Official Statistics

Statistical release: January to March 2020 (quarter 4, 2019 to 2020)

Updated 4 September 2020

Housing Benefit (HB) is an income related benefit that is intended to help meet housing costs for rented accommodation.

This summary contains statistics on the average time taken to process New HB Claims and Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims for this benefit (speed of processing). The average used is the mean and is measured in calendar days, rounded to the nearest day.

Annual data (covering the year up to each point) is included to illustrate the trend over time. Throughout this summary this will be referred to as Year end figures and are also measured in calendar days, rounded to the nearest day.

This release refers to data for Quarter 4 of the financial year 2019 to 2020 which is the end of the financial year. As a result, the accompanying ODS tables have an additional table showing statistics for the entire financial year 2019 to 2020.

1. Main stories

The main stories are:

• the volume of New HB Claims has remained stable, increased demand for HB services from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic would not be reflected in this release – the volume of Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims continued to decrease

• the average time taken to process a New HB Claim during quarter 4 of the financial year 2019 to 2020 was 17 calendar days – this is 2 days lower than in the same quarter of 2018 to 2019 and the lowest it has been for that quarter

• the average time taken to process a Change of Circumstances to an existing HB Claim during quarter 4 of the financial year 2019 to 2020 was 3 calendar days – this is the same number of days as quarter 4 of 2018 to 2019 and the lowest it has been for that quarter

2. COVID-19

This summary contains statistics on the number of New HB Claims and Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims for the period from January 2020 to March 2020.

Due to COVID-19, there have been operational emergency measures and policy changes that may affect future releases of data.

Local Housing Allowance

Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates have increased. LHA rates determine the financial support renters in the private sector are entitled to. They have increased to the 30th percentile of rents within a local area for each bedroom size up to a maximum of 4 bedrooms. These changes have been implemented from April 2020 for Universal Credit and HB claimants

Working Tax Credit

Working Tax Credit (WTC) has been increased by £20 per week in response to the pandemic and will be operational from 6 April 2020 until 4 April 2021. This has resulted in the Additional Earnings disregard for Housing Benefit also increasing by £20 per week in line with this change

Any impact of these changes would be reflected from the next HB Speed of Processing Statistics which will cover from April to June 2020 and will be released on 28 October 2020.

3. What you need to know

National, Official and Experimental Statistics are produced in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and the Code of Practice for Statistics (the Code). This release contains Official Statistics on Speed of Processing of HB Claims for quarter 4, 2019 to 2020. They are compiled following the standards of trustworthiness, quality and public value set out within the Code.

The statistics are released quarterly in April, July, October and January and are sourced from data originally collected via administrative systems (Single Housing Benefit Extract).

The statistics show Speed of Processing of New HB Claims and Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims. Volumes of New HB Claims and Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims are also included here for context. The total days to process are included in supporting detailed tables that can be viewed in the collection of Housing Benefit speed of processing statistics, including a breakdown at Local Authority (LA) level.

Genuine variations between months can occur at a LA level. For example, some of these are caused by time limited issues or localised changes in operational policy. Hence, figures for individual LAs should be interpreted with care.

Quarterly totals may not be entirely consistent with monthly figures, as any LAs that do not have data for every month of the quarter are not included in the quarterly breakdowns. Year end figures include data over the previous 12 months, but there may be inconsistencies where LAs do not have available data for the period.

From April 2013, Universal Credit (UC) was introduced. The process began with single claimants and was expanded to other claimant types via the UC Full Service (UCFS). The UCFS rollout was completed in December 2018 and it is now available in every Jobcentre across the UK.

Read the rollout schedule for Full Service. UCFS implementation dates for each Local Authority are provided in the supporting tables for this release.

Read the background information note for further information on the methodology and the quality of the data.

4. New HB Claims and Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims

LAs process on average a greater number of Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims than New HB Claims and this difference is reflected at the Great Britain level in the following table.

