Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of capping housing benefit for social tenants at the relevant Local Housing Allowance rate on social housing supply.

Justin Tomlinson

Capping high social sector rents at the relevant Local Housing Allowance rate does not come into effect until April 2018 and then only where a new tenancy is taken out or a tenancy is renewed after April 2016 and the resulting social rent charged exceeds the appropriate Local Housing Allowance rate for the size of household in the area at that time

Because a range of factors will influence where and when a cap is applied, including behavioural responses from both claimants and landlords, it is not possible to assess the potential effect of the policy on social housing supply.