10 Facts About Housing benefit

Primary legislation governing Housing Benefit is the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992.

For those areas where there are two or more tier local government structure, Housing Benefit is administered by the district or borough council layer of local government.

Council tenants' housing benefit is awarded as a rebate, reducing the level of rent payable by the tenant.

Private tenants' benefit is normally paid to the tenant, who has the right to decide to whom payments are made, but in other cases it is paid to the landlord.

Overpayments of Housing benefit are not fully funded in order to ensure that the local authority takes recovery action where appropriate.

Housing benefit was transferred from the Department of Health and Social Security to local authorities in 1982.

Local Housing Allowance is designed to ensure that landlords do not have a reason to discriminate against tenants on Housing Benefit, as in most cases there will be no need for a landlord to know that the tenant is on Housing Benefit, and the tenant can know in advance if rent will be met in full.

For those hit by the freeze, housing benefit is failing to bridge the widening gap between escalating private rents and incomes that simply can't keep up.

Housing benefit has been frozen for four years to 2018 while private sector rents have been rising.

Single people under 25 years old are specially vulnerable as they are only entitled to housing benefit covering a bedroom in a shared household and other benefits they can claim are lower.