The Department does not hold the data requested.

(i) It is not possible to identify Housing expenditure specifically related to eligible service charges for social housing tenants in our administrative data. We only hold data on the total Housing Benefit awards and expenditure.

(ii) For Universal Credit, it is not possible to split UC housing expenditure into expenditure on eligible service charges specifically.

Due to an administrative error a second attachment was not uploaded as part of the response to PQ 191729: it has now been amended, and a copy of the second attachment has also been sent directly to you along with a letter explaining. I apologise for any inconvenience caused.

The Local Housing Allowance (LHA) determines the maximum housing support for tenants in the private rented sector. LHA rates are not intended to cover all rents in all areas. Data on local LHA rates and averages can be found in the attachments provided.

In 2020 we spent almost £1 billion increasing LHA rates. These rates were aligned to the 30th percentile of market rents in Broad Rental Market Areas (BRMA) across the country, therefore in those areas with higher rent costs this is reflected in higher LHA rates for that BRMA. In 2022/23, the Government is projected to spend around £30 billion to support renters. This is approximately 1.4% of GDP, more than any other OECD country, with the next highest being 0.9% of GDP.

Information on the legislation increasing LHA rates to 30^th percentile in April 2020 can be found here. Information on the legislation maintaining LHA rates at their current rates for 2023/24 can be found here.

For those who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs and need further support, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available from local authorities. Since 2011 the Government has provided nearly £1.6 billion in DHP funding to local authorities.

We recognise that rents are increasing. However, the challenging fiscal environment means that difficult decisions have been necessary to ensure support is targeted effectively. Overall, the Government is providing total support of over £94 billion over 2022/23 and 2023/24 to help households and individuals with the rising cost of living.

The Local Housing Allowance (LHA) determines the maximum housing support for tenants in the private rented sector. LHA rates are not intended to cover all rents in all areas. Data on local LHA rates and averages can be found in the attachments provided.

In 2020 we spent almost £1 billion increasing LHA rates. These rates were aligned to the 30th percentile of market rents in Broad Rental Market Areas (BRMA) across the country, therefore in those areas with higher rent costs this is reflected in higher LHA rates for that BRMA. In 2022/23, the Government is projected to spend around £30 billion to support renters. This is approximately 1.4% of GDP, more than any other OECD country, with the next highest being 0.9% of GDP.

Information on the legislation increasing LHA rates to 30^th percentile in April 2020 can be found here. Information on the legislation maintaining LHA rates at their current rates for 2023/24 can be found here.

For those who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs and need further support, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available from local authorities. Since 2011 the Government has provided nearly £1.6 billion in DHP funding to local authorities.

We recognise that rents are increasing. However, the challenging fiscal environment means that difficult decisions have been necessary to ensure support is targeted effectively. Overall, the Government is providing total support of over £94 billion over 2022/23 and 2023/24 to help households and individuals with the rising cost of living.

£NIL funding was allocated to the Excellence Plan in the years 2021-22 & 2022-33. The Excellence Plan was one year funded only for 2020-21, and the Plan closed in 2020-21. Because of COVID interruption to DWP business, some initiatives from the Plan were subsumed into DWP operational work in later years, however they became contained within normal operational budgets, so did not represent ‘extra funds’.

There is no service standard for the period of time a complaint is awaiting allocation to an investigator. This is because ICE has no control over the number of complaints it receives, which can vary significantly from month to month and year to year. Other factors which affect the rate of allocation of complaints are the complexity of the individual complaint to be investigated, the evidence required to do that, the available investigative resource and the volume of work on hand. The ICE office is, nevertheless, continuously reviewing its processes and operating model to improve productivity.

In 2019 the Department made a bid, through the Spending Review process, for additional funding in the financial year 20/21 to implement the Excellence Plan. This funding was to improve support for vulnerable customers and their interactions with the Department.

In March 2020, prior to the beginning of the 20/21 financial year, and like many other organisations, we had to reprioritise our operations due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the following work has been undertaken in the time since.

We have introduced more than 30 Advanced Customer Support Senior Leaders (ACSSLs) who have now been appointed across Great Britain.

The Department has also created central teams in the Customer Experience Directorate to focus on strategically supporting our most vulnerable customers.

