Recent Circulars
A25/2010 - LHA Changes
A24/2010 - Changes to HB and CTB overpayment classifiaction - minor changes from April 2011
A23/2010 - Incapacity Benefit and Income Support reassessment for ESA - more details of the process for HB.
A22/2010 - Changes to Tribunal rules (minor) and Habitual Residence Test and victims of forced marriage - where someone has been taken abroad or kept abroad against their will they will not have have lost their Habitual Residence.
A21/2010 - Correction of errors in calculation of State Pension- will only create HB overpayments where a tenant not on Pension Credit gets an increase in their state pension and delays or fails to tell the HB Office.
G18/2010 - various including reminding HB Offices that it is good practise to suspend recovery of an overpayment where an appeal has been made.
G17/2010 - various
Pension Credit Take Up
In December the Pension Service will be making awards of Pension Credit for a period of 12 weeks to 2,000 randomly selected pensioners it believes, based on the information it holds, are entitled to Pension Credit without them having actually claimed it. It is part of a studt exercise.
Piggybackdating - coming to an end
Since caselaw in August 2009, where a tenant was making a claim for Pension Credit and Housing Benefit at the same time, the HB backdate could be 'piggybacked' onto the backdated Pension Credit claim giving a tenant of Pension Credit age the possibility of 6 months backdate (normally limited to 3 months). The DWP have always stated that they intended to reverse this position, and so amending Regulations have noe been put in place with effect from 1st November 2010. However, any Pension Credit claim which is backdated to before 1st Novemebr 2010 can have an associated HB claim backdated a further 3 months. Please click here for further information.
The Spending Review of Oct 20th 2010 revealed more benefit cuts.
Here are a few highlights: click on the link above for more information.
Overall benefits cap for non-working, working age families.
From 2013 no out of work family will receive more than around £500 per week in total benefits; for single adult non-workers, no more than £350 per week.
Families receiving Working Tax Credit, and people getting War Widows' Pensions or DLA will be exempt.
Extension to Local Housing Allowance Single room rate.
From 2010 the single room rent restriction which applies to under 25's living alone in privately rented housing (non-Council or Housing Association) will also apply to under 35's. Those entitled to the severe disability premium will be exempt.
Mortage Interest Support payments- waiting period and upper threshold
The 13 week waiting period which was due to revert to 9 months after January 2011, has been extended to January 2012; as has the £200,000 upper threshold.
Recent Circulars
A20/2010 - Ending appeal loophole ie giving a calendar month in which to request a statement of reasons
A19/2010 - various including ending Piggybacking and removal of baby element unless claimant getting beby elemant in their Child Tax Credit.
A18/2010 - Measuring right benefit and right time information - update for LA's
G16/2010 - Various including further guidance on the HMR&C tax reconciliation exercise.
Home owners - reduction in help
From 1st October the interest rate at which help is given to homeowners able to claim IB-JSA, IS, IR-ESA or PC to assist them to pay the interest on any qualifying mortgage is to reduce from 6.08% to a rate based on the average interest rate for secured loans as published by Bank of England ie closer to 3.7%. It is estimated that half of those claimants who currently receive help will see a shortfall between the assistance given and their mortgage interest costs.
Student Uprating
In previous years the DWP have increased the disregards for books, equipment and travel for those vulnerable students able to claim HB. However as the student travel grant and maintenance grants have been frozen for the 2010/11 academic year, this disregard has also been frozen.
Higher Permitted Earnings Disregard
The higher permitted earnings disregard is to increase from £93 to £95 from 1st October 2010, reflecting the increase in minimum wage from £5.80 to £5.93.
HMRC tax refunds / demands
HMRC have contact around 6 million people to tell them that they have either over or under paid tax for 2008/9 and/or 2009/10.
Where a HB claimant has over paid tax they will receive a tax refund - tax refunds are treated as savings for income-related benefits, it would therefore only potentially impact on their Housing Benefit if it took their savings above the disregarded level, or if they already had savings above this level ie £6,000 for claimants aged under Pension Credit age / £10,000 for claimants of Pension Credit age or older.
