Housing benefit query

[nuttyburd]

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

[Nystagmite]

Are the council aware of how much your eldest earns? There is something called non dependent deductions, which affects your benefits.

[nuttyburd]

Hi,

yes they have had all his paperwork back. His employer had to fill in a form stating he was on an apprenticeship and how much he earns.

 

They have stated that He must pay £36.10 towards the rent. I understand that and he will pay his share he gives me £40 housekeeping so it will come out of that. What I dont get is why my benefit has stopped Im now paying full rent £80 per week, not just his share. I still get child tax credit and working tax credits.

 

Since my eldest started work My benefits have obviously dropped as he is no longer dependant. so Im effectively £100 per week worse off but now have to pay rent and council tax.

 

Nutz x

[jadeybags]

I would get that appeal in. Doesn't sound right to me. I will be in the same situ as you later this year & worked out i'll be 400 a month worse off, but that's with losing my eldests child maintenance.

Not sure why you would still get tax credits & child benefit for him though if he is doing an apprenticeship?

[nuttyburd]

The child benefit and tax credits are for my other son who is still in full time education.

 

I will write a letter to them tomorrow, stating the reasons for my appeal. The council benefits people were so unhelpful today. She told me she could explain it but it would take too long, My reply was thats ok I have time and she stated that she DIDNT!!! I asked for an appointment to go in so they could explain it to me and was told they only give appointments to new claimants. I was so angry that I forgot to take the ladies name, how stupid of me. I always tell people to take the name of the person they are speaking to!

[jadeybags]

Blimey, what a nightmare! I'd go down there & ask to see someone, they shouldn't be saying they don't have time to explain something!

I am dreading this time coming for me...

[antone]

The child benefit and tax credits are for my other son who is still in full time education.

 

I will write a letter to them tomorrow, stating the reasons for my appeal. The council benefits people were so unhelpful today. She told me she could explain it but it would take too long, My reply was thats ok I have time and she stated that she DIDNT!!! I asked for an appointment to go in so they could explain it to me and was told they only give appointments to new claimants. I was so angry that I forgot to take the ladies name, how stupid of me. I always tell people to take the name of the person they are speaking to!

 

Yes, er, that sort of treatment is entirely valid grounds to complain to the council. I worked for the DWP, not an LA, but if I spoke to claimants that way I'd have been in real trouble. But, critically - sort your benefit issues first.

 

I'm inclined to agree that I can't see why your HB and CTB should be stopped entirely. Non-dep charges, yes, of course.

[nuttyburd]

Hi again Jadey,

 

yesa it is indeed a nightmare. Its not the fact that he is expected to pay his share, we always knew it would happen and he knows he has to pay his way. Its the fact he is being expected to pay nearly half the total amount, but more than that my benefits have obviously gone down as he is no longer dependant, and also pay the rest of the rent and council tax out of alot less money.

 

God knows where the money for food and the rest of the bills is supposed to come from.

 

Nutz x

[nuttyburd]

I forgot to mention earlier, I had a visit rfom the DWP just prior to christmas. Was very worried about this but he assured me it was just a spot check to make sure the council were paying the correct amounts.

 

Anyway he seemed to think I was being underpaid, but this was before my eldest sons amounts had been calculated. He told me to wait for the award letter because it should all balance out. No Im now getting even less and they are claiming back an overpayment, putting my rent in arrears since begining of November!

 

I doubt it was the DWP that have their figures wrong!

 

Nutz x

[antone]

So, right, your rent is £80 per week, and he is expected to contribute £36.10, which suggests the council believe he is earning £180-£233.99 per week before tax. Is this correct? What was your HB before he entered employment?

 

Also, with regard to Council Tax, I'd like someone to correct me but I thought non-dep charges didn't apply to CTB.

[nuttyburd]

Hi Antone

 

Yes he is earning £192.00 gross. before he turned 18 I was getting £66.01 per week he started work the week he turned 18.

 

I was also receiving £17.52 CtB before he turned 18.

