Thank you for contacting me about Local Housing Allowance (LHA).
Valuation Office Agency Rent Officers determine Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates used to calculate Housing Benefit and the Housing element of Universal Credit (UC) for tenants renting from private landlords.
LHA rates are based on private market rents paid by tenants in the broad rental market area. This is the area within which a person might reasonably be expected to live. These can be searched via: https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/search.aspx
In April 2020, the LHA rate was increased to the 30th percentile of local market rents for recipients of UC and Housing Benefit. This represented an investment of around £1 billion and provided 1.5 million households with £600 more housing support per year than they would have otherwise received. I welcome that this increase has been maintained in cash terms for 2021/22 and 2022/23.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.