Housing benefit enquiry
Case reference FOI2026/01072
Received 24 May 2026
Published 24 June 2026
Request
I would like to request information held by the council relating to “Exempt Accommodation” (EA).
Unless specified otherwise, please provide the following information for each financial year from 2018/19 to 2025/26 inclusive, or for the latest date for which data is available:
1. Total Housing Benefit expenditure
For each financial year, please provide the total amount of Housing Benefit expenditure (sometimes referred to as “enhanced housing benefit”) paid in respect of all claims that meet the definition of Exempt Accommodation under Housing Benefit regulations.
2. Number of successful claims
Please provide the number of successful Housing Benefit claims relating to residents living in Exempt Accommodation.
3. Number of exempt accommodation properties
Please provide the total number of properties being used as Exempt Accommodation within the council’s area.
4. Breakdown of provider types
For the properties identified in Question 3, please provide a breakdown by provider type, including:
a) Number of Registered Providers / Housing Associations (registered with the Regulator of Social Housing)
b) Number of registered charities only
c) Number of Community Interest Companies (CICs)
d) Number of Private Limited Companies
e) Number owned by the council
f) Number classified as other provider types (please specify the type)
5. Providers of Exempt Accommodation
Please provide a list of all organisations or individuals operating or registered as providers of Exempt Accommodation within the council’s area as of the date of this request.
6. Weekly Housing Benefit Amounts
Regarding the weekly Housing Benefit paid per resident in Exempt Accommodation, please provide for each financial year:
a) Highest weekly amount paid
b) Average weekly amount paid
c) Lowest weekly amount paid
7. Average length of stay
Please provide the average length of stay for residents living in Exempt Accommodation.
8. Assessment of new providers
Please provide details of the council’s current process for assessing new providers of Exempt Supported Accommodation before Housing Benefit payments are approved. This may include any due diligence, quality assurance, safeguarding checks, inspections, referral pathways, or standards applied.
Response
With regard to the following questions – 1, 3, 4, 5, 6a, 6c – please see the attached spreadsheet.
With regard to the following questions – 2, 6b, 7:
These properties are included in the payment of Housing Benefit to either council tenancies or housing association /exempt properties. They are not separately identified in the payment process so to identify these pieces of information would be a manual exercise and would involve someone looking up each property, checking to see the period of residency and how much was paid for each claim. Some of the hostel providers we have within the area can see a change in tenants as frequently as two or three times a week. We are not required to create new information in order to answer a Freedom of Information request, but in any case I estimate this exercise would greatly exceed the cost limit set out in Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I must therefore ask that you consider this email our notice of refusal as required by Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act for these two questions.
8. Assessment of new providers
Please provide details of the council’s current process for assessing new providers of Exempt Supported Accommodation before Housing Benefit payments are approved. This may include any due diligence, quality assurance, safeguarding checks, inspections, referral pathways, or standards applied.
New providers are asked to complete a standard questionnaire regarding the facility. We also request a rent breakdown and any further information once the questionnaire is completed such as details of staffing, care packages, care providers etc.
Yours sincerely,
FOI Team
Guildford Borough Council
Documents
This is Guildford Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
You can browse our other responses or make a new FOI request.