SCORE Annual Summary Report 2014-15

Annex

Household Type

Household type is determined using the age and economic status of household members. Children are defined as anyone under the age of 16 and individuals aged 16 and 17 whose economic status is "Student". Adults are defined as anyone aged 18-59 or aged 16 and 17 where their economic status is not "Student". Older people are defined as those aged 60 or more.

Economic Status of Household

Where a tenant interview was carried out the economic status of all members of the household is recorded.

The economic status of the household is determined by the economic status of the main tenant and, if present, their partner. Economic status categories are ranked from highest to lowest according to the following hierarchy:

• 'Work full-time'
• 'Work part-time'
• 'Work hours unknown'
• 'Training'
• 'Unemployed'
• 'Retired'
• 'At home'
• 'Student'
• 'Disabled/ Long-term sick'
• 'Other 16 and over'
• 'Missing/NA'

For households where the main tenant has no partner the economic status of the household is taken to be that of the main tenant. Where the main tenant has a partner and the partner has a higher ranked economic status than the main tenant then the partner's economic status is taken to be the economic status of the household.

Length of Void Period

The void period is calculated using the tenancy start date, the vacancy date and, if applicable, the repair completion date. In this context repairs are considered to be such that the property could not be occupied whilst they were being carried out so rendering it unavailable for letting. The void period was calculated from the completion date of those repairs to the start date of the next tenancy.

Properties were categorised as having no void period in the following circumstances:

• where the vacancy (or repair completion) date and the tenancy start date were the same date; or
• where the vacancy (or repair completion) date and the tenancy start date were consecutive dates.

Average weekly rent, Housing Benefit and Rent Affordability

The SCORE form asks for the rental cost of the property and whether this rent is paid on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis and over a 48, 50 or 52 week year. This information is then used to calculate the equivalent weekly rent for a 52 week year.

The amount of Housing Benefit a household can receive to pay their rent is calculated by considering the income of the household, the age and economic status of the household members and the weekly rent. Note that for all sources of income (including earnings and benefits) the weekly amount paid is recorded.

The amount of Housing Benefit payable is equal to weekly rent minus any deductions for non-dependent household members minus an excess which is based on a household's income.

Where a household has the economic status "Full-time Employed" and they are eligible for Housing Benefit then their rent is considered to be unaffordable.

Changes to Housing Benefit eligibility - Spare room subsidy

The removal of the spare room subsidy (often referred to as the bedroom tax) means that some households (who are deemed to have more bedrooms than they require) have lost some or all of their Housing Benefit from April 2013. The number of bedrooms required by a household is mainly determined by the age, sex and relationships of people within a household.

Information on age, sex and relationship of householders is collected through SCORE and this enables us to fairly accurately re-create the calculations used to determine how many bedrooms a household requires. However there are some other factors which affect whether the spare room subsidy is removed (for example the presence of carers or children who can't share rooms because of a medical condition) and these cannot be accounted for using SCORE information.