Figure 1: New HB Claims and Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims processed in Great Britain (Q4 2019 to 2020)

Type of claim	Number of claims processed (millions)
New HB Claims	0.1
Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims	4.6

During quarter 4 2019 to 2020 there were 0.1 million New HB Claims and 4.6 million Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims processed in Great Britain. For New HB Claims there has been an increase of 2,000 (3%) since the last quarter and a decrease of 26,000 (22%) since quarter 4 2018 to 2019.

The same pattern is present for Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims, with an increase of 3.1 million (218%) since last quarter and a decrease of 730,000 (14%) since quarter 4 2018 to 2019.

Figure 2: Number of Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims processed in Great Britain up to Q4 2019 to 2020

The darker lines in Figure 2 refer to quarterly figures on the volume of Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims.

The volume of Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims have decreased from 5.4 million in Q4 2011 to 2012 to 4.6 million in Q4 2019 to 2020. Year end figures shows considerable variability in the volume of Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims but since Q3 2015 to 2016 the volumes are following a downward trend.

Figure 3: Number of New HB Claims processed in Great Britain up to Q4 2019 to 2020

The darker lines in Figure 3 refer to quarterly figures on the volume of New HB Claims.

The volume of New HB Claims has decreased from 414,000 in Q4 2011 to 2012 to 93,000 in Q4 2019 to 2020. This follows a decreasing trend since 2011 to 2012, reflected in the Year end figures for New HB Claims.

These changes are due to the impact of the UC roll-out which has affected figures reported at a LA level. Both the volumes of New HB Claims and Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims are decreasing however, at different rates, because of the change in the types of claims being processed. It should be noted that care should be exercised when interpreting data at a LA level in the accompanying tables.

In quarter 4 each year, the volume of Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims increases sharply which is due to the end of the financial year before the uprating of rent.

At quarter 4 2019 to 2020:

• 98% of all HB Claims processed in Great Britain were Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims, which is the same for quarter 4 2018 to 2019

• 2% of all HB Claims were New HB Claims, which is the same for quarter 4 2018 to 2019

Figure 4 shows the proportions for both types of claims have been changing gradually since the introduction of UC. There is a moderate upward trend in the proportion of Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims, as reflected in the Year end figures, and Year end figures show there is a slight downward trend in the proportion for New HB Claims.

Figure 4: Proportion of New HB Claims and Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims processed in Great Britain up to Q4 2019 to 2020

5. Average HB Speed of Processing

Figure 5: Speed of Processing for New HB Claims and Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims processed in Great Britain up to Q4 2019 to 2020

The darker lines in Figure 5 refer to quarterly figures on the Average Speed of Processing for New HB Claims and Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims.

The average time taken to process a New HB Claim during quarter 4 of the financial year 2019 to 2020 was 17 calendar days. This is two days lower than in the same quarter of 2018 to 2019 and the lowest it has been for that quarter.

The Speed of Processing for a Change of Circumstances to an existing HB Claim during quarter 4 of the financial year 2019 to 2020 was 3 calendar days. This is the same number of days as quarter 4 of 2018 to 2019 and the lowest it has been for that quarter.

Year end figures peaked for New HB Claims in Q4 2011 to 2012 with an average of 24 calendar days but Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims peaked in Q1 2013 to 2014 with an average of 10 days. Speed of Processing has declined for both claims since that peak.

The number of Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims increases and the Speed of Processing decreases in quarter 4 each year. This is a period where LAs tend to allocate extra resources to process more Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims from tenants, which leads to a decrease in the Speed of Processing, and a comparatively lower average Speed of Processing for New HB Claims.

In the other quarters of the year, the volume of these Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims tends to decrease, which results in a higher average Speed of Processing.

Figure 6: Speed of Processing for New HB Claims and Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims processed in Great Britain up to March 2020

The darker lines in Figure 6 refer to monthly figures on the Average Speed of Processing for New HB Claims and Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims.

