The new LHA rule for under 35's that only allows them to claim the rate for one room

Jowo_2

Raphael wrote: »

...it's only over the past year that I've had to claim housing benefit, being self-employed your income can fluctuate a lot and it's difficult to predict if you will always be able to cover all your outgoings or if you will have to temporarily claim HB to help.

.....

Keep your eye on the proposed changes for the self-employed as it relates to the introduction of the Universal Credit system as the proposal paper indicates that the self employed will be treated as if they earn the national minimum wage. Therefore, it looks like the SE will be treated as if they make a profit, even if they don't manage to.

UC is apparently being rolled out from 2013 and you don't want to end up having a tenancy for a self-contained 1 bedroom property with no way to pay the rent because you are treated as if you earn £6 an hour which caps your entitlement to a top up.

Oldernotwiser

Arg wrote: »

If things were that simple this forum would be much quieter.
I doubt you believe that people would smoothly find a new place to live with people their perfectly matched for without any cockups from the DWP or council.

Why "perfectly matched"? You're talking about sharing a house/flat, not getting married. Where does the council come into it?


What alternatives would they be?

The alternative to starving would be to share accommodation, of course.


JSA could be stopped for whatever reason and the claimant will be left without it until after the appeal.
Whether you think this because he hasn't been applying for enough jobs is missing the point.

What I think is irrelevant. People don't get JSA stopped unless they haven't kept to the terms of their job seekers agreement, so the solution is simple.

HappyMJ

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

What I think is irrelevant. People don't get JSA stopped unless they haven't kept to the terms of their job seekers agreement, so the solution is simple.

Of course admin errors NEVER happen. I've been to sign on at 11am only to be told that I shouldn't be signing on at that time as I should be in a meeting at 2pm when I can sign on then. They said "We sent you the letter weeks ago and you acknowledged it...see right here..". I never got it. However, I had signed on 2 weeks previously and apparently I had acknowleged getting this letter. I thought I was acknowledging a different letter. If my signing on time was 2pm and the meeting was at 11am I would have missed it and had my benefits sanctioned.

Oldernotwiser

HappyMJ wrote: »

Of course admin errors NEVER happen. I've been to sign on at 11am only to be told that I shouldn't be signing on at that time as I should be in a meeting at 2pm when I can sign on then. They said "We sent you the letter weeks ago and you acknowledged it...see right here..". I never got it. However, I had signed on 2 weeks previously and apparently I had acknowleged getting this letter. I thought I was acknowledging a different letter. If my signing on time was 2pm and the meeting was at 11am I would have missed it and had my benefits sanctioned.

Of course admin errors can happen, but not often to the extent of getting JSA sanctioned. In your example, it's actually you that made the error by not checking what you were signing, surely?

Morglin

Many Jobcentres, benefit departments, tax credit departments etc., are so understaffed and undertrained that it is a regular occurence for benefit claims to be so badly handled that people do have the benefits stopped/reduced/overpaid/underpaid for all the wrong reasons.

And, once they start laying off even more staff, it will only get worse.

I have been 8 weeks, by phone and recorded delivery letters, pleadng with pension credits to please sort out my parent's pension credit claim, as they are being overpaid (my mum has had to go into a nursing home, and they need to have seperate claims assessed now), and although they agree with me that I have phoned and written, and they agree that my parents need to be assessed seperately, and they agree that my parents are being paid too much,they still don't/can't/won't sort it out.:mad:

Luckily, I know what I'm doing with benefits - but I can see how people get into a muddle with benefits and tax credits.

Lin

ekkygirl

I may be blinkered but why does anyone still plan to be on the same benefits they are on now in a years time?

catfish50

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Suggesting suitable alternatives is not judging!

No, but remarks about people not paying their way are judgmental. And they seem to occur in every single thread in which someone enquires about entitlement to benefits, even though it's perfectly reasonable for a person to seek advice about what benefits are available. It's not very helpful.

Oldernotwiser

catfish50 wrote: »

No, but remarks about people not paying their way are judgmental. And they seem to occur in every single thread in which someone enquires about entitlement to benefits, even though it's perfectly reasonable for a person to seek advice about what benefits are available. It's not very helpful.

Although it wasn't I that made the remark about paying their own way, I think that it's a fair comment that many working single people cannot afford to rent a flat to themselves so it's unreasonable for someone who's getting their rent paid to expect that as a right.

System

I do wonder where all the extra house shares will come fro, and even then if you move in with a friend of the opposite sex the DWP{ will take it upon themselves to declare you a couple :mad:. Plus there's the problems of being on benefits, few LL's like to rent to those who are.

Jowo_2

xXMessedUpXx wrote: »

I do wonder where all the extra house shares will come fro, and even then if you move in with a friend of the opposite sex the DWP{ will take it upon themselves to declare you a couple :mad:. Plus there's the problems of being on benefits, few LL's like to rent to those who are.

The house shares exist already. They are populated by people on low incomes who have been priced out of self-contained accommodation by the way that the generous LHA allowances skewed the market prices.

The working poor are already used to living in lodgings and flat-shares to reduce their living costs without the cushion of housing benefit and council tax rebates.

Successful graduates who secure relatively decent paying new jobs in a major city will invariably not be in the position to swan off to a letting agent and get a 1 bedroom flat to themselves. Graduates are used to sharing properties until they get promotion or move in with a partner to share the costs. So if graduates routinely flat-share, why can't the unemployed?

They look over their shoulder and wonder how it is that they have to share a bathroom with strangers while they work in even relatively well renumerated employment whereas if they were x age and workless, they could have the govt pay for their own self contained accommodation.