Where a HB claimant has not paid enough tax, they can be asked to pay this back in one of 2 ways:
1. An adjustment is made via PAYE to their tax code, thus reducing their net income. HB should be reassessed to take account of the new amount of income after the increase in tax.
2. Where the underpayment is £2,000 or more, HMRC will seek recovery directly from the individual rather than via PAYE - full guidance on how this may impact on a claimants entitlement to HB is still awaited, but they should be advised to notify the HB Office.
There may be some people who are not currently claiming HB who, due to the drop in their income, could become entitled, these individuals need to be advised to claim HB.
Recent Circulars
A17/2010 - Loss of benefit provisions
G15/2010 - Various including new Overpayment manual and guidance on HMRC tax reconciliation
A16/2010 - Early IB/IS reassessment trial
G14/2010 - Increase to higher permitted earnings disaregard / student uprating
G13/2010 - Various including decommissioning of fax machines
Underclaimed Housing Benefit
The recent take up of means tested benefit figures highlighted two groups where take up of HB is particularly low:
Many people who work do not realise that they may still be entield to some Housing Benefit - this is particularly true of people with children as both Child Benefit and Child Maintenece are now disregarded in full as income.
Recent Caselaw
Foster Children and LHA room size criteria
CH/3000/2009 - When considering the size of property the claimant and his family require under the LHA size criteria, a foster child should be classed as an occupier of the dwelling - effective from 24th June 2010.
Recent Circulars
U5/2010 - Debt Relief Orders and HB overpayment recovery. Judge has awarded a 'stay of judgement' to the DWP whilst they consider whether to appeal the Judges decision, this means that deductions can (for the time being) continue to be made as before.
G12/2010 - Various including info on Debt Relief Orders and LHA & forster children. Recovery of HB overpayment must not be made where overpayment included in DRO, but where it is a fraudulant overpayment recovery can commence or recommence once the DRO is discharged.
U4/2010 - Debt Relief Orders and HB overpayment recovery. On 26th July a Judge found that the Secretary of State does not have the right to recover overpayments of social security benefits and social fun loans by making deductions from on-going awards when debtor is subject to a Debt Relief Order
G11/2010 - Various including info on LHA case law that forster children should be counted as occupiers of the property when considering size criteria
U3/2010 - Amendment to Guidance Manual - para BP2.571
A15/2010 - Process for the transfer of the HBRF return from 1.4.10
A14/2010 - Conversion of ICB / IS(incap) / SDA to ESA and transtional protection
Guidance on use of Social Security Data
A new Guide has been produced by the DWP - Data Sharing - Guidance for local authorities on the use of social security data.
Guidance Manual
The Housing Benefit Guidance Manual has been updated - click here.
Recent Circulars
A13/2010 - Further Guidance on the application of the National Insurance number requirement
A12/2010 - Changes in the registration of social housing in England
A11/2010 - The Social Security (notification of changes in circumstances) Regulations 2010
A10/2010 - Right to reside, parent and primary carer of child in education
G10/2010 - Working Benefits Workshops, LHA leaflets
G9/2010 - HB cases awaiting Upper Tribunal
G8/2010 - Various
G7/2010 - Improvements to Benefits Adviser Service
Budget News
Here are the measures in the Budget that will impact on Housing Benefit:
Uprating deductions: Non-Dependant Deductions
There will be staged increases in the rates of non-dependant deductions in the income-related benefits from April 2011. By April 2014, these increases will bring the rates to the level they would have been had they been fully uprated since 2001 to reflect growth in rents and council tax.
Social rented sector:
It is proposed that from April 2013, Housing Benefit for working age social rented sector customers will be restricted for those who are occupying a larger property than their household size and structure would warrant.
Time limiting full HB for people on Jobseekers Allowance:
It is proposed that from April 2013 Housing Benefit customers who are claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance will only receive their full Housing Benefit award for a period of 12 months. After that period, their benefit will be reduced by 10%, and they will continue to be ineligible for the full out of work Housing Benefit rate until they have left the benefit system and been in work for a period.
