Written question asked by Lord Grayling (Conservative) on Thursday, 13 November 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 17 November 2008. It was answered by Baroness Ussher (Labour) on Wednesday, 26 November 2008 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Local Housing Allowance

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in what circumstances local housing allowance may be paid at a rate above the average market rent in a given area.

Answer: The Local Housing Allowance (LHA) is not paid at rates above average market rents. The amount a tenant can receive is subject to the overall limit of the average market rent appropriate for their area and household size.An LHA rate is a median value calculated from a list of rents, for a given number of bedrooms, collected from the private rented sector in a broad rental market area. As the LHA is a median value, the middle value from the list of rents held in ascending order, it should ensure that half of the properties in the broad rental market area will be affordable for housing benefit customers.The Rent Service determines the median rents for each broad rental market area using information about actual confirmed tenancies. Details of average market rents in Broad Market Rent Areas are published on a monthly basis by The Rent Service online at"www.therentservice.gov.uk/."

Secondary information