Housing And Council Tax Benefits
News Page
New Backdating Rules From 6 October 2008
From 6 October 2008, the Government has reduced the maximum period for Housing/Council Tax Benefit claims may be backdated.
For working age customers, including working age men aged 60 - 64 who are not in receipt of Pension Credit, the maximum period has been reduced from 52 weeks to 6 months and for pension age customers (including working age men aged 60 - 64 who are receiving Pension Credit), the maximum period has been reduced from 52 weeks to 3 months.
For further information about backdating please see our backdating page.
New Rules About Child Maintenance
The Government has introduced new rules about how much maintenance you receive for your children can now be disregarded in the assessment of your Benefit..
From 27 October 2008, maintenance income received for children will be fully disregarded. For those customers currently in receipt of Housing/Council Tax Benefit, these Benefits will automatically be re-calculated and their entitlement will be increased.
If you have previously claimed either of these Benefits but did not qualify as your income was too high and you receive maintenance payments for your children, you may now be entitled to some help. Please contact us for further advice or for an application form.
New Housing Benefit Rules From April 2008
The UK Government introduced a radical reform of Housing Benefit for tenants renting in the private sector. Known as the Local Housing Allowance (LHA), the new scheme has been piloted by 18 Local Authorities across the country over a two year period prior to national roll-out. The LHA was implemented across the UK for all new Housing Benefit claimants in privately rented housing from 7 April 2008.
The radical feature of the LHA is that, unlike the present Housing Benefit scheme, entitlement is no longer based on the tenant’s rent. Instead, within each local market area, there is a flat-rate allowance for all privately rented claimants, which varies only by household size and composition. This amount is not directly related to the rent that is charged so the Housing Benefit received by claimants may be higher or lower than their contractual rent. The rate of LHA that claimants receive will be reviewed on an annual basis.
Another significant change is that Local Authorities will only be able to pay the LHA to the claimant. Payment to the claimant’s landlord can only be made if it is considered that the claimant is ‘vulnerable’ and incapable of managing their financial affairs, is unlikely to pay their rent or has accrued 8 weeks rent arrears. Fareham's Benefits service has devised a Vulnerability and Direct Payments Policy and Procedure (202 Kb)
for tenants, landlords and third parties to use to minimise the risk of tenants falling into rent arrears and being put at risk of eviction and to reassure landlords that safeguards are also in place for them. This document also details the procedures that the Benefits Service will follow when making a decision of who Housing Benefit should be made to, how the affected parties will be notified of this decision and what procedures will be used when reviewing a decision.
The Government hopes that paying Housing Benefit to claimants will promote personal responsibility and empower them to budget for themselves; that it will help the unemployed to develop the skills they will need when they move into paid work; and that it will encourage them to open bank accounts and pay their rent by standing order or direct debit, thereby helping to promote financial inclusion.
The new scheme will apply to claimants in the private sector and mainstream private tenancies only. The following types of tenancy will be exempt from this new scheme:
- Housing Association tenancies
- Protected cases, such as supported housing provided by certain local authorities, social landlords, charities and voluntary organisations
- Tenancies which commenced prior to January 1989
- Caravans, houseboats and hostels
- Tenancies where part of the rent is attributable to board and attendance
Claimants renting within these sectors will continue to receive Housing Benefit calculated under existing rules.
We received new Local Housing Allowance rates each month. These can be viewed on the Private Tenants pages and we will ensure that this page is kept up to date with the latest rates for you to view.
We have also developed a document to cover some frequently asked questions which you may find helpful. Local Housing Allowance - Your Questions Answered (162 Kb) .
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