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Housing benefits to private landlords in London cost government over £2 billion a year

PoliticalSocial Housing
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196,737 housing benefit recipients in the private rented sector in London receive £217 billion in housing benefit per year with Brent topping the list of Boroughs with most recipients.

  • 196,737 HOUSING BENEFIT RECIPIENTS IN THE PRIVATE RENTED SECTOR IN LONDON RECEIVE £2.17 BILLION IN HOUSING BENEFITS PER YEAR WITH BRENT TOPPING LIST OF BOROUGH WITH MOST RECIPIENTS

    A change of policy to shift away from housing benefits to direct provision of council housing is long overdue. It will save money in the long run too, says GMB Southern

    In February 2019 there were 196,737 recipients of housing benefits in London. This is 23% of all private rented households in London. With the average recipient receiving around £212 per week, this means housing benefits in London are costing the government £2.17 billion every year.

    The London borough which is home to the most housing benefit recipients in the private rented sector is Brent which has 15,931. This is 45.52% of all privately rented households in the borough. Each recipient in Brent receives an estimated £12,450 a year in housing benefits, meaning the estimated spend on housing benefits per year in Brent is £198.4 million. This housing benefit is also normally paid straight on by the recipient to bolster the profits of private landlords.

    Next in the list is Enfield which has 15,826 housing benefit recipients in the private rented sector, who receive a total of £191.8 million a year; followed by Barnet which has 13,959 recipients costing a total of £162.3 million a year; Newham has a total of 11,698 recipients, costing a total of £121.9 million a year; Ealing has 11,450 recipients costing a total of £131 million a year; and Haringey has 10,837 recipients of housing benefits costing £117.1 million a year.

    The figures covering 33 London boroughs are set out in the table below, ranked by the highest number of housing benefit recipients in the private rented sector taken from February 2019. This is from a new study by GMB Southern Region of official data for 33 councils in London. It compares the number of privately rented households per borough, the number of those receiving housing benefits, the average a household receives in housing benefits per week and per year, and the cost of housing benefits for the entire borough. 

 

  •  
  •  
All Private Rented Households (2016) (1)
Housing Benefit recipients in the Private Rented Sector (Feb 2019) (2)
% of Housing Benefits recipients in private renting sector
Mean of Weekly amount (£) of Housing Benefit paid to Private Landlords - (April 2018 - Feb 2019) (2)
Estimated Annual Housing Benefits Paid to Claimants (£)
Estimated Annual Housing Benefits Cost per Borough (£m)
  •  
  • England and Wales
          4,225,400
                          979,898
23.19
213.97
  •              11,126.44
10902.8
  •  
  • London
             855,300
                          196,737
23.00
212.26
  •              11,037.52
2171.5
  •  
  •  
 
