Hello all, I'm hoping somebody can help. I'm having a lot of trouble with housing benefit claims. I work part time and my hours can change abut the amount of benefit they allow me never seems to reflect a drop in earnings only when my earnings go up do my benefits seem to drop. I'm trying to sort that and have been for a number of years. I give up sometimes then a situation arises that starts me on the campaign again. Anyway, the point I'm looking into now, alongside all the rest, is SALARY SACRIFICE. I have a bike through cycle sheme. I didn't look at the small print when I joined, all I knew was that you get a bike of your choice on hire from your employer for a year to travel to and from work. You sacrifice part of your salary to pay for it, which reduces your gross income . After the year you have the choice to extend the hire for a year or so for a % cost of the bike, then it's yours! That is a simplification. The question I have is this. If it reduces your gross pay, shouldn't this reduced amount be the figure benefits are calculated on after tax and NI? Pension is also taken from gross pay before tax, thus reducing gross pay again but housing benefit only allows 50% of your pension deduction to be allowed off your gross earnings. Is this the same with salary sacrifice such as cycle scheme or childcare vouchers? Part of the reason I'm asking is nobody at my local authority seems to know! I also read that more well off families are using salary sacrifice to reduce their gross income so they can still get child benefit. Any help very gratefully received. Thank you.

Hi, On the 25th of January i called my letting agency to report a faulty shower and was informed that my housing benefit payments had been reduced by £80 a month since October. I contacted the council office that deals with the claim and they told me it was because of an overpayment in housing benefit paid from April 2012 to September 2012 which they were claiming back. The council adviser i spoke to claimed it was because i was getting £71 contributory ESA, £28.15 work related component and £8.90 transitional addition during this time. Now here is where it gets confusing because from January 5th 2012 i had been appealing an Atos decision and was therefore only receiving the £71 basic rate of Esa. I won my appeal on July 2012 but i continued to receive the basic rate of esa until September 2012 when i finally had my payments restored and my money backdated. I've spoken to the council on three separate occasions regarding this matter and been told three different reasons. The latest reason given is that since the DWP backdated my money then they could backdate the overpayment. By far the worst part is that the council never informed me that they were going to reduce my housing benefit which has resulted in a large amount of rent arrears and the letting agency telling me that the landlord is considering serving me notice to quit. Any advice you guys can offer would be appreciated and if you need any more info, just ask.

Hi Many weeks ago now I got a letter and form asking for me to complete it saying I should be getting a phone call to discus my Incapacity benefit and the change over to esa, well this happened and I was told I would hear more after they had decided what needed to happen.. I am Disabled and in a wheelchair with ME & Fibromyalgia since '97 and bed ridden for many weeks at a time needing 24/7 including personal care. This I told them then weeks on from that I got a letter from my GP saying I had to make an appt for a form from the Benefits office to be completed by my GP.. We went through the form at length and he said that as I was in a wheelchair he couldn't see there being any problems with the claim, he didn't have to do a medical or anything like that just a chat about how my disability affected me on a daily basis and how much care I neeeded from my husband daily/nightly etc... We are now 4 weeks on from this and I still haven't heard anything, is this a normal amount of time or should I ring them up to discuss it? I am at a loss what to do for the best as I don't want to rock the boat if you know what I mean.. Many Thanks for your time in Reading this....

http://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/forthcomingchanges.htm

Ive started at Uni im 42 with two sons living at home in full time education. I am a tenant of South Kestecen council in Lincolnshire. I was on ESA for a back injury but ive lost that because atos wouldnt give me a second chance interview as i missed an appointment due to illness, so we are living off child benefit ,grants and my student loan and £5 a month CSA. Ive handed all of my documents into my local council to claim housing benefit and theyve calculated i have to pay £82 a week for an £83 rent !!! yet another lady who is on the SAME course and lives in the SAME town but is in a private let property, shes getting £350 housing benefit and shes only got 1 child ! how can this be so????????? its totaly unfair ive read that only my student lond and bursary from my university can be taken into account when calculating housing benefit, which y total nothing more than £6000 approx, can anyone advise me please as im worried sick and its affecting my health.

Had an interesting conversation tonight with somebody who works in the council benefits department where i live ,they told me that all complaints go through them inc head of department etc including complaints by letter to the head of department. They disagree with everything that is going on and they way it is done. So my opinion is to go through your MP with any complaints and they agreed. Don't blame the front line staff because they're doing what they're told.

