Housing benefit mess looming

Oldernotwiser

crystaltipps wrote: »

He took all my proof of income, as well as my exemption letter from uni - but as it is all means tested, i have still to pay some.

I think that you've misunderstood this.

If you're a full time student and the only over 18 living in the household then you pay NO council tax, you're exempt. Means testing doesn't come into it, you could be rolling in money and still pay no council tax!

crystaltipps

Hi Older,
This is what i thought, but after all the stuff going in to the council, the decision letter clearly states a discount for being a student, and a 25% discount for single person, leaving me with the balance to pay. They decide you pay 20% of your 'excess income' towards your council tax, as well as 65% of your excess towards your rent. It seems that i will have to do a bit of chasing about this. With the income disregard bit, you have less excess income (obviously) but i don't seem to have this anymore.
Like i mentioned before, i am more than happy to pay my dues (in case anyone jumps down my throat for being a scrounger!) and i have always worked (even took my baby daughter with me to breast feed when she was small and i had a great boss!
It just seems odd that some seem to get a lot more in HB and CTB than I do, but maybe they have just made a mistake!
Still, am getting even better at moneysaving, reducing food bills, looking forward to having a go at the 9.50 Sun holidays, and free alton towers tickets again in the summer, etc...who needs 2 weeks all inclusive in the sun anyway (sigh!)
Many thanks for your response!

Sarah

Oldernotwiser

crystaltipps wrote: »

Hi Older,
This is what i thought, but after all the stuff going in to the council, the decision letter clearly states a discount for being a student, and a 25% discount for single person, leaving me with the balance to pay. They decide you pay 20% of your 'excess income' towards your council tax, as well as 65% of your excess towards your rent. It seems that i will have to do a bit of chasing about this. With the income disregard bit, you have less excess income (obviously) but i don't seem to have this anymore.

There has been a misunderstanding about this somewhere. Students do not get a discount; they are exempt.

Is there any way you could quote the bit in the letter or even say which council this is? To quote from direct.gov

"Council Tax discounts
A household where everyone is a full-time student is exempt from Council Tax and won’t get a bill. See the section above - ‘If you live only with other full-time students: exemption from Council Tax’ - for more about exemption.
If your household has fewer than two adults who are counted for Council Tax purposes, it will qualify for a discount on the full amount. If there’s only one, you’ll get 25 per cent off . If the household doesn’t have any adults who are counted - but is not exempt - it qualifies for a reduction of 50 per cent.
Remember that the household may qualify for other forms of financial help on top of the student discount."

(The part I've highlighted refers to your situation.)

If you find you're having difficulties fighting this, get help from your Student Services/Support office.

crystaltipps

I have a ten page letter from them that is confusing to say the least, covering both HB and CTB
My actual revised bill is far easier to understand so here is the relevant bit, i hope.

Period 01/04/09 to 20/09/09 498.56
Discount (25%) 124.64 CR

Period 21/09/09 to 31/03/10 553.32
Disregard (Students - Higher Education) 138.33 CR
Discount (25%) 138.33 CR
Council tax benefit 119.93 CR
Payments 428.00 CR

Amount payable by me (owed) 102.65
I think the benefit of 119.93 is the amount for the time of april til sept when i did get about a fiver a week off (or so)

I am now trying to make sense (again) of the ten page letter i have.
The council is Ashfield District Council.

Thanks for your input, Older...its always nice to have info before you go into battle, so to speak!

Macro_3

And you are the sole adult in the property? Your child is under 18?

If so, as ONW said you should not pay any council tax at all from 21.09.09 onwards, not just get a student discount.

I would call the LA in the morning and ask for your claim to be reviewed as you believe that you should not be paying council tax and your claim is therefore incorrect. Ask in writing. I would do this because if the assessor who processed your claim did not pick up on the fact that you should be exempt from council tax (which is a very basic error) then I would wonder what else could be wrong with the claim. Processing housing benefits is surprisingly complicated, errors are sadly very common, but at least if your claim is reviewed it would be looked at by a fresh pair of eyes.

crystaltipps

Will do that, Macro - yes, sole adult, daughters are 11 and 13! He took my letter of exemption from me to make a copy for their records.

I will also take all my paperwork into uni on Monday and see if i can have a chat with someone who can advise me on the housing benefit, income disregard stuff too - i still can't get over the fact that Tincat may well get 100% of her rent paid at London rates (gasp - glad i live in the sticks, so to speak!) and i am getting less than half of my measly £85 a week paid.
I wish i had known about this a couple of weeks ago as they state you have a month to appeal and it all got sorted at end of October so i have missed the appeal deadline. You just think that when you give them everything, and i mean everything (bank statements, rental agreements, student loan statements, CB letter, Tax credit info, saving acc. stuff etc - i expected him to ask how much clubcard points i have at one point - or if i get any money gifted for my birthday! lol) that they are going to be on the ball when working it all out!

I found this on their website
http://www.ashfield-dc.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/council--government-and-democracy/council-tax-and-finance/council-tax-discount/
which also is a bit confusing to me - mentions disregards but then states only 50% off in the little table!
Again, many thanks for your input!

Much thanks for your input!

crystaltipps

I thought i would pop back here and update my situation, as well as offer more hearty thanks to all that have posted here - and, in case this thread comes up in a search, for the benefit of other readers.

Student Finance have picked up (co-incidentally) on the fact that I should be on the SSG and not the standard grant. This is because my Parents Learning allowance claim was delayed but got finalised on the 8th. My new award letters are on the way, but are accessible online.

When they make it here, I will be paying a visit to my local council with all the new paperwork, and will also query the Council Tax issue. I am better off financially, due to the Parents Learning Allowance, but when the income disregard is in effect, with a little luck, I should be better of with the HB too - even if I am not, at least its worth a try.

The other thing I want to mention is that I have also been advised to put in a claim for Income Support as it will not get me any money, but it means that when the holidays kick in, if I don't manage to get a temp job lined up for them, I can inform them of a change in circumstances, and the claim will already be in place and easier to deal with.

Thirdly, Bristol University website had a lot of useful information about this all (I am not there but they came up in a search), including the actual regulations that apply to the income disregard amounts and the like.

Again, I can't thank the original poster, Tincat, enough, as well as all the advisers - ONW and Macro - if i could thank you more, I would. Without this thread I would definitely be worse off! Thanks!!! And very best of luck, Tincat, to you in your studies - It is hard work, kids and study and the like, but definitely worth it!

Sarah