The shared accommodation rate does not apply in temporary accommodation.

Temporary Accommodation is defined as housing that a claimant has been placed in by a local authority or housing association to meet the local authority’s statutory homelessness duty or to prevent homelessness.

Costs for housing support to those in private rental accommodation are subject to the Local Housing Allowance. The Shared Accommodation Rate (SAR) applies to Housing Benefit or Universal Credit claimants who are under 35 years of age, living on their own, and renting privately.

Individual policies cannot be considered in isolation and there are currently no plans to abolish the Shared Accommodation Rate (SAR), which is the rate of housing support for individuals under 35 living in the private sector. Government will prioritise the best way to achieve its mission goals within the current challenging fiscal situation at the appropriate fiscal event.

The Government’s housing strategy will set out a long-term vision for a housing market that works for communities and builds 1.5m high-quality homes, including the biggest increase in affordable housing for a generation. We continue to work across-Government to support the development of the strategy and through the Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping.

Meanwhile the Department is committed to reviewing Universal Credit to make sure it is doing the job we want it to, to make work pay and tackle poverty. Parliament will be updated on progress and future changes accordingly.

We are aware of the challenge some people face in finding shared accommodation, and we are working across government to find appropriate solutions including engaging with the newly formed Inter-Ministerial Group on tackling homelessness and rough sleeping.

The Shared Accommodation Rate (SAR) of the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) applies to those claiming Housing Benefit or Universal Credit who are under 35 years of age, living on their own, and renting privately. These individuals will be entitled to the SAR regardless of the size of property they rent.

There are exemptions from the SAR for those who would find it difficult to share accommodation. The exemptions are not designed to tackle supply challenges and therefore we are not considering an exemption for those leaving asylum accommodation. Exempt individuals can claim the higher one-bedroom LHA rate, and these include former residents of homeless hostels and victims of modern slavery.

The homeless hostel exemption was introduced in 2012 to support former rough sleepers following the increase in the SAR from age 25 to 35. The exemption supports homeless people and former rough sleepers to find suitable, stable move on accommodation after receiving appropriate care, supervision and support for at least 3 months within a hostel for homeless people.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Evidence relating to Shared Accommodation Rate (SAR) rates was considered as part of the LHA review last Autumn. This led to the significant investment of £1.2 billion increasing Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents. This means 1.6 million private renters will receive additional help towards their rental costs in 2024/25.

There are exemptions from the SAR for those who find it difficult to share accommodation, such as care leavers, victims of modern slavery and domestic abuse and people who have been homeless and living in a hostel for over 3 months. There is also an exemption in certain circumstances on the grounds of disability. Exempt claimants can claim the higher one-bedroom LHA rate.

For individuals who may require additional support, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) are available. DHP payments are entirely at the discretion of the local authority and since 2011 the Government has provided nearly £1.7 billion to local authorities.

The information requested is not readily available for Universal Credit, and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. However, data on households on Housing Benefits entitled to the Shared Accommodation Rate is published and available here.

Guidance for users is available here.

Evidence relating to Shared Accommodation Rate (SAR) rates was considered as part of the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) review last Autumn. This led to the significant investment of £1.2 billion increasing LHA rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents. This means 1.6 million private renters will receive additional help towards their rental costs in 2024/25.

There are exemptions from the SAR for those who find it difficult to share accommodation, such as care leavers, victims of modern slavery and domestic abuse and people who have been homeless and living in a hostel for over 3 months. There is also an exemption in certain circumstances on the grounds of disability. Exempt claimants can claim the higher one-bedroom LHA rate.

For individuals who may require additional support, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) are available. DHP payments are entirely at the discretion of the local authority and since 2011 the Government has provided nearly £1.7 billion to local authorities.

This information is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.

The Shared Accommodation Rate (SAR) of the Local Housing Allowance applies to Housing Benefit or Universal Credit claimants who are under 35 years of age, living on their own, and renting privately, they will be entitled to the SAR regardless of the size of property that they rent. These rules reflect the housing expectations of people of a similar age not in receipt of benefits.

LHA rates are not intended to cover all rents in all areas.

For 2022/23 we are projected to have spent almost £30 billion to support renters with their housing costs.

In addition, LHA rates, including SAR will be increased from April 2024 to the 30^th percentile of local market rents at a cost of £1.2 billion. This will mean 1.6 million private renters in receipt of Housing Benefit or Universal Credit (UC) will gain on average around £800 a year in additional help towards their rental costs in 2024-25.

For those who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs and require additional support Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) are available from local authorities. Since 2011 the Government has provided nearly £1.7 billion to local authorities for households who need additional support with their housing costs.

In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of internal discussions are not normally disclosed. Policy announcements will be made in the usual way, as appropriate.

