Francis, I don't know the answer to that and I'm not sure if it is something that can readily (or at all) be answered given GDPR and all that.Plus 'benefits' covers a lot of different cases, from Job seekers to child benefits to PIP etc and of course pensions. I am no expert and it is a complex area, but there are mechanisms to support those who are negatively affected via the benefit etc system.Obviously there are many people in council housing who are short of money, but if you go around an estate there are some who appear to be prosperous eg with expensive cars etc. This annoys people who see it as unfair.My point is that it really is unfair. As a councillor I regularly help people (or try) with housing troubles. I have been supporting one small family for well over a year and finally they escaped from a disgusting privately rented small room with shared even more disgusting bathroom and kitchen. I was really shocked that people were having to live like that with a small child.We could do nothing until the bailiffs appeared (which took more than a year after they were first given notice, partly because the courts can't cope). They were put in B&B, then in temporary accommodation in SLough (not ideal because dad was working in Shepherd's Bush and son was in a Brentford nursery) but they have now been offered a new 2BR council flat in Feltham, which I think they have taken. The rent is £213.25 pw. That's £924 pm and the cheapest currently on Zoopla is £1500. The LHA rate is £299.18pw ie £1296 pm. This is what the central government would allow benefits to cover to pay to private landlords from benefits (which also explains why private landlords are not eager).That family have no short term possibility to afford private rental and because they are partly on Universal Credit (his job is low paid) private landlords wouldn't contemplate letting to them anyway.I advised them to take the council flat. It is really a no-brainer even if you set aside that they have effectively a home for life as long as they pay rent etc and if (as I expect) they will have resources in a few years to buy the flat themselves they will get £133K discount - twice all the rent they have paid.If they failed to get a council place, they would have to find another £600 pm for a precarious private rental. They would get little or no support from benefits, just like evrybody else caught in that trap.On one occasion somebody I knew from Chiswick played what I think was a number on me. I believe (can't be sure) she had a place in a family home and a secure job, but she eventually got herself housed in a council flat having claimed to be homeless. I'm not a soft touch but I believed what she said, having known her and her family for many years, particularly after she was placed in a HMO well outside the borough where she shared the house with two druggies and had to bring her daughter to school here and herself to her job. This would not be an attractive option!You're right it would be a problematic thing for a Labour government. Also, bear in mind that when George Osborne was Chancellor he insisted that council rents had to be REDUCED by 1% per annum. That is I think the most cynical political move I have ever seen - buying a few votes by bundling more pressure on (Mainly Labour) local authorities which were already suffering with enormous reduction in central funding at a time when authorities could not put C Tax up by more than 2%.At some point, a government will have to bite the housing bullet, as well as the social care bullet (though of course Boris Johnson fixed that a few years ago, but it seems to be still with us).
Guy Lambert ● 7d