Removal of the Housing Benefit spare room subsidy in the social rented sector
The Welfare Reform Act 2012 announced that the current rules for the size of accommodation Housing Benefit will cover in the private rented sector will be applied to working age tenants renting in the social sector.
From April 2013 all current and future working age tenants renting from a local authority, housing association or other registered social landlord will receive Housing Benefit based on the need of their household.
The size criteria allows one bedroom for each person or couple living as part of the household with the following exceptions:
- Children under 16 of the same gender are expected to share
- Children under 10 are expected to share regardless of gender
- A disabled tenant or partner who needs a non-resident overnight carer will be allowed an extra room.
- Foster carers will be allowed one additional room, so long as they have fostered a child or become an approved foster carer within the last 52 weeks.
- Parents with adult children in the armed forces (or reservists) who normally live with them will be able to retain the bedroom for that adult child when they are deployed on operations
Guidance was also sent to local authorities on 12 March 2013 to confirm that they should follow case law (Burnip/ Gorry/ Trengove) and allow a room for a disabled child who is unable to share a bedroom.
This means those tenants whose accommodation is larger than they need may lose part of their Housing Benefit. Those with one spare bedroom will lose 14 per cent of their eligible rent and those with two or more spare bedrooms will lose 25 per cent.
Further Information can be found in the impact assessment and the frequently asked questions:
Guidance
Full guidance on administering this change was published on 5 July 2012 in Adjudication and Operations Circular A4/2012.
Discretionary Housing Payments
An additional £25 million per year will be available from 2013/14 to help with the introduction of this change. This extra funding is aimed at disabled people living in significantly adapted accommodation.
Communication Products
We have produced factsheets and posters to help local authorities communicate this change to Housing Benefit claimants.
Factsheets
The factsheet below details who may be affected by the change from April 2013. It provides further details about the change and other sources of help:
- Housing Benefit size criteria factsheet (HBSSSC1)
(109KB) - Housing Benefit size criteria factsheet – Welsh (HBSSSC1W) (133KB)
Posters
The poster below should be displayed where appropriate to help to raise awareness of the change with Housing Benefit claimants:
- Housing Benefit size criteria poster (70KB)
- Housing Benefit size criteria poster – bilingual for use in Wales (87KB)
Further ‘model factsheets’ to assist local authorities with their support for Housing Benefit claimants affected by the introduction of the size criteria for social sector tenants are available at:
