asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the provision of discounted travel rates to persons in receipt of income support or other benefits would lead to any withdrawal of that benefit or other financial penalty.

Any scheme to provide discounted travel for benefit claimants would be treated for the purposes of income support, income-based jobseeker's allowance and pension credit as akin to a payment in kind. As the rules for these benefits fully disregard these types of payments, the travel concession being proposed by the London Assembly would not have an impact on benefit entitlement.