I have just found out that my ex has been claiming to be a single parent, living with her grandmother since our son was born in Jan07!! She lived with me from Dec04 - Sept12 but claimed benefits; working tax etc as a single parent and even told them she did not know who the father was!! I find this unbelievable considering I am on the birth certificate, he has my surname and has lived with me since birth!! Now we have split up she is claiming that she has full legal custody of him and I really dont know where I stand??? At the moment I have him overnight 3 nights a wk and until 7pm after school 3 days a wk so I can take him to football, kickboxing and swimming lessons but I dont have anything official and as it stands I dont think I have any rights. I have my own house (which i had before we met) but she currently lives with her mother, her mothers b/f and her brother. My son sleeps in a double bed with his mother, which I am appalled at!! I am unsure on how to progress as if i report her, my son will obviously suffer from the financial penalties she incurs and also as it stands she hasn't tried to take my house but if I do try and contest custody and the CSA get involved then God knows what could happen!! Should I just keep my mouth shut??? I really dont know!!! Thanks for reading, any advice/support will be greatfuly recieved!! Haguilera

hi guys my daughter went to uni in september. i told the benefits and child benefit people, i also told the council she wasn;t here anymore.i recieved a review letter the otherday and filled it in as ussual honestly. i got a letter on saturday saying due to a change in circumstances my benefit entitlement has changed. this has scared me badly so i looked back at my letters and the last one from the dss was in may and my daughter was on it as i got money in my income support for her but then i checked the totals with my last payment and it appears that i am still getting the same money so believe that they have not stopped the payment for her. i never realised this till now and told them she was off to uni ages ago. on the review letter i didn't put her down so surely they can see that things have got muddled somehow. what do i do now i can't survive without the income support for the family, any advice would be fantastic thanks

Hi, Hope someone can give me some advice. I am age 19 Ive been claiming income support since 16 when I moved out, I also claimed housing benefit.In about November 2011 I got a job but I didnt inform the jobcentre and when I received a form from the job centre in march I put I wasnt working by accident but I was working, I had exams and was very stressed and busy and didnt even read the questions properly on the form. I stopped receiving benefits because I started uni. But from November 2011 till September 2012 I was receiving benefits and working. I didnt know that you had to inform them and thought that they would get in touch with me if I wasn't allowed to work and receive benefits (obviously I was very wrong). I had the interview today and explained that I didnt know the rules and apologized for putting the wrong answer in the form. But I am absolutely petrified in case I have to go to court.

We claimed housing benefit for a few months last year when is was unable to work, in my wife's name. Recently she has had letters from the council claiming that the benefit had been over paid and that the council were seeking to recover just over £1000 in overpaid benefit. Having checked the figures myself it seems we do owe the money, but the the council are being rather unreasonable imho in coming to an arrangement to repay. I was wondering what options the council have open to them to persue this further if I were to start simply sending them a monthly cheque for what is can afford, rather than continue to bang my head against a brick wall explaining that i just can't clear it in 3 months and feed my kids at the same time. Can they get a liability order and send in bailiffs as they do for council tax arrears or would they need to go for a CCJ where we'd get another chance to negotiate sensible monthly payments? TIA Mat

Sorry this is a long winded, but here goes. January 2012 we moved into our present home,which is a four bedroomed property. The landlord reduced the rent as he wanted to be paid HB directly to him. The rent was agreed at £825.00 pcm, LHA rate was £725.00 pcm, we pay a £100.00 pcm shortfall directly to him every month. The advertised rent for the property was £1100 so he reduced it by £275.00. He did say when we had been here 12 months the rent would go back up to the £1100.00. We weren't concerned about this because by then we were entitled to the four bedroomed LHA rate as our son reached 16 early in December and as our other two children, a boy and a girl are 9 and 12 we knew were entitled to a four bedroomed property. Early in December the LA assessed our claim again due to a change of circumstances (son reaching 16) they then paid 100% of the rent meaning we didn't have to top up. In January the rent increased to £1100, the council were informed of the proposed increase in November. The LHA now came in at £950.00 pcm leaving us to top up £150 which we felt we could afford, as i am severly disabled and the house is ideal for me we felt it was worth the extra money. A few days ago the council contacted me to tell me although we are DEFINATLY entitled to a four bedroomed property and the LHA that goes with it, BUT they can't pay it, because due to my son becoming 16 this resulted in a change of circumstances hence changing the anniversary date of our claim. So what was January 23rd now became December 4th. They went on to tell me that an increase in the rate can only be considered on the anniversary and not before. So this meant they can't pay the rate we are entitled to until December 2013. I have applied for DHP but we were turned down for that as well, because the DM decided to take into account my DLA. Although it is disregarded for HB it is totally up to the DM if they decide to take it into account for DHP. Totally at a loss now what to do, this house has been adapted for my needs, stair lift etc so i really don't want to move. Any help would be great Many thanks

