Shropshire's private landlords receive £53 million in housing benefit payments

The figures, released by the GMB, ranked Telford & Wrekin Council ninth in the West Midlands for benefit payments to landlords, paying out nearly £29 million.

Shropshire Council, which covers the rest of the county, paid out nearly £24 million and was ranked 10th in the table.

The union also revealed that 20 organisations received nearly £6 million in housing benefit payments during the 2013/14 financial year.

It issued a request under the Freedom of Information Act requesting the amounts of money each local authority paid directly to landlords.

Ok Let, a letting agency based in Madeley, was the biggest beneficiary, taking more than a million pounds. Peter Richardson Estates, run by former Telford & Wrekin Council housing officer Peter Richardson, came second, receiving £657,056.

Of the 20 biggest recipients of housing benefits, 17 were private companies or individuals, receiving a total of just over £4.5 million.

Telford & Wrekin Council was third in the table, receiving £651,947. Telford Christian Council, which runs a special housing scheme for the young and homeless, received £485,867, while the YMCA took £154,140.

Kelly Davies, who is joint owner of Peter Richardson Estates, said the company specialised in clients on housing benefit, and that the majority of the properties it managed were ex-council homes.

"We have quite a close relationship with the council," said Miss Davies.

She added that there had been an increase in demand since Telford & Wrekin ended the Choose Your Home partnership with a number of housing associations last year.

"We have found an increase in people looking for housing through the private market," she added.

David Rex Thomas was the highest-placed individual landlord named on the list, taking £178,459 in housing benefit payments, making him the sixth biggest recipient of housing benefit payments in the West Midlands.

John Singh received £113,846, while Mrs G Pickles took £92,883.

The figures relate only to money paid directly to landlords, which the union says accounts for only a minority of the amount paid in housing benefit. But the union used the data to calculate the total amount paid out to landlords in Telford, which it estimated at £28.91 million. The estimate for Shropshire was £23.74 million.

Shropshire and Powys councils declined to provide details of who received the biggest sums in their areas.

Funding for housing benefit comes from central government, but is administered by local councils.

Joe Morgan, GMB regional secretary for the West Midlands, hit out at the figures, saying the taxpayer was subsidising buy-to-let empires.

He said: "This research lifts the lid on the mainly secret payments to landlords who are the real winners from Britain's welfare system."

Mr Morgan said annually the British taxpayer gave £9.2 billion to private landlords through housing benefit.

He added: "The abuse of housing benefit by private landlords has gone on for too long.

"Millionaires take sackloads of cash for exploiting those in housing need or stuck on low pay."

Mr Morgan said that 40 per cent of former council housing stock which had been sold through the right-to-buy scheme had ended up in the hands of private landlords. He warned that the Conservatives' pledge to give housing association tenants the right to buy their homes at a discount would lead to more properties falling into the private sector.