Discretionary Housing Payments
In order to provide additional support for the hardest cases, the sum allocated by the Government for Discretionary Housing Payments will increase by £10 million in 2011 and by £40 million a year thereafter. This is to give more flexibility to local authorities to help a greater number of new and existing customers who face a shortfall in rent because of changes to the Housing Benefit rules.
Local Housing Allowance measures
From April 2011:
- Local Housing Allowance levels will be restricted to the 4 bedroom rate;
- A new upper limit will be introduced for each property size, with upper limits set at:
- £250 a week for a 1 bedroom property
- £290 a week for a 2 bedroom property
- £340 a week for a 3 bedroom property
- £400 a week for a 4 bedroom property
- As previously announced, the £15 weekly excess provision currently payable within the Local Housing Allowance rules will be removed as planned.
- The size criteria will be adjusted to provide for an additional bedroom for a non-resident carer where a disabled customer has an established need for overnight care.
LHA From October 2011:
The Local Housing Allowance will be set at the 30th percentile of rents in each Broad Rental Market Area, rather than the median.
The previously proposed removal of the top 1% of rents in the market evidence for each bedroom size in the calculation of Local Housing Allowance rates will not now go ahead.
LHA Long term:
The Government also announced its intention to reform the way Local Housing Allowance rates are set in future and, from 2013/14 onwards, Local Housing Allowance rates will be uprated on the basis of the Consumer Prices Index, rather than on the basis of local rents.
Recent Circulars
A9/2010 - Citing Upper Tribunal decisions in appeal responses
U2/2010 - Direct.gov website availability
G6/2010 - Various
G5/2010 - Various
G4/2010 - JSA sanctions for non attendance at interviews and impact on HB
New Benefit Rates
The new Housing Benefit rates take effect from 5th April 2010. The site has been updated to reflect the new rates and you will shortly be receiving your new Benefit Rates 2010/11 folding pocket guides – if you have not received yours by the end of April please let us know.
Please note: the Tax Credit rates change on 6th April, and all other benefit rates change on 12th April.
Pension Credit Age
From 6th April 2010 this will no longer be 60. Due to the equalisation of state pension age, the state pension age for women will start to increase, but so will the age at which someone can claim Pension Credit. The qualifying age will rise in a complicated system of 2 month stages so that the retirement age for women, and the qualifying age for Pension Credit for both men and women will be 65 by 2020.
This change will only impact on people becoming 60 on or after 6th April 2010, anyone who turned 60 before this date will already be of Pension Credit age. To help you work out a person’s Pension Credit age we will be updating the site to reflect these changes with a link to a table that will show someone’s Pension Credit age depending on their date of birth. If you would like to see the table please click here.
And you will also find it useful to use the pension age calculator on the Directgov website, this gives both state pension retirement age and Pension Credit qualifying age based on gender and date of birth: http://pensions.direct.gov.uk/en/state-pension-age-calculator/home.asp
E-Transfer Project Update
All HB Offices are now receiving details of HB claims from Jobcentres and Pension Service Centre electronically.
Supported Housing
The DWP have announced that they are looking to change the way HB is treated for social and voluntary sector supported housing (or 'exempt' accommodation) - to take account of the fact that provision in this sector has moved on whilst the HB rules have not. But they accept that a detailed investigation is needed and so we are not expecting a quick fix to the current problems the definition of 'exempt' accommodation is causing some supported housing providers.
New Permitted Earnings Disregards
Permitted work allows people on certain incapacity benefits who wish to make a gradual return to work, to undertake some part-time work whilst continuing to receive these benefits.
Up until 5th April 2010, if someone on Incapacity Benefit, Contributory Employment and Support Allowance or Severe Disablement Allowance undertook permitted work, their ICB, C-ESA or SDA were unaffected, however these earnings were treated just like any other earnings for Housing Benefit, and so generally the claimant’s HB reduced.
