Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit and
Social Housing Rents Data for Lancashire

This report analyses benefit statistics published by the Department for Work and Pensions for local authorities in Great Britain. The emphasis is on the local data for Lancashire, but figures for all the regions and local authorities in the country can be found by going to the DWP's Working Age Statistics section.

The figures are published on a quarterly basis but this research monitor is normally updated twice a year. More up-to-date local figures may therefore be available to download from the DWP website.

The Office for National Statistics Neighbourhood Statistics website has details of claimant numbers to these two benefits down to medium and lower super output areas. The results are somewhat dated in comparison to the latest district figures on the Department for Work and Pensions website, but they do provide an insight into the situation in very local areas. The Lancashire lower super output area results have been used in this monitor.

The report also includes details of Social Housing rent levels in the 14 authorities within the Lancashire NUTS-2 area.

Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit

People are eligible for Housing Benefit (HB) if they are liable to pay rent (or are treated as if they were so liable) in respect of the dwelling they occupy. The amount of benefit depends on eligible rent, income, deductions in respect of any non-dependents, and deductions for food, fuel and water. People are not usually entitled to HB if they have capital in excess of £16,000.

Council Tax Benefit (CTB) is an income-related benefit designed to help people on low incomes who pay their council tax. Generally, it mirrors the Housing Benefit scheme in the calculation of claimants' applicable amount, resources and deductions in respect of any non-dependents.

The claims for Housing and Council Tax Benefits web links at the beginning of the article contain full details regarding eligibility criteria.

The National Context

The Housing Benefit (HB) caseload for Great Britain (see Table 1) increased by 1.2% to just over 4 million in the 12 months to May 2007. The average amount of HB received nationally was £70.16 per week. At the North West level, the caseload increased 1.2% during the year to 519,000. The average amount received in the North West was somewhat lower at £59.22 per week, presumably attributable to the lower rental values. In May 2007, 16.4% of Great Britain households and 18.1% of North West households received Housing Benefit.

The Council Tax Benefit (CTB) caseload for Great Britain increased by 0.6% in the year to May 2007 to approaching 5.1 million, whilst for the North West the May 2007 figure of 680,000 was the same as a year earlier. The average weekly amount of CTB in May 2007 for Great Britain was £14.10 and £13.70 in the North West. A total of 20.7% of GB households and 23.7% of North West households were in receipt of Council Tax Benefit.

Britain continues to experience a record-breaking period of sustained growth, but the numbers eligible for Housing and Council Tax Benefit continue to rise at the national level. House price increases, a lack of supply in the rented sector and council tax rises have all contributed to more people claiming these two benefits.

Lancashire Districts

Table 1 lists Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit details for the 14 local authorities that together form the Lancashire NUTS-2 area.

The number of Housing Benefit recipients in each authority ranged from 15,000, or 24.6% of households, in Blackpool to 1,500, or 7.1% of households, in Ribble Valley. Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool and Burnley were the three authorities in Lancashire that recorded higher percentages of HB recipients than the North West average of 18.1%.

The yearly percentage increase figures are based on comparing rounded numbers and therefore must be viewed with caution. They do however appear to indicate a somewhat mixed picture with three authorities recording decreases, six with no change and the remaining five recording increases.

Blackpool (18,200) and Blackburn with Darwen (16,100) had by far the largest numbers of Council Tax Benefit claimants. Along with Burnley, Hyndburn and Pendle districts, these five authorities recorded higher percentage rates of CTB recipients than the North West average of 23.7%.

Local Area Results for Lancashire

Figure 1 Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Benefit Claimants by Lower-Layer Super Output Area in Lancashire, August 2005

Source Office for National Statistics

Combined HB and CTB figures are now available at the Lower Super Output Area level and at the time of writing this article the most up-to-date local area results were for August 2005.

There are 940 Lower Super Output Areas (LSOAs) that cover the 14-authority Lancashire NUTS-2 area and the numbers of claimants to the two benefits for the Lancashire LSOAs are mapped in Figure 1. Very low counts have been suppressed and there are two LSOAs in Preston that are in this category. These are E01025253 (one of the four LSOAs covering Garrison Ward) and E01025257 (one of the four LSOAs in Greyfriars Ward). In addition, one of the two LSOAs that cover the Read & Simonstone Ward in the Ribble Valley (E01025341) had a zero value, however with numbers rounded to the nearest 10 to preserve confidentiality, a zero value actually signifies a slightly higher actual result than a suppressed value. In comparison, one of the four LSOAs in the Town Centre Ward of Preston (E01025307) had 710 claimants and one of the four LSOAs in the Wensley Fold Ward in (E01012655) Blackburn had 670 claimants.

