ENTITLEMENT PROBLEM: ESA, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction

Joosh · 19 November 2013 at 4:49PM

Hello,

I have a bit of a problem.

I'm 22 and currently living in a 2 bed flat with 3 other adults, i.e. two couples (just still relatively short term boyfriend/girlfriend thing, no marriages etc).

I recently in October was involved in a car crash that left my right hand completely out of action, and it is not looking remotely good until at least mid January. I am now on Employment Support Allowance for general costs such as food, transport (can't drive currently) and bills including previous contracts such as insurances and mobile phone payments.

My predicament here is that I still have rent and council tax to pay at around £230 per month all together. I cannot afford that as I am unable to work and ESA doesn't contribute much at all to it after other expenses.

I inquired about Housing Benefit and council tax reduction and it appears I am not entitled to anything at all. The factor that causes this is that I live with 3 other adults who earn a salary of probably around £15,000 each, generating a household gross income of at least £45,000, along with my £0.

This seems to be causing me to have no entitlement. This is a house share from a private landlord, we are all totally financially exclusive, we share absolutely zero money between us, other than sharing the rent, council tax, tv license and associated house bills cost.

Just because they earn a salary doesn't affect my position whatsoever, the fact I'm in a couple means nothing, after tax my girlfriend hasn't anywhere near enough money to help me. She has nearly £2k of overdraft to pay off.

If I can't afford to pay my rent I will have to leave.

What can I do here? It seems very unfair that they are assuming my girlfriend and housemates can pay my household living costs, they all have their own debts and even if they could they wouldn't as it's their earnings.

Any advice please?

Thank You,
Joosh

paddedjohn · 19 November 2013 at 5:08PM

You have a partner, she should be supporting you.

Poppie68 · 19 November 2013 at 5:22PM

You leaving is not going to solve anything as it is a 2 bedroom property and your girlfriend would surely not want a stranger sharing her room. Is it not possible to discuss going back to work with your employer and maybe doing a different job until you gain use of your right hand.

EDIT: forget the employment question....just remembered are'nt you the poster who was enquiring about getting your JSA backdated? How have you been affording rent etc from your JSA?

shop-to-drop · 19 November 2013 at 5:29PM

Good point Poppy how is you moving out going to make a difference? Your girlfriend will still have half the rent and council tax to pay whether you are living there or not. It's a temporary situation you will just have to cut back and make up for it later. When you are back on your feet make sure you save an emergency fund so that when you are in this type of situation again it isn't as difficult.

nannytone_2 · 19 November 2013 at 5:39PM

your refusal for housing benefit council tax support has nothing to do with the other housemates income .... just the one you share a bed with!
you feel uts wrong to ask her to support you, but its ok for total strangers to do it instead?

as has been said, her share would be half even if you werent there so it makes no difference.
btw... ESA is supposed to be used for your essentials and not loans/contracts, so apart from the rent, you should have enough to cover your share of the bills

Poppie68 · 19 November 2013 at 5:43PM

If you have recently finished UNI i'm presuming you are in reciept of IR ESA as you would'nt qualify for CB ESA....how did they award you IR if you have a fulltime working partner?

Jobseeeker · 19 November 2013 at 5:51PM

I think you're getting a bit confused, the flatmates are irrelevant to you. The only thing that matters is the partner you share a room with and what he/she earns.

If you moved out the partner would be shelling out the same in council tax and rent.

Caz3121 · 19 November 2013 at 6:45PM

Poppie68 wrote: »

If you have recently finished UNI i'm presuming you are in reciept of IR ESA as you would'nt qualify for CB ESA....how did they award you IR if you have a fulltime working partner?

I am guessing they did not declare their "relatively short term boyfriend/girlfriend"!
Be prepared for ESA to stop too

Jobseeeker · 19 November 2013 at 7:23PM

Poppie68 wrote: »

If you have recently finished UNI i'm presuming you are in reciept of IR ESA as you would'nt qualify for CB ESA....how did they award you IR if you have a fulltime working partner?

Caz3121 wrote: »

I am guessing they did not declare their "relatively short term boyfriend/girlfriend"!
Be prepared for ESA to stop too

Not necessarily they might have just worked a lot of hours at uni and paid NI.

Joosh · 21 November 2013 at 4:19PM

Hi guys,

JSA backdated my NI to 25th May 2013. I am the person posting about it before yes, I was No Fixed Address at that time.

As for the living arrangements, I didn't live here before and I was NFA but I'd began seeing my gf more and more and eventually ended up here 3+ nights a week so the housemates told me I needed to move in full time as it was getting unfair the amount of time I was staying there. After the accident I had a small amount money in my overdraft so I agreed for a few months of staying here full time since I was given the ultimatum, plus, my GF was struggling to pay the rent and her overdraft that's soon to end so me being here is at least making it cheaper for her for the time being.

I told DWP and they're yet to get back to me with any correspondence, however my overdraft is going to be very dry soon and my gf can't afford half the rent as she was originally paying a 3rd, but her housemates wont want to pay a 3rd each when I'm here for free, meaning my gf will be forced to pay 1/2 the rent if I'm to be here with no income. Otherwise my option is NFA again.

I'm out of action til at least mid-Jan. I can't afford to be here until then with next to no income.

My point here is that if I cant pay the rent, my gf can't afford to keep me, as housemates are sharing equally, equal split of rent each regardless of room occupation. Also, I can't not pay the contracts I'm in (insurances and mobile phone) so whether it's relevant or not I still have to pay them.

Regards,
Joosh

nannytone_2 · 21 November 2013 at 4:54PM

you will need NI contributions in 2010/11 and 2011/12 to get conts based ESA.
if you havent got these, then your girlfriends income will mean you wont get income related ESA either

ENTITLEMENT PROBLEM: ESA, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free