Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to vary the nature of Support for Mortgage Interest, in the context of rises to the Bank of England base rate.

There are currently no plans to amend the calculation of Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI).

SMI is calculated by applying a standard rate of interest to the outstanding capital balance. The rate is set at a level equal to the Bank of England's published monthly average mortgage interest rate. A change to the standard interest rate will occur when the Bank of England’s average mortgage rate differs by 0.5 percentage points or more from the rate in payment.