Regulations introduced to freeze local housing allowance rates in 2021/2022

New statutory instrument amends Rent Officer Orders to maintain LHA rates at the levels set for 2020/2021

New regulations have been issued in relation to determining local housing allowance (LHA) rates for 2021/2022.

In force from 28 January 2021, the Rent Officers (Housing Benefit and Universal Credit Functions) (Modification) Order 2020 (SI.No.1519/2020) makes provision to freeze LHA rates for 2021/2022 at the rates set for 2020/2021 by amending -

• the Rent Officers (Housing Benefit Functions) Order 1997 (SI.No.1984/1997);
• the Rent Officers (Housing Benefit Functions) (Scotland) Order 1997 (SI.No.1995/1997); and
• the Rent Officers (Universal Credit Functions) Order 2013 (SI.No.382/2013)

The explanatory memorandum to the regulations explains that -

‘In March 2020, as part of its response to the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19), the government amended the Rent Officers Orders to increase local housing allowance rates to cover the lowest 30 per cent of local rents from April 2020. In November 2020, the government committed to maintaining rates at the same cash levels in the next financial year. This instrument delivers that commitment for 2021/2022.

The modifications delivered by this instrument apply for the purposes of determining local housing allowances in 2021. Without any further changes, the Rent Officers Orders will revert to their previous text for the determination of rates for 2022/2023.’

SI.No.1519/2020 is available from legislation.gov.uk