§ Baroness Jegerasked Her Majesty's Government:
What additions are to be made to housing benefit and other social security payments to assist people in difficulty due to increases in mortgage interest payments.
§ Lord SkelmersdalePeople who qualify for income support receive help with their mortgage interest payments through that scheme, and the help they get will generally be adjusted when the mortgage interest payments increase. However, the claimant's income support may not increase if it includes a transitional addition to maintain their income at the previous supplementary benefit level. This is because the transitional addition reduces as normal entitlement increases.
Help with mortgage interest payment has never been included in the housing benefit scheme and we have no plans to change this.