From 5th April 2010 two new earnings disregards will be introduced into the HB rules and will mean that, for most people, undertaking permitted work will not affect their HB either.
There are complex rules affecting couples where one is working and the other is undertaking permitted work or where both members are undertaking permitted work.
For more details – click here.
Child Maintenance
Child maintenance has been totally disregarded as an income for HB purposes since October 2008 (and together with the changes in November 2009 disregarding Child Benefit this now means that more families can claim help with their rent and council tax).
From April 2010 child maintenance will also be disregarded in full (increasing from £20 a week) for the other means-tested benefits ie Income Support, Income-Based Jobseeker’s Allowance and Income-Related Employment and Support Allowance.
Those parents that are already getting IS, IB-JSA or IR-ESA will see an increase in these benefits from their first benefit week after 12th April 2010.
But some parents will miss out unless they are told about these changes! These are the parents whose child maintenance has in the past been too high for them to qualify for IS, IB-JSA or IR-ESA and so don’t realise to claim.
Recent Circulars
A8/2010 - Various including confirmation that direct payments for health care are disregarded in full as an income for HB purposes.
A7/2010 - HB Single Extract
A6/2010 - Referring HB overpayments to debt management
A5/2010 - Publication of Right Time performance indicators
A4/2010 - War Pension uprating
Suspending recovery action when appeal submitted
In CH/1757/2009 the Judge was very critical of a council who continued to recover Council Tax arrears that were the subject of an appeal. He served an order on both the Council and their baliff to suspend recovery. He said 'It is clearly not appropriate that the Council should, either directly or through any agent, take action to enforce a decision that is still under appeal. That is both wrong in principle and because of the added charges that tend to arise when enforcement is resisted.'
Extension of identity cards
From 8 February 2010 roll-out of identity cards will be extended to include 16 – 24 year olds living in London. This follows the launch of identity cards in Greater Manchester and the North West of England.
HB Offices should use the identity cards as primary evidence of identity. Guidance about how to recognise and check them can be found in HB Circular G21/2009.
Recent Circulars
G3/2010 - Various including confirmation that the 6 months backdating limit will not be reduced to 3 months for people under Pension Credit age
Backdating – under Pension Credit age
The government has announced that they have decided against reducing the backdating limit for claimants aged under Pension Credit age to 3 months. The DWP has said
'On balance, the government has decided that it would not currently be appropriate to make a further reduction in the maximum backdating period, and that the existing six month limit for claims to housing benefit and council tax benefit from working age customers should continue to apply.'
Recent Circulars
G2/2010 - Guidance of right to reside test for EEA nationals
Annex A - FAQ's
G1/2010 - Various including roll out throughout North West of accepting as proof of identity national identity cards of Foreign Nationals.
A3/2010 - Further guidance on new permitted earnings disregard from April.
16 billion going underclaimed in benefits
Recent DWP figures show that approx £16 billion in means tested benefits go unclaimed every year. As many as half of all working households entitled to housing benefit (worth an average £37.60 per week) do not claim it – that’s up to half a million households. And as many as four out of five low paid workers without children (1.2bn households) miss out on tax credits worth at least £38 per week - a total of £1.9 billion.
Using Credit Reference Agency to combat fraud
After a successful pilot, whereby HB Offices used infomration held by a credit reference agency to cross match with benefit claims finding undeclared partners, the government has announced it's intention to roll out there data matches from Spring 2010.
The pilot areas were - Bury, West Oxfordshire, Chester, Warrington, Derwentshire, Rotherham, Leeds and Basilden.
Recent Circulars
S1/2010 - Discretionary Housing Payments budgets for 2010/2011
A2/2010 - HB Uprating
U1/2010 - Update on uprating of war pensions
A1/2010 - Miscellaneous amendments
A26/2009 - Amendments to LHA guidance
Tax Credit overpayments
Where tax credit claimants start living together or separate and delay in reporting the change, new rules mean that any overpayment will be reduced by the amount the claimant would have been entitled to receive had they reported the change promptly. Click here for more information.