PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Housing Benefit (26 September 2014)

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will commission a review and recalculation of the shared accommodation rate to ensure that it reflects the real cost of rooms in shared houses.

Asked by:
John McDonnell (Independent)

The Department has no plans to review the way the Shared Accommodation Rates are calculated. The Rent Officer Services set the rates in line with the current DWP policy for uprating Local Housing Allowance and with reference to evidence of achieved rents in the local area.

In 2014/15, 56 out of the 192 Shared Accommodation Rates have been increased by 4%, in those areas where there is the greatest divergence between LHA rates and local rents.

Answered by:
Steve Webb (Liberal Democrat)
14 October 2014