(This note is not part of the Order)
This Order amends the Rent Officers (Housing Benefit Functions) Order 1997 (S.I. 1997/1984), the Rent Officers (Housing Benefit Functions) (Scotland) Order 1997 (S.I. 1997/1995 (S. 144)) and the Rent Officers (Universal Credit Functions) Order 2013 (S.I. 2013/382) to make changes to how the local housing allowance is determined.
Under those Orders, rent officers must determine a local housing allowance (which applies to the private rented sector) for each relevant category of dwelling or accommodation, in each broad rental market area, so that the allowance is set at the lower of rent at the 30th percentile of local rents and the maximum local housing allowance for the relevant category of dwelling or accommodation (national caps). The amendments revise the national caps. The new provisions for the determination of the local housing allowance are first to apply to the determinations to be made on 31st January 2024. The amendments also insert a provision the effect of which is that no revised local housing allowance can be lower than the allowance determined for the relevant category of dwelling or accommodation on 31st March 2020 (when local housing allowance rates were last increased).
A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen.