housing benfit help please

alwaysjules

just a little confused whilst trying to sort out various things and wondered if this info is correct.

We live in a housing association rented 3 bed house (housed when my ex left the forces) I live with my partner and 4 children, and we have a baby on the way. We both work, we pay the full rent and and I get dla (higher mobility low care rate) but bearing in mind I shall be giving up work when the tiddler arrives and I shall be on maternity pay and not sure if I shall be going back I have been looking at entitledto website to see how much tax credits etc we would be entitled to just so we can work out finances out prior to the change in income.

To go along with that, it looks like we will have to move anyways, now we kind of fit into this house anyways, i am not going to insist on a larger house even though we are technically entitled to a 5 bed given the age/sex of the children as i dont think we could afford the running of a larger house anyways, we do ok here, in a lovely area, children in good schools etc but with the fact that the house is about to be condemend due to very bad subsidence or whatever may happen to it i think they will want us to move...I know housing is at a premium round here (surrey) so not too worried about fighting for our so called rights etc

But....whilst looking at entitled to, it seems that and i am not sure if this is correct that essentially we could privately rent a 5 bed and be entitled to over £500 based on the area we live in per week to help towards the rent, this was with income into there (partners gross 42k), is this correct that based on income of 42k and they didnt seem to take into account child benefit or csa (£550) per month, do they really pay £2000 towards rent per month?

seems strange that we currently pay the rent of £560 a month ourselves for a 3 bed house when we could be living in a 5 bed house, and earning a good wage and still have the rent paid??????? and thus then be £560 a month better off as the rent is covered?

I am sure it is wrong, or is this the way it works with the new rules?

seems unrealistic and i am sure it is wrong but as i said i put everything into it, based on if we lived in a 5 bed with the local payment for housing benefit whilst looking at our options.

many thanks

Vixie_Pixie

sounds to me that the £500 a week is the LHA rate for a 5 bedroom property. They wont pay you that much because your income will be taken into account.

Child benefit and CSA are disregarded for HB purposes so they wont be included in your income. DLA is disregarded too and you will be entitled to a disability premium within your applicable amount.

alwaysjules

does entitledto not calculate what we are entitled to hence it would say you would have to pay 500 etc towards the rent?
thanks for your reply...its so confusing, just need to find out for sure i guess before making a decision before the baby comes and the house falls apart round our ears lol

Vixie_Pixie

your applicable amount will be made up of the following -(figures are weekly)

Couple - where at least one of them is aged over 18: £100.95
child or young person: £56.11 per child
Disability Premium - £27.50 for a single person or £39.15 for a couple
Family premium £17.30
(when baby born) Family premium plus premium for one or more children aged under one £27.80 (this is instead of the normal family premium)

the following earnings disregards will apply too -

£20 per week where the earner or their partner is disabled (entitled to the disability premium as part of the applicable amount)

If the earner is making contributions into a private pension or employers pension scheme, 50% of that contribution is deducted from gross earnings

£16.85 per week in 2009/10 if:

• The claimant or their partner receive the 30-hour element of WTC (this will be shown on their award notices)
• The claimant or their partner are working more than 16 hours per week, would be or are entitled to WTC and fall within one of the following categories
  • Lone parents
  • Couples with children
  • Disabled people (it must be the disabled person in a couple who is working 16 hours or more)

Once you have worked out your AAmount. You work out your net weekly income (get monthly fig x 12 / 52) If this is less than your AAmnt then you can get full HB. If it is more than your AAmount then you take 65% of the excess income and deduct that from your rent liability.

Rent liability is worked out using the appropriate LHA rate. If your rent is lower, you are allowed an extra £15 on top of your weekly rent amount.

You deduct the 65% from the weekly rent liability and if the 65% fig is lower then you are entitled to the difference. if the 65% figure is more than your rent figure then i'm afraid you are not entitled.

HTH

real1314

You might find that for LHA/HB purposes you are not entitled to a 5 bed house.

Google "LHA Direct" which should throw up the Rent Office site where you can check how many rooms you would be allowed and the maximum rate of HB/LHA (before income is taken into account and reduces this).

alwaysjules

vixie...I shall work that out when i have a tad more brain power later on lol thank you

real, yes i have been on that, gone through it all and it says i am entitled to a 5 bed house.

alwaysjules

ok i tried to do that calculation and utterly utterly lost pg brain and no sleep is not helping lol

Vixie_Pixie

alwaysjules wrote: »

ok i tried to do that calculation and utterly utterly lost pg brain and no sleep is not helping lol

sorry! I know its really long winded but i'll try my best to make it easier

calculate your weekly income and deduct £20 and £16.85 to get figure A
Calculate your applicable amount - figure B
Work out your weekly rent - figure C

deduct B from A

If A is more than B work out 65% of the difference to get figure D

Deduct D from C. If C is higher than D the difference is the HB that you will be entitled to. If D is higher than C then I'm afraid you wont be entitled.

I'm really sorry for the v complicated calculation! But this is how HB is worked out! I will be more than happy to work it out for you if you wanted to pm me the figures but i do appreciate that you may not want to do that

HTH