The Government is acutely aware of the difficulties and challenges that the rising cost of living is placing on households and, with this in mind, introduced a suite of measures in Budget 2023 to assist households, and those on lower and fixed incomes in particular, in meeting these challenges. This includes tenants in local authority social homes who are largely shielded from the recent significant increases in rents impacting renters in the private market.
Notwithstanding, local authorities offer facilities to support tenants who are experiencing financial hardship. A local authority tenant who has experienced a reduction in household income may seek a review of the rent payable to take account of the changes circumstances. Local authorities may also agree, where payment of rent would give rise to hardship for a household, to accept a lesser sum from the tenant for a specified period.