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) has a statutory duty to maintain accurate council tax bands and undertakes this duty independently of Ministers. The VOA makes banding decisions based on the facts in each case, with reference to relevant legislation and case law.

Some Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) have separate bands and other HMO properties are aggregated with a single council tax band. Decisions are based on the individual characteristics of the property, considering the nature of the occupation and the degree of physical adaptation. These decisions are supported by legislation and case law.

The VOA’s Council Tax manual provides further guidance about the assessment of HMO properties in practice note 6: www.gov.uk/guidance/council-tax-manual/council-tax-practice-notes#PN6

Housing associations must meet the obligations, on all landlords, requiring resident engagement regarding fire inspections. Housing associations who are registered with the Regulator of Social Housing must also meet the regulator's Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard, ensuring tenants are provided with accessible, relevant and timely information, including on progress of repairs work, and that tenants are given a wide range of opportunities to influence and be involved in the management of their homes.

The Building Safety Bill will ensure that every in scope residential building (18 metres and higher and/or 7 storeys or more), including those belonging to housing associations, must have a resident engagement strategy produced by the Accountable Person. This will provide residents with access to key safety information about their building. Accountable Persons must also establish a formal complaints process for residents to raise concerns - ensuring residents' voices are heard with parity and consistency.

In addition, the Bill requires that the Building Safety Regulator must establish its own process to deal with the safety concerns of residents of high-rise residential buildings, providing a further channel to ensure complaints are handled fairly, and can be escalated effectively.

Finally, the Building Safety Bill will also amend the Fire Safety Order to require Responsible Persons for buildings containing two or more sets of domestic premises to provide residents with comprehensible information about relevant fire safety matters.

This will mean that residents have access to relevant fire safety information to help ensure they feel safe and are safe from fire in their homes.

The additional support to expand existing exemptions for care leavers and former residents of homeless hostels has been brought forward by over two years and made available from 31
May 2021.

However, the new exemptions from the shared accommodation rate for victims of domestic violence and modern slavery will require more significant amendments to legislation as well as local
authority and Universal Credit IT systems, which will take time to develop and implement.

For those who require additional housing support and whose circumstances may make it difficult for them to share accommodation, Discretionary Housing Payments are
available. Since 2011, the government has provided over £1 billion in Discretionary Housing Payments to local authorities to help support vulnerable people.

The Localism Act 2011 has made changes to the rules on succession to social tenancies. From April 2012, rather than being limited by law to providing only one statutory succession, social landlords are able to give to new tenants whatever additional succession rights they deem to be appropriate in the tenancy agreement. This means that, for example, adult children who have lived in a property for many years can be provided with the assurance of a right to succeed to the tenancy regardless of whether a previous succession has already taken place.

In addition social landlords are able to grant, to those who remain in the home after the death of the tenant but have no succession rights, a new tenancy on the same or another more suitable property, provided that is in line with their own policies for allocating tenancies.

On 18 November I wrote to all local housing authorities to encourage them to consider how they can make best use of these existing flexibilities and to ask them to provide examples of good practice so that these can be shared more widely.

In addition, where family members other than a spouse or partner have a statutory right to succeed to a local authority tenancy, the landlord may seek to evict them if the property is or will become under-occupied. However, the landlord must ensure that suitable alternative accommodation is made available.

The Government has considered the need to limit social contact for people living in all types of accommodation. Individuals in shared accommodation, like others, can meet friends and family as part of a group of no more than six people in total, except where specific local restrictions apply.

We recognise how difficult it has been for people to be cut off from their friends and family throughout the past few months and the Government has taken steps to provide £4.2 million additional funding to mental health charities and other charities providing bereavement support. This funding is part of an overall £750 million package for the voluntary sector announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in April.

There are no plans to suspend the shared accommodation rate for those under 35 years old.

There are already a number of exemptions from the shared accommodation rate for the most vulnerable, such as those in receipt of the Severe Disability Premium, care leavers up to the age of 22 and those aged 25-34 who have spent 3 months in homeless hostels.

For other individuals who may require more support and whose circumstances may make it difficult for them to share accommodation, Discretionary Housing Payments are available from local authorities.

There are no current plans to extend the exemption but for individuals who may require more support and whose circumstances may make it difficult for them to share accommodation, Discretionary Housing Payments are available. Since 2011 we have provided over £1billion in Discretionary Housing Payment funding, enabling local authorities to protect the most vulnerable claimants and supporting households to adapt to housing support reforms and we recently announced an extra £40 million in Discretionary Housing Payments for 2020/21, helping to tackle the most acute affordability pressures in the private rented sector.

We do not collect data on the number of care leavers aged 22 to 25 in receipt of housing support and therefore this information is not available.