In August 2020 the Internal Process Review Group was established to increase oversight of Internal Process Reviews at a more senior level.

The Serious Case Panel was set up in late 2019 to consider systemic themes and issues that have arisen from serious cases.

The ICE report is retrospective and many of the cases referenced date back to the pandemic or even earlier, this was a challenging time for DWP and we expect volumes to decrease now the service has stabilised. We continue to value ICE and we learn from the cases, helping us to put things right.

The report reflects the experience of a small proportion of DWP customers as the vast majority of complaints are handled by DWP, with only a small proportion escalating to the Independent Case Examiner who provide an independent avenue for customers.

Overall complaints to DWP remain significantly lower than pre-pandemic. Complaints equate to less than 1% of the department’s caseload.

An Equality Analysis has been undertaken for the decision to maintain LHA rates at their current level and will be published in due course.

Following an investment of £1b in 2020/21 to take Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile, they will be maintained at the elevated levels for financial year 2023/24 as assumed in the OBR baseline costings and therefore no savings are realised to re-invest in targeted funding.

We recognise rents are increasing but the challenging fiscal environment means that difficult decisions were necessary to ensure support is targeted effectively. The Chancellor announced at Autumn Statement a package of support worth £26 billion.

In 2023/24 around 8 million households on eligible means-tested benefits will get up to a further £900 in Cost of Living Payments. The benefit cap will be increased by CPI to ensure that households will see an increase in their benefits following uprating.

For those who require extra support, the government is extending the Household Support Fund providing an additional £1bn to help with the cost of household essentials, for the 2023-24 financial year, on top of what we have already provided since October 2021, bringing total funding for this support to £2.5 billion. In England this will be delivered through an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £842 million, running from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, which local authorities use to help households with the cost of essentials. It will be for the devolved administrations to decide how to allocate their additional Barnett funding.

For those who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs and need further support. Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available from local authorities. Since 2011 the Government has provided almost £1.5 billion in DHP funding to local authorities.

For the grant period 6th October 2021 to 31 March 2022, for the Household Support Fund, 43% of Local Authorities underspent, however this was only by a small amount for most Local Authorities and only 17% underspent by more than 0.5% of their allocation.

Management information data for Household Support Fund (6^th October 2021 to 31 March 2022), which includes total HSF awarded to each Local Authority and total spend by each Local Authority, is published and can be found Here.

The Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are DEL funded and therefore in line with HM Treasury guidance, the DHP funding for a specific year is unable to be carried forward.

This document contains information that could be used to defraud the benefit system and adversely impact the public purse, it is therefore not in the public interest to publish this. Our equality analyses are detailed live documents and change each time our models and projects change, which provides assurance that we are considering bias and balance at each stage of development of these initiatives.

For those claimants who are unable to access or use our digital services, there is already assistance available to make and maintain their Universal Credit claim using the Freephone Universal Credit helpline.

Throughout the pandemic, Jobcentres have remained open for anyone who needed face-to-face support and could not be helped in any other way. Since 12 April 2021, Jobcentres in England and Wales have resumed full face to face services, returning to normal opening hours from 9am to 5pm. Jobcentres in Scotland have restarted the same full face to face service since 26 April 2021. All Jobcentre Plus offices across the country have Wi-Fi and computers available for claimants to access the internet.

The Independent Case Examiner’s Office’s budget for 2019-20 is £3,525,303.

When the Independent Case Examiner’s Office accepts a complaint for examination; they will initially try to resolve it in discussion with the complainant and the relevant business area. If it’s not possible to resolve the complaint, the evidence will be requested and the case will await allocation to an Investigation Case Manager (ICM). Cases are dealt with by dedicated teams and are usually brought into investigation in strict date order. Following an examination of the evidence, it may be possible to settle the complaint, if agreement can be reached on actions that satisfy the complainant. If the complaint can’t be settled, the Independent Case Examiner will issue a report detailing findings and any recommendations for redress.

The Independent Case Examiner’s service standards for 2019-20 for the determination of complaints are as follows:

• To resolve complaints within 8 weeks of accepting them for examination
• To settle complaints within 15 weeks of the start of the investigation.
• To complete investigation reports within 20 weeks of the start of the investigation.