Local Housing Allowance Calculator

The short answer

• Local Housing Allowance (LHA) is the most rent Universal Credit or Housing Benefit pays for a private tenancy.
• There is a rate for each of 200 areas: 152 in England, 18 in Scotland, 22 in Wales and 8 in Northern Ireland, for shared accommodation and for one to four bedrooms.
• Universal Credit uses its own monthly rates; Housing Benefit uses weekly rates.
• Rates were reset in April 2024 and have been frozen since, including for 2026/27.
• Single people under 35 without children usually get only the shared accommodation rate.
• If your rent is higher than your LHA, you pay the difference from other income.

What Local Housing Allowance is

LHA is not a separate benefit. It is a limit used inside Universal Credit and Housing Benefit. Rent officers collect private rents in each area (the Valuation Office Agency in England, and the rent officer services of the Scottish and Welsh Governments) and the rates were last set at the 30th percentile of local rents, so in theory the cheapest three in ten homes of the right size are affordable.

It applies to most private tenancies. It does not apply to council or housing association homes, where your actual rent is used instead, subject to the removal of the spare room subsidy. Some supported and exempt accommodation is also outside the LHA rules.

Broad Rental Market Areas

England is divided into 152 Broad Rental Market Areas, or BRMAs, Scotland into 18 and Wales into 22. Each covers a town or city and the places around it where people could reasonably live and still reach the same services. They do not follow council boundaries: a council can be split between two areas, and an area can cover several councils.

Your area depends on your address, not your landlord’s. Your council or the Valuation Office Agency’s LHA Direct service can tell you which one you are in.

How many bedrooms you are allowed

You are allowed one bedroom for each of the following people or pairs:

• an adult couple;
• any other person aged 16 or over;
• two children of the same sex under 16;
• two children under 10, whatever their sex;
• any other child.

The rules always use the fewest rooms possible, so the calculator pairs children in the way that gives the smallest number. LHA stops at four bedrooms, however large the household.

Bedroom examples

The girl could share with the 7-year-old boy instead, as both are under 10, but the 12-year-old would then need his own room. Either way the answer is three.

The shared accommodation rate

A single person under 35 with no children usually gets the shared accommodation rate, the cost of a room in a shared house, even if they rent a self-contained flat. In Bristol that is £511.33 a month on Universal Credit (£117.68 a week on Housing Benefit), compared with £900 a month (£207.12 a week) for one bedroom.

You get the one-bedroom rate instead if you are under 35 and:

• a care leaver under 25;
• getting the daily living part of PIP, or the middle or higher care rate of DLA;
• aged 25 or over and have spent at least three months in a homeless hostel and accepted support;
• an ex-offender managed under multi-agency public protection arrangements;
• a victim of domestic abuse or modern slavery, in some circumstances.

A couple of any age, and anyone with a child, always gets at least the one-bedroom rate.

Extra bedrooms

You may need evidence, such as a letter from a doctor or social worker. Each extra bedroom still counts towards the four-bedroom maximum.

Rates around Great Britain

Rates vary widely. A one-bedroom home in Central London is covered more than four times as much as one in North Powys.

Universal Credit has its own monthly rates, set from monthly rents rather than converted from the weekly ones. They are close to the weekly rate × 52 ÷ 12 but often a little higher. The two-bedroom rate in Central Greater Manchester is £201.37 a week for Housing Benefit, which would be £872.60 a month, but Universal Credit pays up to £875.00.

The freeze and what it means

1. April 2020Rates reset to the 30th percentile

   Then frozen in cash terms.

2. April 2024Rates reset again

   Based on September 2023 rents.

3. April 2025Frozen

   No increase despite rising rents.

4. April 2026Frozen for 2026/27

   The same rates still apply.

Because private rents have kept rising since the rates were set, fewer homes fall within them each year. Many tenants now have a gap between their rent and the help they get, even in the cheapest homes in their area.

If your rent is more than the LHA

If the children are a boy and a girl and one is 10 or over, they need separate rooms. The three-bedroom rate of £1,300.00 a month then applies and the whole rent is covered.

Ways to deal with a shortfall:

• apply to your council for a Discretionary Housing Payment;
• check whether anyone qualifies for an extra bedroom or a shared-rate exemption;
• ask your landlord whether the rent includes services that are not eligible, which may be separated;
• consider a cheaper home, or one in a nearby area with a higher rate.