There was little monthly variation in processed volumes and Speed of Processing for New HB Claims and Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims during quarter 4 2019 to 2020.

The monthly average time taken to process New HB Claims was:

• 18 calendar days for January
• 16 calendar days for February
• 16 calendar days for March

Processing time for Year end figures at March 2020 for New HB Claims is 17 days which is four days less than the same month in 2019.

The monthly average time taken to process Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims was:

• 5 calendar days for January
• 2 calendar days for February
• 2 calendar days for March

The Year end figures for the processing time for Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims at March 2020 was one day less than for Year end March 2019. This shows little change in the processing time over this period.

6. Average HB Speed of Processing by Local Authority (LA)

Figure 7: Average Speed of Processing for a New HB Claim by LA

Figure 8: Average Speed of Processing for a Change of Circumstances to an existing HB Claim by LA

The maps show the Average Speed of Processing for a New HB Claim or Change of Circumstances to an existing HB Claim. The average number of days taken to process either a New HB Claim or a Change of Circumstances to an existing HB Claim varies widely between LAs. LAs that take longer to process a New HB Claim or Change of Circumstances to an existing HB Claim being represented by a darker colour in the map.

On average a New HB Claim takes longer to process than a Change of Circumstances to an existing HB Claim. Detailed figures in the accompanying tables show greater variability for New HB Claims in comparison to Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims.

There could be different reasons or operational factors for the variations between the number of days that each LA takes to process a New HB Claim and a Change of Circumstances to an existing HB Claim.

7. Where to find out more

Historical data

The historical Housing Benefit & Council Tax Benefit Claims Administration Quarterly Performance Data which is available to 2007 to 2008 are based on clerical returns made by individual local authorities. Breakdowns of New HB Claims and Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims Speed of Processing are available historically, and the New HB Claims Speed of Processing are broadly comparable over time. However, a change in definition for Change of Circumstances to existing HB Claims between 2007 to 2008 and 2009 to 2010 means that direct comparison of this element with Speed of Processing statistics is not meaningful.

Read the background information and frequently asked questions on statistics for the average time taken to process HB (previously right time indicator statistics) on statistics for the average time taken to process HB Claims (previously right time indicator).

Read the dwp statistical summary policies and statements for information about policies and procedures on DWP National and Official Statistics, including a Quality Guideline, Confidentiality and Access Policy Statement, Pre-release Access arrangements and Statement of Administrative Sources.

Other National and Official Statistics

The Department for Work and Pensions also publish the HB caseload National Statistics that have been used in this release. The statistics are published quarterly showing monthly caseload figures which are measured on a claimant basis.

HB caseload data is now only released on Stat-Xplore – statistics on HB caseload since August 2013 are available

HB caseload data tables to May 2018 only are available in spreadsheet format.

Read about other DWP National and Official Statistics.

Feedback

DWP welcomes feedback on all the statistical publications as it ensures that publications remain relevant to the users. Please use this HB questionnaire to send us any comments you may have on this publication. DWP will use the information to:

• target future consultations at interested users
• shape the future direction of statistics development to address user needs; help ensure value for money, whilst giving users a structured way of expressing their views

Completed questionnaires can be returned by e-mail to stats-consultation@dwp.gov.uk or by post to the following address:

Client Statistics Team, Data as Statistics, Department for Work and Pensions,
Room BP5201,
Benton Park Road,
Longbenton,
Newcastle upon Tyne, NE98 1YX

Users can also join the Stats UserNet “Welfare and Benefit Statistics” community. DWP announces items of interest to users via this forum, as well as replying to users’ questions.

Press enquiries should be directed to the DWP Press Office, telephone: 0203 267 5144.

Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed by email to:

Producer of this release: molly.lamb@dwp.gov.uk

Lead statistician: yolanda.ruizrodriguez@dwp.gov.uk

ISBN: 978-1-78659-248-4