Hi all, Firstly I hope this is the right place to post this. I have just joined having been referred here via a friend of a friend. I am in the 30-34yrs group, have chronic illness and disability, am in receipt of ESA and DLA (mid-rate care, high-rate mobility). I moved to my current 1-bed flat a year ago. Housing Benefit was awarded, pre me informing them of the change in care rate (from low) as per the previous rules of being entitled to a 1-bed place on my own. I noticed my error in not informing them when I got the paperwork through, and my Housing Benefit subsequently was raised. I was told I got this and also not the single room rate because of my mid-rate care component. Today I get a letter from the council and they are now saying because I don't have 24hr care, and thus don't need an extra room, that I am only entitled to shared accommodation. I reminded them, on two phone calls, that mid-rate care exempts from this under-35 single room rate. The first clerk told me this wasn't the case and asked the housing officer who confirmed. I did my research and found on Shelter's site it indeed confirmed the exemption rule by which I qualified. I called back, and was told, yet again, that this is wrong and actually government legislation says 24hr-care for an extra room was your only exemption. I had only just agreed a 6 month contract on my place, and currently I now have to find about half the rent per month. Because of my severe health issues, a house share is not viable, and nor is making up the short fall until I'm 35 due to all the extra costs being chronically ill and disabled incurs, which is some way off! I know I'm in the right and the council are in the wrong. I have contacted my MP and they have this afternoon emailed my council. I'm scared though. What if they don't budge? What can I do? I'm also scared of being made homeless. I have to have a place of my own - I have allergies that, if I house shared as you normally would, could quite literally kill me. Even amongst the few friends who I might usually call upon, it would require them to make such huge changes in their lifestyle and diet that it's just not realistic.

Hi there I know it sounds bit odd but only yesterday I realized that I was probably overpaid housing benefit by around 10 months. I went to turn2us website and used calculator to calculate my benefit entitlements and all answers where ok,apart hb,it says i only should receive around £7 a week . I changed house in February and started working in march,I remember posting them information about my new job,but do not have proof and actually never received any paperwork back, They started paying me £189 month and taking away £40 for previous overpayment (£880).I think I owe them around £2800(10x189+900) I cant believe how stupid I was not to realize this earlier,it seemed to be good to be truth . This is doing my head in,been crying all the time since yesterday,I cant care after my 2 month old baby properly,because on my mind I have only one thing- what will happen to me?will they prosecute me?I'm going to council tomorrow,with all the paperwork and try to assure them that I'll pay every penny back. oh god,I feel so stupid,that I could let this happen and it possibly will ruin my future plans ( training to become a nurse),if I get criminal record or caution any advise is welcome p.s sorry for writing mistakes,english is not my primary language

Hello Everyone, I would like some advice with regards to a pensioner who receive State Pension and Pension Credit including Housing Benefit. The person want to go abroad to warmer climate during the severe UK winter. The person suffer from severe breathing difficulties and other ailments and is in his mid 80s. Can someone please advice me how long can a person be abroad before their benefits stop and housing benefits as well. I have a guess about the benefits but the Housing Benefits I have no idea at all how long a person can be away and still be able to claim housing benefits. Any reply would be much aprpeciated. helen

