Help with housing benefit please?

[sjc1985]

Sorry if this is in the wrong place...

I currently have no money other than my tax credits and child benefit go into my bank account weekly which means that I get the majority of my rent paid for me... I am being given a settlement on my house insurance (I was robbed blind last year) and it will be £1900 in cheque form, if this is in my bank, will it affect my housing benefit?

Thanks

Sarah -x-

[Joa]

Sarah; if no-one answeres your question earlier- I will, but on Friday because I have left my "bible" at work, OK?

[LittleMissSunshine]

Hi Sarah

The DWP website says the following
Savings over £3,000 (£6,000 if you or your partner are aged 60 or over) affect how much Housing Benefit you can get. From 10 April 2006, this will increase to £6,000 for all. (DWP - Services and benefits - Housing Benefit)

So as you are below this amount, you should not be affected by it. Unless you have savings and with this the total amount goes over it.

Hope this helps

LMS

[Joa]

LMS ; this is absolutely correct when it comes to savings. Sarah however is going to receive a payment. What she needs to know is the insurance payment going to be as income or capital and is it going to be disregarded, partially disregarded or taken into calculation in whole.

So, there is a substantial difference between savings, income and capital.

[LittleMissSunshine]

Cheers for correcting me Joa

Its difficult to find any clarity on the Goverment website, they just talk about changes if you get a job, home situation changes etc. which i didnt see this falling under, and after that its only talk about savings so that was my best guess

As i dont think this payment is to be linked to job, it is difficult to figure out where it goes. And of course any details you receive when you claim doesnt state anything about receiving payments .

But will it be that it will first fall under capital (my best guess) and if not spend than under savings if not used???? Could you also clarify if this goes for reclaiming bankcharges? If someone gets money from this do they than also have to notify about this?

Hope you can shed some light later this week.

Thanks,
LMS

[Joa]

LMS; I have been advising on housing and welfare benefits for 7 years now and still get confused like hell so I am not surprised that it can be frustrating to everybody else. I will get back to you and Sarah as soon as I am certain what's what.

[Joa]

Right, to answer Sarah question:
any sum paid as a result of damage or loss of the home or any personal possession, for example through fire, flood or burglary, and which is intended for its repair or replacement should be disregarded for 26 weeks or, if it is reasonable in the particular circumstances of the case, for a longer period decided by the LA. The disregarded period begins on the date the sum is received. The regulations you need to quote are: HB Sch 6 Para 10; CTB Sch 5 Para 10
After 26 weeks (or more, if you convince your HB office) the HB office may (or may not as they are usually snowed under) ask what happened to this capital. Therefore I would recommend that if you buy anything of substance that you keep the receipts or if you have any work done at home, keep the invoice etc.
The amount you were talking about should be disregarded anyway if you are of working age claimant as it's below the threshold of £6000 (and the payment is received after 10 April 2007 or £3000 if received before)- in line with LMS advice about thresholds for savings.

Keeping in mind that the amount should be disregarded, I would still recommend that you keep invoices or receipts, even if you had to buy stuff before the insurance payment has reached you.

As for the bank charges refunds- I will find out.

[Joa]

Refunds of bank charges are apparently being treated in line with regulations about capital. That is: less then £6000- disregarded, between £6000 and £16000- treated as having an income from this capital equivalent to £1 a week for each multiple of £250. This income is known as tariff income. For example: A claimant with capital totalling £6,290 is treated as having a tariff income of £2 a week. The table of tariff income can be found at http://www.dwp.gov.uk/housingbenefit...x/bw1annxb.pdf

Therefore people who are in receipt of income assessed benefits like HB, CTB, IS, JSA should declare any bank charges refunds over £6000 to avoid overpayment problems or fraud allegations.

There is a legal requirement to declare this capital so please take it seriously as when asked for bank statements during the next claim review, questions will be asked.

[LittleMissSunshine]

Thanks for sorting this out Joa, I didnt have much to get back regarding the bankcharges, but I also asked for other users on this site.
Is it an option that you put it as a sticky either here or under general bankcharges?
It is really usefull information and its something probably a lot of people forget to think about (I did)

Thanks for your help
LMS

[Joa]

LMS- I thought it may be useful so I asked karnevil, the site admin, to think about spreading this info somehow.

[fatmankevin]

Hi i am on income suppoert and i do recieve houseing benifit
but my queastion is as follows my landlord rent is £500 per month and the benifit office payes £350 i have to pay the other £150 i was told to day that my landlord is putting my rent up to £550 as the interist has gone up and have been showed proof of this
what i would like to know is the houseing benifit obliged to give the rent increase as i cant afford to and fear that i will be made homeless unless they pay the extra rent
i can no longer affored to supplemnt it i have 2 children and a wife to support on my benifit please advise what i can do.
thankyou fatmankevin

[Joa]

Hi there; HB doesn't have to take the whole rent into consideration. They will have a "standard" rent levels for your area and house size. This will be decided by the Rent Officer. It will be called an "eligible rent"- your "real rent" may be higher then the "eligible rent" Next, the HB office will look at your "eligible rent" and assess it against your income. That's how you have ended up paying your share of the rent.
The rent increase needs to be communicated to the HB office; send them a copy of the landlord's letter or new tenancy agreement with a covering letter in which you ask for two things: for the benefit to be re-assessed and for the Rent Officer to look at your rent again. In the same letter ask for application form for the Discretionary Housing Payments.
Please check this forum for threads on DHP-there was few recently. Also, find out if the rent increase is actually binding by reading http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...tml#post641972

[fatmankevin]

hi joa
thanks for the help will do in the morning what you have suggested
regards