§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the cost of his standard housing allowance pilot in each of the next five financial years, identifying separately the cost of the evaluation of the pilots; and if he will estimate the eventual cost of the scheme if it were to apply to(a) all private rented accommodation nationwide and (b) all private or social rented accommodation nationwide. [93631]
§ Malcolm WicksTen local authorities have been invited to be pathfinders for the standard local housing allowance pilot. We estimate that the pilot will cost around £20 million per year in additional benefit spending. Evaluation will cost around £2 million over the course of the project. We will be in a position to quantify the cost of supporting the pathfinder authorities in setting up and administering the scheme once all of the details of the pilot are worked out.
The cost of a nationwide scheme for the private rented sector would depend on the design of the scheme, which will be informed by the results from the pathfinders. We cannot, therefore, estimate the potential cost at this time.
It is not possible to estimate the cost of a housing allowance for social rented accommodation, which would have to be designed along different lines from the private rented sector pilot.