 
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
1
  • Brent
  •                35,000
  •                             15,931
45.52
239.55
  •              12,456.60
198.4
2
  • Enfield
  •                26,900
  •                             15,826
58.83
233.07
  •              12,119.64
191.8
3
  • Barnet
  •                34,300
  •                             13,959
40.70
223.56
  •              11,625.12
162.3
4
  • Newham
  •                43,400
  •                             11,698
26.95
200.47
  •              10,424.44
121.9
5
  • Ealing
  •                38,900
  •                             11,450
29.43
219.97
  •              11,438.44
131.0
6
  • Haringey
  •                26,000
  •                             10,837
41.68
207.76
  •              10,803.52
117.1
7
  • Redbridge
  •                28,600
  •                               8,748
30.59
184.21
  •                9,578.92
83.8
8
  • Hackney
  •                28,000
  •                               7,983
28.51
241.25
  •              12,545.00
100.1
9
  • Harrow
  •                27,600
  •                               7,956
28.83
200.19
  •              10,409.88
82.8
10
  • Croydon
  •                28,300
  •                               7,679
27.13
208.65
  •              10,849.80
83.3
11
  • Hillingdon
  •                25,500
  •                               7,654
30.02
185.4
  •                9,640.80
73.8
12
  • Lewisham
  •                27,800
  •                               6,779
24.38
228.93
  •              11,904.36
80.7
13
  • Waltham Forest
  •                31,900
  •                               5,714
17.91
186.51
  •                9,698.52
55.4
14
  • Wandsworth
  •                38,500
  •                               5,000
12.99
237.09
  •              12,328.68
61.6
15
  • Barking and Dagenham
  •                13,200
  •                               4,969
37.64
171.05
  •                8,894.60
44.2
16
  • Greenwich
  •                19,000
  •                               4,685
24.66
169.31
  •                8,804.12
41.2
17
  • Merton
  •                19,400
  •                               4,548
23.44
144.25
  •                7,501.00
34.1
18
  • Lambeth
  •                33,300
  •                               4,403
13.22
211.4
  •              10,992.80
48.4
19
  • Havering
  •                  9,800
  •                               4,113
41.97
163.48
  •                8,500.96
35.0
20
  • Hounslow
  •                22,900
  •                               4,062
17.74
193.13
  •              10,042.76
40.8
21
  • Westminster
  •                42,000
  •                               3,963
9.44
249.77
  •              12,988.04
51.5
22
  • Bexley
  •                12,400
  •                               3,834
30.92
165.62
  •                8,612.24
33.0
23
  • Bromley
  •                20,800
  •                               3,673
17.66
161.57
  •                8,401.64
30.9
24
  • Camden
  •                27,900
  •                               3,405
12.20
240.04
  •              12,482.08
42.5
25
  • Tower Hamlets
  •                43,500
  •                               3,075
7.07
257.78
  •              13,404.56
41.2
26
  • Kingston upon Thames
  •                17,100
  •                               2,881
16.85
217.48
  •              11,308.96
32.6
27
  • Sutton
  •                14,800
  •                               2,321
15.68
180.86
  •                9,404.72
21.8
28
  • Richmond upon Thames
  •                15,100
  •                               2,133
14.13
200.17
  •              10,408.84
22.2
29
  • Islington
  •                31,400
  •                               2,087
6.65
236.34
  •              12,289.68
25.6
30
  • Hammersmith and Fulham
  •                21,500
  •                               1,861
8.66
227.65
  •              11,837.80
22.0
31
  • Kensington and Chelsea
  •                19,200
  •                               1,779
9.27
240.65
  •              12,513.80
22.3
32
  • Southwark
  •                29,100
  •                               1,722
5.92
209.89
  •              10,914.28
18.8
33
  • City of London
  •  
  •                                    29
  •  
267.89
  •              13,930.28
0.4
  •  
    Paul Maloney, GMB Regional Secretary said:

    "Housing benefit was introduced by the Tories in the 1980s as an alternative to providing genuinely affordable council housing for lower paid households. There was a prejudice against councils providing housing at genuinely affordable rents for lower paid households.

    "Housing benefits has proved to be an incredibly expensive alternative to the direct provision of council housing for lower paid households, and is often paid straight on by the recipient to bolster the profits of private landlords.

    "Any rational approach to policy would seek to reverse this way of paying to house lower paid households. It is high time that this be widely recognised and that national and local government end the prejudice against council housing.

    "A change of policy to shift away from housing benefits to direct provision of council housing is long overdue. It will save money in the long run too.

    "It is 100 years ago that national government made grants available for local government to build huge council estates right across the country. This spirit needs to be found again for a crash programme for new council homes.

    "At the same time there has to be an end to the urge to demolish existing council estates and replace them with up market private homes."

    ENDS

    Contact: Michelle Gordon 07866 369259 or GMB Southern Press Office 07970 114762

    Notes to Editors
     
    Sources: 
    (1) GLA: housing tenure by borough tables created by aggregating the Annual Population Survey household dataset.https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/housing-tenure-borough 
     
    (2)DWP: Housing Benefit Statistics https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk

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