Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Martin Wrigley (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 16 June 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 18 June 2025. It was answered by Stephen Timms (Labour) on Tuesday, 24 June 2025 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Housing Benefit: Landlords

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information her Department holds on the proportion of housing benefits that are paid to private landlords in (a) the UK and (b) other OECD countries.

Answer

In 2023/24, total housing support provided to private rented sector (PRS) tenants amounted to £12.3 billion (in 2024/25 prices). Of this, £3.9 billion was delivered through Housing Benefit (HB), while £8.4 billion was provided via the Universal Credit Housing Element (UCHE). This means that HB accounted for 32% of total PRS housing support, with UCHE making up the remaining 68%.

The Department does not hold information on housing benefit payments made to private landlords in other OECD countries. Housing support systems vary significantly between countries, and as such, comparisons of housing benefit payments across international contexts should be treated with caution.

The information requested on Housing Benefit paid to private landlords by region and local authority is publicly available. It can be accessed via Benefit expenditure and caseload tables 2024 - GOV.UK (Benefit Expenditure by Local Authority 2023/24)

Housing Benefits Expenditure, £m real terms, 2025/26 prices, from 2014/15 to 2023/24

Housing Benefits Expenditure,

£ million real terms, 2025/26 prices

2014/15

2015/16

2016/17

2017/18

2018/19

2019/20

2020/21

2021/22

2022/23

2023/24

Total

Housing Benefit (Private Rented Sector)

£12,584

£12,063

£11,135

£10,193

£8,898

£7,096

£5,980

£5,376

£4,491

£3,872

£94,674

Total Housing Benefit

£33,636

£33,296

£31,482

£29,488

£26,844

£23,249

£20,811

£19,474

£17,574

£16,805

£266,500

Housing Benefit PRS Proportion of
Total Housing Benefit

37%

36%

35%

35%

33%

31%

29%

28%

26%

23%

33%

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
60311
Session
2024-26
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Housing benefit Landlords Private rented housing OECD countries
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk