How often are discretionary housing payments given to applicants??

Beta89

Hi, i have been unemployed for nearly 6months now.

Im 19, live in a tiny rented stuido flat in the cheapest area within a 60miles radius of this town,
but have now used up all my savings, but not been able to get a job anywhere even after well over 1,000applications!
(I used to be a self employed stockmarket trader when i left college in June, but ive been applying for basic supermaket/security/admin jobs, but not even got 1 interview anywhere)


I applied for housing benefit back on 2nd Feb as my savings are all gone and so id be homeless unless i get it, and also applied for jsa.

Its been over 1month, but cos of the big backlog they still not got on to processing my claim and starting my payments yet,
but hopefully they will reach mine this week.
And my 1st JSA appointment is this friday, claim will be backdated to last monday though, so hopefully i should get £100 into my bank aco!!!! the following week from there.



The problem that im having though is that because im under 25 HB will only pay half of what they pay for over 25s,
so on my rent of £675p/m they will only pay £360 per month.

And so even when i get my JSA of £180 p/m
(i didnt realise that i was paying council tax or that i could have gotten council tax benefit due to being unemployed, untill i got a bill for £500 thats due payment by 1st march, so even if i can get the council to accept me paying it off from my jsa at just £5 per week,
in total i will only get £360 + £160 = £520 p/m.



However my rent alone for this cheapest tiny studio flat is £675,
and when i include basic food & drink budget of just £4 per day, thats already at £800 per month bills.

Then with TV, gas&electricty, internet connection (bt line needed for internet connection), and basic travel budget of £5 per week.


Its at £950 per month basic low level living costs VS £540 payment. :(



I know that HB dont really care about what your personal food and stuff costs are, and that they only help with rent,
but so as soon my HB application is processes and payments start i am going to send of the form requesting 'discretionary housing payment',
to help cover the gap between the £675 rent, and the £360 that they pay.



But can i just ask if anyone knows how often they actually pay discretionary housing payments??

Especially with the economy the way it is, is it likely they will just glance at my form, see that im under 25 so according to the regulations i dont yet qualify to live in place costing more than £360p/m,
and so just turn me down saying that its up to me to go find somewhere that would be that cheap and live there??


Or do they actually help people out and pay discretionary housing payments if they can see that you are paying a low rent for the county/surrounding county which would be london,
and so are likely to pay part or even all of the extra £300 p/m, just until i can get a job??

betterlatethannever

Hi Beta, thats a really tough situation to be in.

I got discretionary payments, with no problems, but i don't know how many do. I only got an extra £15 a week though and still meant i had to find over £120 a month out of my jsa.
I then went on to LHA, which was higher, but meant i had to fund one weeks rent and ct as you have to wait a week before re-applying.

Sorry i can't be of more help. Are there no friends/family you can move in with for the time being? not always easy, i know.

Can i suggest you start keeping your receipts for food and all the bills for gas/elec etc as they'll need to see these for discretionary payments.

laurenjs88

cant you move into a shared house?

I get dis payments of £2.69 a week so not much help im afraid.

Beta89

betterlatethannever wrote: »

Hi Beta, thats a really tough situation to be in.

I got discretionary payments, with no problems, but i don't know how many do. I only got an extra £15 a week though and still meant i had to find over £120 a month out of my jsa.
I then went on to LHA, which was higher, but meant i had to fund one weeks rent and ct as you have to wait a week before re-applying.

Sorry i can't be of more help. Are there no friends/family you can move in with for the time being? not always easy, i know.

Can i suggest you start keeping your receipts for food and all the bills for gas/elec etc as they'll need to see these for discretionary payments.

Hi and thanks for your help..

I will start keeping all my receipts and stuff, although im scare dit may look kinda bad due to the levl of alcohol there is on the bill.

(I drink heavily daily due to personal reasons, its been like this for nearly 1year now, and it doesnt actually affect my ability to work or look for work as i previously worked when this was even worse).


But im just scared that they will look at the receipt, see that i spent £21 per week on cheap junk food, and £9 on bottle of white rum + wine/beer each week, they will just refuse as would claim i dont actually need the money, just want it to fund some drinking.