Hi Are there any housing benefit staff that come on here? I am getting so frustrated at the moment, apart from still waiting for my first months accounts back (last april) I don't feel I can improve in my self employed work. I know I can make more profit but am too scared to. I am down for £100 per week profit self employed, that's what my housing benefit is based on & am now scared to go over that. But I want to build the business up! I don't understand how it all works with housing benefit. I only have to pay £26 per week towards my rent at the moment. I don't mind paying more, but I can't guarantee that EVERY month I will make more than £100 a week profit. So if I get my income re set to say £150 per week, I am then tied into earning that every week? Can anyone give me advice on this as common sense isn't my strongest point, & maybe I am missing something? I have a self employed friend in a different part of the country doing the same business & she says her housing benefit is set at a certain amount & doesn't change for the year no matter what she earns. But I have no idea if it's the same everywhere? I did ask the housing benefit woman at my self employed interview at the council about it when I first claimed last april, but I didn't really get a clear answer..

hi all. my friend was taken to court by the DWP for apparent income support fraud. they accused her of living with her partner when in fact they had split up along time before the accusation. she was bringing up their young son on her own. the only thing he had at the address was a catalogue that he let her use to buy the son clothes etc. there was no police involvement at all and at court the judge threw it out and said their was no case to answer and that they should apologise for the way she'd been treated. she thought that was the end of it as that was in 2005, however she has recd a letter today from DWP stating they are chasing her for the £22k they claim she owes ! she phoned them and they said it didn't matter what the court outcome was and they could still persue. she is 6 months away from being admitted as a solicitor and is really worried this is going to effect her job as she will be required to have a crb check but nothing should show up on there as there was no police involvement. does anyone know if the DWP can still persue after 7 years and as she was found having no case to answer via the court? she doen't have anyone in her solicitors she can ask and the CAB didn't appear very knowledgeable on the subject.thank you

Hi, I have just received from my local council a overpayment Invoice for £1267.52. I am mystrified to why since I was on Income Support/JSA until I commenced work in 2008. I informed all concerned about this and all seemed well until now. I see how they can make this decision 4 years down the line, and demand this from me. I have tried to contact them via the conatct call centre and the local council offices, which the first I may no contact as I was hung up on or left on hold for ages, and the people in the office simply stated they cant help you have to go through the call centre, which I pointed out they are not helping.. Can they do this this far down the line ?, I know about the Statues Barred etc.. but this would not apply to this, where do I go with this? , as I have had these supposed council guys at my door before and about repoing my car as I had not paid my fine, which I had but in a payment plan which they didnt even look up until I showed them and they looked on their system and confirmed it, they said they could take what they wanted with out court orders etc.. ?, is that true they are above the law in this respect ?, I have my doubts but I am worried that this may again happen ?. So any advise please would I would be most grateful. Regards

my son aged 17 left college for no good reason last november, how long can child benefit be claimed after the date he left and should they be informed straight away?

i recently found out from a `very` trustworthy source that the managing director at my place of employment gave the ok for the accounts department to take some money from the monthly wages of a junior director and give his wife a payslip making it look like she is working 20 hours a week so she can claim benefits but really its her husbands money. is this wrong because i think this would surely come under benefit fraud. if i were to report this does anyone have any idea what would happen to the three of them and also to my employers as i like a lot of the other senior staff who to my knowledge have no idea this is happening some one please help. I could do with some help tonight as i need to `do something` about it

Hi all, Job Centre Plus had failed last friday to send me my last jsa payment and when I have sent them an email the same friday one of their manager replied saying that the remaining amount has been sent to my bank account (electronically as usual) at 17.00 (on friday) but i still until today have not received this amount. Thanks in advance for your help, MoonTop

Hi all, Due to a lost two months ago i have an excess of overdraft (unauthorized) for about £300 on my hsbc account. However, I have received my housing benefit on this account yesterday but i cannot withdraw it : when I call the hsbc support and ask them to transfer the housing benefit to another account they ask me to go to one of their local branch. The problem is that i cannot presently go outside since i have been locked in by landlord & neighbors (but my rent payment is up to date (reason of this overdraft)) and i have to stay in bed due to my sickness. Thanks in advance for your help, MoonTop Ps : I understand that normally I should leave this housing benefit into this bank account since I had used the unauthorized overdraft to pay the rent in advance in goal to avoid an eviction, but despite of this the landlord is taking illegal action (http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?377671-Unlawful-Eviction-today-Landlord-has-changed-the-locks&p=4095121#post4095121) and i need further money to stop this since i have to pay some fees online.

