Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the under-occupancy penalty on those receiving housing benefit payments in the context of the cost of living crisis.

For 2021/22, a total of £434m worth of deductions were made for the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy (RSRS) in Great Britain. This includes households on Universal Credit and Housing Benefit. No wider assessment has been made.

The RSRS policy allows for the provision of an additional bedroom in certain circumstances such as disabled people and carers, foster carers, and parents of service personnel. Additionally, those in receipt of pension age housing benefit are exempt.

Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP’s) are available for those who need additional support with housing costs. Since 2011 we have provided almost £1.5billion in DHP’s to local authorities.

The Government announced over £37bn of cost of living support earlier this year which includes an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £421m, running from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023. This is in addition to the energy bill support announced in September.