The real tough hard thing is that i am trying so hard to find work, went on jobcentre website, typed in my postcode, clicked buttom for EVERY catergory of job in 60miles radius, and sent CV to 60 t 80% of those jobs.
(apart from 1s i could do such as driving 1s, farmers, chefs).

But even if i do manage to get a job i will then lose jsa money.

So would then be in £600 shortfall each month.


But if i manage to get a job that pays even just £600 per month to cover that gap id then lose housing benefit money!

So would still be in a short fall of roughly £500 per month when including work travel.



So it means that the only actual choices i do have are-
To either manage to get job that pays over £1,000 per month (after tax),
find a way of earning £400 per month now without working.

Beta89

laurenjs88 wrote: »

cant you move into a shared house?

I get dis payments of £2.69 a week so not much help im afraid.

Ive looked but even a room in a shared house anywhere in this area whch is the cheapest area is over £500 p/m.

+i have all my furniture here and no where / no way of getting it to anywhere to leave it.

Oldernotwiser

Your earlier posts make it sound as if you moved into your flat AFTER you lost your job - surely that wasn't the case?

If you move into shared accommodation you will be nearly £200 per month better off and you could sell your furniture to make ends meet. In addition you will then have more chance of actually being able to afford your rent when you eventually get a job. There are very few jobs for someone of 19 which will allow them to pay £675 rent with Council Tax on top!

You're going to have to start being more realistic.

Beta89

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Your earlier posts make it sound as if you moved into your flat AFTER you lost your job - surely that wasn't the case?

If you move into shared accommodation you will be nearly £200 per month better off and you could sell your furniture to make ends meet. In addition you will then have more chance of actually being able to afford your rent when you eventually get a job. There are very few jobs for someone of 19 which will allow them to pay £675 rent with Council Tax on top!

You're going to have to start being more realistic.

Hi, no i was working when i moved into my flat i was working.


All i need is to get a job that pays the basic rate of £7 per hour, with 40hours per week, and i will be able to afford it.

I just hope that when i start going to these jobcentre interviews they will be able to offer more help, and so il be able to get a job within the next few weeks.

feelinggood_2

Beta89 wrote: »

I will start keeping all my receipts and stuff, although im scare dit may look kinda bad due to the levl of alcohol there is on the bill.

(I drink heavily daily due to personal reasons, its been like this for nearly 1year now, and it doesnt actually affect my ability to work or look for work as i previously worked when this was even worse).

But im just scared that they will look at the receipt, see that i spent £21 per week on cheap junk food, and £9 on bottle of white rum + wine/beer each week, they will just refuse as would claim i dont actually need the money, just want it to fund some drinking.

Beta, I can't help on the benefits side of things, but if you want to talk about your drinking, please PM me. I stopped drinking when I was 19, so if I can help you at all, please send me a message.

Oldernotwiser

Beta89 wrote: »

Hi, no i was working when i moved into my flat i was working.


All i need is to get a job that pays the basic rate of £7 per hour, with 40hours per week, and i will be able to afford it.

I just hope that when i start going to these jobcentre interviews they will be able to offer more help, and so il be able to get a job within the next few weeks.

But £7 an hour is a lot of money for someone of 19; 50% more than NMW!

Even if you were lucky enough to get this rate and those hours you'll clear less than £1,000 per month. With rent of £675 and council tax of around £80, that'll leave you less than £50 per week to live on and this will have to include working expenses like travel.

As I said before, you need to be more realistic.

fluffymovie

Hi Beta89

From when we spoke last week, I have now checked the regulation and it is as follows

Housing Benefit Regulation 13 (14) wgucg states that
"Subject to Paragrapj (15) where the relevant authority is satisfied that a person who whom paragraph (16)Napplies was able to meet the financial committments for his dwelling when they were entered into, there shall be no maximum rent during the first 13 weeks of the claimant's award of Housing Benefit"

As I said, this would mean that your rent was met for the first 13 weeks and the under 25 restriction was not applied.

I deal with DHP's in my local authority and have to say that we are having huge issues as our budget is exhausted and more and more people are losing their jobs.
A DHP would not be payable if you are awarded the 13 week rule anyway so would not be needed until the summer by which time, you will hopefully have a job