Database: Households on Universal Credit
Field: Local Housing Allowance indicator
Description
For Universal Credit claimants living in private rented accommodation, the amount of Housing element they receive is based on the local housing allowance in their broad rental market area (BRMA). This variable indicates whether the Local Housing Allowance fully covers the household rent.
Classification
Applicable to: All Households
Local Housing Allowance indicator can take the following values:
Total number of categories: 3
This data is not available prior to April 2019.
Quality Statement
The "Not applicable" classification is assigned to all households where the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) is not applicable, such as those outside of the private rented sector.
"Not available" is assigned to a minor number of cases where the information is missing.
After an investigation of data on the LHA indicator, it was discovered that a number of households affected by the national LHA cap were incorrectly identified as having an LHA that covered their rent. The issue was resolved in August 2021 and these households were returned to their correct category.
In November 2023, it was discovered that there was a data quality issue affecting Scottish Local Housing Allowance rates before June 2021. The issue was resolved in January 2024 with accurate data now being used for the previously affected regions and time period.
The elements of Universal Credit associated with a claim have been identified based on the current circumstances of the household according to the latest records held by the department.