 

I have just looked at all their confusing paperwork again and it seems that the payments went down to £12.32 HB and £3.27 when he turned 18 and has been back dated to July, which is when he left school. This is why the overpayment was so high. How can they leave it untill 31 Dec to tell me this?

 

He didnt know he wasnt going back to school this september untill end Aug, because he didnt get the results he wanted or need in his AS exams. I notified all the relevent people that he wasnt at school as soon as this decision was made. But because his last day at school was end of July everything got backdated to this date. Except the council, I heard nothing from them untill he turned 18(5.11.12) when they wrote to me to say he would be a non dependant and how was he surviving financially. I wrote to them at this point to explain he hadnt be financially dependant since leaving school but would be starting an apprenticeship the following week (12.11.12).

 

EDIT: sorry no checked again the overpayments are from end OCT not JULY, so the amounts reduced when he turned 18, these are the amounts the man from DWP thought where incorrect, I think.

Edited January 4, 2013 by nuttyburd
wrong info

[id6052]

it appears from what you have explained so far, that there have been two significant changes in relation to your HB/CTB

 

the first change would have been when your eldest son left full time education and ceased to be treated as a dependant child/young person - this appears to have occurred at start of July 2012

whilst your son was in full time education, you were entitled to an additional premium of £64.99 in the calculation of your applicable amount for hb/ctb - this means that the council disregards an additional £64.99 of your income when calculating your hb/ctb

 

from what you have stated it appears that you may have forgotten to tell the council when you your son left full time education until 12 November therefore your hb/ctb continued to include the additional premium for your eldest son, and therefore you would have been paid too much hb/ctb

 

assuming there were no other changes that occurred, this first change would have resulted in HB decreasing by up to £42.25 per week and CTB decreasing by up to £13.00 per week

 

the second change would have been when your eldest son turned 18 at which point he is treated as a non-dependant - this appears to have occurred at start of November 2012

if you have a non-dependant adult living with you, your hb/ctb is normally reduced as they are expected to contribute towards the rent/council tax costs. the amount of the deduction is dependant upon the level of income received by the non-dependant, if their gross earnings are between £183 and £237.99, the HB deduction is £36.10 and the CTB deduction is £6.55

 

EDIT: I see you have now stated that the overpayments are only from October and not July, can you clarify the following?

 

1. when did child benefit end?
   
2. did you tell the council when your son left FT education?
   

Edited January 4, 2013 by id6052

[Nystagmite]

http://www.tameside.gov.uk/housingbenefit/nondependentdeductions

 

At the bottom of this page, there are two tables. They tell you how much the non-dependent deductions are.

[id6052]

http://www.tameside.gov.uk/housingbenefit/nondependentdeductions

 

At the bottom of this page, there are two tables. They tell you how much the non-dependent deductions are.

 

unfortunately, those figures seem to be for 2010/11 and 2011/12

 

the 2012/13 figures can be found at

http://www.lbbd.gov.uk/AdviceBenefitsAndEmergencies/HousingBenefit/Documents/NDD%202012_13.pdf

[nuttyburd]

Thanks fro the info id6052.

 

I can confirm that I did inform the council that he had left school, when I notified the tax credits etc. I can also confirm that I recieved child benefit untill he turned 18.

[id6052]

thanks for providing that additional information

 

if you continued to be entitled to child benefit until he was 18, then instead of being affected by the first change in july and the second in november, you would end up getting hit with both changes at same time

 

i.e. your hb/ctb would be: -

 

1. reduced because of the loss of the premium in your applicable amount; and
   
2. reduced further by the application of a non-dependant deduction
   

in some instances, these 2 changes together can result in hb/ctb reducing to very little or nothing (especially for those living outside the capital who do not have high rent/council tax levels)

 

1. 
   

[Dee1]

So sorry about this but how do i start my own thread? Thank you

[fightingback99]

Can your son contribute a little more to the houshold?. If his share of the rent is £36 and he is giving you £40 per week in total, then it doesn't leave much to go towards all your other houshold expenses.eg food utility etc. Appreciate it's not easy and he might have travel expenses to work etc, but needs must..