Hi Caggers Not sure if anyone here can help me but Ill ask anyway. My eldest son recently turned 18 and left 6th form, he now has an apprenticeship. and is earning his own money. I have another son of 16 who is still in full time education. I work part time and earn peanuts, and was entitled to housing and council tax benefit, however now my eldest is working all my benefits have stopped. I appreciate that he should and will pay his share of the rent and council tax, but having already lost his share of tax credits and child benefit ect how am I suppose to pay the rest in full. I have phoned the council to get help and they cannot explain to me why this is or how it has been worked out, they just said if im not happy to appeal against the decision. On top of this, I am now in arrears with my rent because this has taken over 2 months fo them to sort out and send the award notice to me, I have sorted a payment plan for this of rent plus £5 per week but this is going to be very difficult for me to do. Even the councils own benefits calculator says I should still be elegible for help.!! Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Nutz x

Hi I was wondering if anyone had come across this situation before. Can I claim Sickness Benefit without it affecting my Reduced Earnings Allowance, payable through my Industrial Injuries Benefit ? I've tried looking all over the web for info but come up blank. I know I could claim this new EAS benefit but can't find anything about it affecting Sickness Benefit. For that past few years I've been told I can't claim either being self-employed,but now my condition has increased to the stage I may now have to give up Self Employment all together.

I've had my JSA stopped for four weeks for missing a job search session with Avanta. I was moving house and stupidly it slipped my mind. I know it's not an excuse, but four weeks seems excessive to me. I do my job search independently anyway, even when attending the cramped job search. Avanta are worse than useless. Where do I stand with this? The 'doubt' was raised on the 17 October and only got applied on the 4 December, which meant all over Christmas I've not had two pennies to rub together. Fantastic. Although I live with my dad he's a bit annoyed too as I can't pay him his board, which he could really use. He's not on a huge wage. I've heard of hardship allowance - can I claim this? Although I live at home I still have expenses and things I need to spend money on. It's not like I'm sat at home all day watching TV, I'm out four or five days out of seven all day doing charity work, trying to gain some new skills and experience which will hopefully help. Not that it has thus far, the countries broken and there are no bloody jobs. I've heard an advisor admit this herself. Since the sanction was only applied on the 4, is it too late to appeal? I gave up to be honest and just thought 'f--k it, I can't be bothered anymore'. It's only because I feel bad for not been able to give my dad something I'm posting this. I'd rather do without than beg them for the pittance they throw. But whatever. So, where do I go from here? As I say I know it wasn't anything like a doctors appointment, simply an honest mistake because more important things took precedence. I've never been sanctioned before and this is a first. Once or twice I've been five minutes late because there's a level crossing right outside and sometimes it's down when I get there. What do they want me to do, jump the barrier? They once wanted to sanction me for being four minutes late due to this. Somebody had more sense as it was sent back. I'd been telling my advisor at avanta for weeks that I'm moving soon just didn't have an exact date - you'd think she could have waited to find out why I didn't attend before flagging up a sanction. I was in there the day after when it hit me apologising for not turning up. As I say it's not useful or helpful anyway. You're thrown on a computer and left alone without so much as a boo for an hour. Thanks for any help you can give me. I know it's my own fault, I don't need any lectures about 'well if you want your JSA you do what they tell you', as I've previously been informed by my snotty JC advisor. Thanks again. ^_^.

My daughter and her partner claimed jobseekers allowance at the beginning of November, 2012 when their seasonal employment came to an end. They were entitled to £111 a week. In that time my daughter got some part time employment up to 8 hours a week and declared this. She has now found that this has been deducted from her benefits even though technically she earnt nothing. (The two hour shifts did not even cover transport costs). Her partner now has employment even though first pay will not be until the end of January and they are struggling to pay their bills. Housing benefit has not been forthcoming. I was sat with my daughter and she spent over 3 hours on the phone to the housing benefits (they put her on hold, said they could not speak to her without her partner's permission, which he gave. Then they told her they had lost her file. Then she was cut off and had to start again and after having hung on another 50 minutes was told that she would have to have his permission to speak to her. She said he had already given permission but had been cut off so she had to start the whole process again. Then after another 50 minutes the line was cut off again because the office had closed. All of these phone calls cost her in excess of 10p a minute and she is now getting to the end of her tether with all the aggravation and the worry of how they are to pay their bills. They have had approximately £300 to live on since the beginning of November, less the amount it has cost her to work and will receive no other payments until the end of January. Any advice would be appreciated.