Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Buscombe on 20 March (HL14427), what guidance they have given to local authorities to assess the amount of housing benefit to which those individuals identified as entitled to income-related employment and support allowance (ESA) but who were moved to contributory-based ESA from incapacity benefit would have been entitled, and on the steps taken to compensate those individuals for any loss.

As part of the ESA underpayment exercise we are informing local authorities of any new, past awards of income-related ESA in line with our business as usual procedures; including guidance on treatment of awards for past periods. This will support local authorities to consider any possible impacts of the ESA underpayment exercise and pay any arrears of past Housing Benefit that are due.

Our focus is on paying arrears to claimants in line with the primary legislation.