rates of pensioner benefits, including Housing Benefit (HB), tend to be higher than some working-age income-related benefits, as pensioners as a group are likely to be reliant on benefits for a longer period and less able to change their circumstances or improve their income through work.
Local Authorities are responsible for administering HB and the take up of HB by pensioners is shown to be higher than the take up of Pension Credit.
The Department publishes an annual report detailing latest available statistics regarding the estimated take-up of HB and other income-related benefits.
The latest version can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-2016-to-2017
The next report containing 2017/18 data will be published in due course.