§ Mr. OatenTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what estimate he has made of the number of people aged under 25 years who have been affected by changes to the housing benefit rules introduced since May 1997. [82675]
§ Angela EagleThe rules which restrict the amount of rent for Housing Benefit purposes for single young individuals aged under 25 years of age living in the private rented sector, were introduced in October 1996. As of May 1998 33,000 single young people aged under 25 were assessed under the Single Room Rent scheme. Of those, 10,000 were restricted to the single room rent.
Source:
Housing Benefit Management Information System annual 1 per cent. sample enquiries with and without Income Support taken at the last day of May 1997, and provisional figures produced on the second Thursday in May 1998.