Support for Mortgage Interest waiting period reduced

The waiting period for Support for Mortgage Interest is to be reduced from nine months to three months, with changes to the zero earnings rules, under plans listed for spring 2023¹. The change appears in a timetable of benefit changes published by Turn2us, an independent charity, which states that the rules for Support for Mortgage Interest will change in that period¹.

The timetable sets out the change in a single line: "Waiting period to be reduced from 9 months to 3 months. Changes to zero earnings rules."¹ It does not give the exact date the new waiting period takes effect, the detail of the revised zero earnings rules, or the rates of Support for Mortgage Interest payable¹. Those points have not been reported in the material published so far¹.

The same timetable lists other changes across 2023 and 2024. The Administrative Earnings Threshold rose in January 2023 to £617 per month for single people and £988 per month for couples¹. In April 2023 most benefits and the state pension are to be uprated by 10.1%, and the benefit cap is to be uprated by the same amount¹. Extra cost of living payments of £900 are listed for people on means-tested benefits, £300 for people over pension age and £150 for people receiving disability benefits such as Personal Independence Payment or Attendance Allowance¹.

The timetable also states that the Department for Work and Pensions intends to move all tax credits only claimants onto Universal Credit during 2023/2024¹. In Scotland, the Scottish Government intends to have transferred all recipients of child Disability Living Allowance to Scottish Child Disability Payment by spring 2023, and Scottish Carers Assistance is to begin in late 2023 and be fully rolled out in spring 2024¹. A new Low Income Winter Heating Assistance benefit was to start being paid in Scotland in February 2023¹.

Why it matters for households

Support for Mortgage Interest is a loan paid to help with mortgage interest for people on certain benefits, and the waiting period is the time a claimant must wait before payments can start. Cutting that wait from nine months to three months would shorten the gap during which a household on a qualifying benefit receives no help with its mortgage interest, and would bring the start of support forward by around six months. The change is listed for spring 2023, so it applies to claims in that period rather than to earlier ones¹. The timetable does not say whether the change applies to people already partway through a waiting period when it takes effect, and that has not been reported¹.

The separate change to the zero earnings rules affects how earnings are treated when working out entitlement, but the timetable does not set out what the new rules are¹. Households affected are those claiming a benefit that qualifies them for Support for Mortgage Interest, and the practical effect depends on the revised rules, which have not been published in the material available¹.

What happens next

The Support for Mortgage Interest changes are listed for spring 2023, with no exact date given¹. The April 2023 uprating of most benefits and the state pension by 10.1%, and the same uprating of the benefit cap, follow¹. In-work conditionality changes are listed for September 2023¹. The transfer of tax credits only claimants to Universal Credit is listed for 2023/2024¹.