Transparency: The scheme makes it easy to find out how

much rent could be covered by Housing Benefit.

      Personal responsibility: Paying the allowance to the tenant

encourages them to take responsibility for budgeting and

paying their rent themselves rather than having it paid

for them.

Increased work incentives: Greater certainty about what in-

work benefit they could receive is expected to help tenants

bridge the gap between being out of work and taking a job.

Simplicity: We are removing the complex rent restrictions and

the need for individual claims to be referred to a rent officer

before a decision is made. LHA will be paid to the tenant

based on how many people live with them and the area they

want to live in. This will speed up the decision-making process

With these changes we want

LHA tenants to be able to make

choices and tenancy agreements

in the same way as other tenants

do. The fact that the tenant’s

income comes from the local

authority will be incidental. The

local authority’s role will be to

ensure the tenant receives their

allowance on time so that rent

can be paid on time.

which will benefit both tenants and landlords.