LHA on Universal Credit and Housing Benefit

Most working-age tenants claim help with rent through Universal Credit, which pays the housing element monthly and usually to you. You can ask for it to be paid straight to your landlord if you are in arrears or would struggle to manage. Pensioners claim Housing Benefit from their council instead, which uses the weekly LHA rates. Universal Credit has its own monthly rates for the same areas, often a few pounds a month higher than the weekly rate converted.

On Universal Credit, each other adult living with you may reduce the housing element by £96.55 a month. On Housing Benefit, a similar non-dependant deduction applies at weekly rates linked to their income.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland use the same bedroom rules and the same freeze, but their rates are set locally: by the Scottish Government for 18 areas, Rent Officers Wales for 22 and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive for 8. Choose the country in the calculator to see them.

Some areas cover several councils. Lothian includes the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian and Midlothian, and Highland and Islands runs from Moray to Shetland. West Cheshire crosses into Wales but uses the English rates. Northern Ireland’s areas go by postcode: Belfast is BT1 to BT16, for example, and South East covers Lisburn, Bangor, Newtownards and Downpatrick. There, Universal Credit is normally paid twice a month and the housing element goes straight to your landlord. Scotland gives Discretionary Housing Payments to fully offset the removal of the spare room subsidy for social tenants, and Northern Ireland has its own welfare mitigation payments for it.

Paying your landlord directly

Universal Credit normally pays the housing element to you, as part of your monthly payment, and you pay your landlord. You can ask for a managed payment to your landlord if you are struggling to pay rent, have debts or have a health condition that makes managing money difficult. Your landlord can also ask for one if you owe at least two months’ rent.

On Housing Benefit, the council can pay your landlord directly if you are vulnerable or have eight weeks or more of arrears.

Finding a home within the LHA

Before you sign a tenancy, check the rate for the number of bedrooms you are allowed in that area. A larger home than your entitlement does not raise the rate. A smaller one is fine: you get the lower of your rent and your rate.

Areas next to each other can have quite different rates, so the boundary matters. A family allowed two bedrooms in Outer South London gets up to £1,196.69 a month, against £872.60 in Central Greater Manchester. Councils can help with deposits and rent in advance, and some run schemes that match tenants with landlords who accept benefit claimants.

Changes you must report

Tell the Department for Work and Pensions or your council straight away if:

• someone moves in or out, or a child turns 10 or 16;
• you turn 35, which ends the shared accommodation rate;
• your rent or service charges change;
• you move to a different address, even in the same area.

Some changes raise your rate. Others lower it, and a late report can lead to an overpayment that you have to repay.

Challenging a decision

If you think your bedroom entitlement or your area is wrong, ask for a mandatory reconsideration within one month on Universal Credit, or ask the council to look again on Housing Benefit. You can then appeal to an independent tribunal. Common errors include missing an overnight carer, a disabled child who cannot share, or a shared-rate exemption.

For landlords

If you let to tenants on benefits, the LHA tells you the most rent their benefit will cover. A tenant can still pay more from other income, but rents above the rate carry a higher risk of arrears. You can ask for a managed payment if your tenant falls two months behind on Universal Credit.

How rates are set

Rent officers at the Valuation Office Agency collect details of private lettings in each area: the rent, the number of bedrooms and whether the property is shared. They exclude homes let to people on benefits so the rates reflect the open market. When rates are reset, each one is set at the 30th percentile, meaning three in ten local rents for that size are at or below it.

Every rate is also limited by a national maximum for its size, which is why several central London areas share identical rates, such as £331.39 a week for one bedroom. In some areas the rate for a shared room is less than half the one-bedroom rate.

Young people and the shared rate in practice

The shared rate is designed for a room in a house where you share a kitchen, bathroom or living room. If you rent a self-contained studio or one-bedroom flat while under 35, you still get only the shared rate unless an exemption applies, so the gap can be large. In Bristol it is £89.44 a week between the shared and one-bedroom rates.

Your rate changes to the one-bedroom rate from your 35th birthday, or as soon as you have a child living with you or move in with a partner. Tell the Department for Work and Pensions when this happens.

Key numbers for 2026/27