Local Housing Allowance Benefit

Peter1079

Hello,

I wonder if someone can work this out as I am not too clever with Benefits. I had to give up my job last year due to my disability worsening.

I now claim Local Housing Allowance and Council Tax Benefit. On the paperwork I received today, which is regarding the annual uprating of benefits, it states my 'Applicable Amount' is now £147.10 (made up of 'single claimant over 25' £65.45 plus 'Disability Premium single' £28.00 and 'Severe Disability Premium single' £53.65). Do I get these premiums because of DLA (Middle Care Rate)?.

It then says Income used in Calculation £91.42 which I take to be my long term Incapacity Benefit from April 12th (when it goes up).

Does this mean I could receive £55.68 (£147.10 minus £91.42) per week without my Local Housing Allowance and Council Tax Benefit being affected? I am awaiting payment of a small second Occupational Pension from my last job which should be around £50 per week which i thought might affect the Local Housing Allowance.
Also the amount of Local Housing Allowance I receive actually exceeds my rent by around £14.00 per week. Is this correct as when I was on housing benefit (before I recently moved) it only covered the rent? I hope I am not being ‘over payed’ and have to pay it back.
Thank you
Peter

jennilb

Hi

OK I'll do my best, but it might be a good idea to go back to the LHA staff and ask them if you are unsure. My advice is based on my personal experience.

I'm going to start with the last question: I'm getting more LHA than my rent - am I being overpaid?
The answer to this is 'maybe'. All the normal reasons for overpayment that apply to HB (such as you not telling the relevant people about a change in circumstances / income) can also result in an overpayment of LHA.

However, there are circumstances when you can recieve more LHA than your rent costs and it can be right. The reason for this is the government wants to encourage LHA claiments to try to find a good deal on a property to rent. The LHA people have assessed what the 'going rate' is for each size of property in each area. If you manage to find one cheaper, you get to keep the difference between this 'going rate' and the rent you pay, up to (I believe) £14 a week. So, in my case, I get £6 more LHA a week than my rent costs.

What are all these disability premium's about?
The idea of the premiums is to disregard some of your income because the government wants to take into consideration the fact that it is often more expensive for a disabled person than a non-disabled person to do every-day tasks. So the amount of income the government says you can live on is higher than that for a comparible non-disabled person.

I can't tell, from the information you provided, what disabilities the LHA people have taken into account. You will need to check with them.

I've got more coming in than the government says I need - will the LHA people say I have to spend all of it on my rent?
No, but they will take a percentage. I believe they say that 65% of the amount you get, over the minimum, should be spent on your rent.

So if you get £10 more than the minimum, you would be expected to pay £6.50 towards you rent, and your LHA would be decreased by £6.50. But remember, this is from the 'going rate' amount, so in your case, you would only have to start physically paying rent yourself if the LHA said you needed to contribute more thant £14 a week.

I believe that a percentage may also be taken for council tax, along the same lines, but I do not know this for sure so you should definitely check this out.

I hope this helps
Jenni

daimonde

ill try a quick reply so excuse the briefness.....im processing HB claims ere


there is a £15pw cap, if your rent is below the LHA figure, theyll add a max of £15 and upto the LHA rate. So id say you arent being overpaid, but it worth a quick call to double check.


the applicable amount, think you have this spot on. as long as your income is below this figure, you'll receive full HB (its worked out under the LHA but its still HB) that you're entitled to.

so in your case, yup, the IB comes off the applicable amount, leaving as you say, about £50 you could still have coming in - its not quite that straight forward cos there are income disregards, some income doesnt count (DLA for example), etc.

As Jenni mentioned, if you have income above the applicable amount, there is a calculation where by they take 65% of any excess income - the figure for CTB is 20% of excess income !


hope thats of some use, off to pay benefits for a bit


Dave.

Peter1079

Thank you Jenni and Dave.

I have just rang the council who pay the Local Housing Allowance and Council Tax Benefit.

From what I can gather (it was a bit complicated) but my maximum allowed rent allowance under Local Housing is £113.92 (single person over 25 - entitled to a 1 bedroomed house self contained) but I actually only pay the equivalent of £99.90 per week (albeit it is paid monthly). So the council lady assured me I am not being overpaid and I am allowed to keep this extra money. She did mention though that this situation was due to have ended in April but the chancellor of the exchquer had extended it. That part I now understand and am relieved I am not being overpaid (just seems strange the government are paying me £14.02 per week to live here). I forgot to ask if this is taxable though?.

She did get me lost with the other part though. I understood that the premiums are down to the DLA (middle care) which makes up the 'Applicable amount' and only my Incapacity Benefit is currently deducted from this amount with everything else not counted. I understood that, but then she spoke about when the second occupational pension starts it will be included and if over £55.68 there will be deductions - this is where I then got lost as she spoke about percentage deductions?.

So based on your postings above, do I take it that if the pension is over £55.68 per week (My Applicable Amount minus the Incapacity Benefit) I will lose 65% of the extra amount on Housing Benefit and 20% on Council Tax Benefit equalling losing 85%. of it (so I keep 15% of the extra pension over the £55.68?). Also is the working out done on the gross amount or the net amount (my pension will be taxable like incapacity benefit I presume).

I do apologise if I appear somewhat backwards about all this, just I am a bit paranoid about being overpayed and having to pay back money.

Thank you

Peter