There are a total of 34,378 LSOAs that cover the whole of England and Wales, and the two Preston LSOAs with suppressed values are in a group of 107. The LSOA with a zero value in Ribble Valley was amongst a group of another 31 LSOAs. In contrast, the Preston LSOA in Town Centre Ward had the 9th highest figure in the country and the Blackburn LSOA in Wensley Fold Ward had the 12th highest. Please note that the full data set for all small areas in England and Wales can be downloaded from Neighbourhood Statistics.

National Research

In 2006, research carried out for the Department of Work and Pensions (Report number 383) considered the perceived low take-up of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit among people in work, and the reluctance of those who are receiving HB/CTB to move in to work.

The research identified the following points:

• Customers not in work and claiming HB/CTB generally had little knowledge of being able to receive HB/CTB in work.
• HB/CTB had little impact on customers' decisions to move in to work. Indeed, there were respondents who would have considered HB/CTB as a work incentive had they known about it.
• Those in work had limited understanding of the relationship between earnings and HB/CTB.
• Customers in work and eligible for HB/CTB but not claiming tended to be unaware that they could receive HB/CTB in work. Some assumed that they earned too much to be eligible.
• Barriers to claiming in-work HB/CTB included reporting changes in circumstances, the perceived security of receiving benefits; the perceived inaccuracy of better off calculations and also administrative delays.
• It was felt that more publicity regarding HB/CTB as an in-work benefit would be beneficial as customer awareness was limited.
• Extended payments should act as a work incentive, but even customers who are in work and receiving HB/CTB lack detailed understanding of how HB/CTB interacts with their income from employment.
• There were customers, particularly female lone parents, who felt that there was a stigma attached to receiving benefits and noticedthat this diminished when they entered work and ceased claiming HB/CTB. Areas of high employment meant that being out of work was unusual and therefore subject to criticism.

The above points raise the normal issues that have been extensively considered in the past. Will work fully compensate for the loss of benefits; will there be administrative errors and delays that make the transition in to work difficult; claimants and benefit administrators/ advisors not being fully aware of entitlements in particular circumstances, and the stigma in certain circumstances from not working and relying solely on benefits. These types of issues have often been raised in the past and do not seem to be easy to solve.

Social Housing Rents

The Department for Communities and Local Government provides figures on Social Housing Rents for Local Authority Districts in England. The figures are published on a yearly basis and are currently available for each year from 2002 to 2005 for all the 354 local authorities in England from the Neighbourhood section of the Office for National Statistics.

At the national level, the average net rent in the RSL sector was £61.46 in March 2005. For the North West the average was somewhat lower at £54.58. At the regional level, London, not surprisingly, recorded the highest figure (£74.54), whilst the lowest was in Yorkshire and the Humber (£51.05)

At the local authority level, average net rents in this sector ranged from £85.81 in Wokingham, to £44.47 in the Staffordshire town of Newcastle-under-Lyme.

In Lancashire, the differences in average net social housing rents between 2004 and 2005 reveal that a number of County's authorities have seen noticeable increases in rental levels.

The 2004 results listed Blackpool as the most expensive place in the County, but even so the authority only occupied 212th position out of the 354 local authorities in England. The seaside resort town remains the most expensive place in the County in 2005, and its ranking has risen quite noticeably to 149th position. A total of 10 of the 14 Lancashire authorities moved higher up the ranking, whilst Blackburn with Darwen remained the same and Chorley, Fylde and Pendle dropped down the ranking.

In relation to the rest of the Country therefore, social housing rents in most parts of the County have been increasing quicker than many areas in England. The average in Blackpool now exceeds the England average, and the figures for Burnley, Ribble Valley and Wyre are not far behind. Fylde District is now alone in Lancashire in being the only authority with an average rate below the North West figure of £54.58.

This page was compiled by Bryan Moulding.

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