Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates per Broad Rental Market Area (BRMA), 2012-2024

LHA rates are set relative to the costs of private rented housing in each BRMA with separate rates by property size (room in a shared property, and then by number of bedrooms for self-contained property up to a maximum of four bedrooms). The rates are calculated based on evidence of market rents for current tenancies collected by the relevant government agency in each country. Evidence collected across the twelve months of the year to September is used to set rates for the following financial year (April to March). Rents which are supported by LHA are removed from the database where possible before calculation of market rent levels. From April 2011, the maximum LHA rate was reduced from the median rent for each BRMA to the 30th centile rent. From 2012 onwards, limits were placed on the annual increases in LHA rates. LHA rates were restored to the 30th centile in April 2020 with the onset of the pandemic, but then saw annual increases again restricted in subsequent years, until restoration again in April 2024. There is also national maximum cap for LHA rates although this tends to have an impact only in Central and Inner London where rents are highest.

Annual increases were limited as follows:

• in 2012, there was no increase;

• in 2013, increases were limited to the Consumer Price Index;

• in 2014 and 2015, the maximum increase was 1%;

• from 2016 to 2019, there were no increases for four years;

• in 2020, rates were reset to the 30th centile with the onset of the pandemic but still subject to the national maximum level (impacting some areas in Central and Inner London only);

• from 2021 to 2023, there were again no increases for three years; and

• in 2024, rates were again reset to the 30th centile but still subject to the national maximum level.”

BRMA boundaries were collected from publicly available datasets and linked to postcode centroids from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Updated version May 2024: (https://doi.org/10.20394/yqq2vjva)

This dataset contains the weekly Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates for Broad Rental Market Areas (BRMAs) across Great Britain from 2012/13 to 2023/24. LHA is a means-tested housing benefit for households in the private rented sector. BRMAs are the spatial units used for the administration of LHA. Since 2011, there have been 192 BRMAs in total (England: 152; Scotland: 18; Wales: 23; but note that one BRMA spans England and Wales). LHA rates set the maximum level of housing benefit a household can receive in a given BRMA and is dependent on the size of their property. The dataset also includes estimates of the 30th centile rent for each BRMA as this is calculated separately by the Government agencies as a reference point for LHA.

The latest data included are for 2023/24. There are no 30th centile rents for any part of Britain for 2012/13. For 2022/23 and 2023/24, there are a very small number of cases where 30th centile rents are missing in Wales.

Online open access sources (published by the UK Government) and FoI request.