Housing Benefit guide Discussion Area

dawnlouise123

Have a look at the March Shadow Rates
These are estimates based on the March LHA rates so may differ slightly in April. I would phone your HB department as they would have on your claim you are expecting a new baby (assuming you have mentioned it yet) and ask how they are going to assess it. Have a look on Freecycle or Netmums if you need baby bits, lots of people give things away for free or at a low price.

inneedofmoney

dawnlouise123 wrote: »

Have a look at the March Shadow Rates
These are estimates based on the March LHA rates so may differ slightly in April. I would phone your HB department as they would have on your claim you are expecting a new baby (assuming you have mentioned it yet) and ask how they are going to assess it. Have a look on Freecycle or Netmums if you need baby bits, lots of people give things away for free or at a low price.

Hi, looking at that chart I guess for north devon/cornwall borders for a 3 bed house its saying maximum of 137.31 a week for 3 bed house? which would work out 595 a month (as our rent is 550 a month I guess that means we get exactly 550 a month hb and if it gets increase then we can claim upto the 595 a month? so all we are losing out on is the 15 overpayment a week?) thanks for your help

bob40

hi can anyone tell me if all these housing changes affect me i have been getting hb since 1997 in same rented private house

also can i ask we have 2 bedrooms if my daughter moves out does that mean our housing benefits gets droped to 1 bedroom or does that not happen in our case

thanks

pandaspot

bob40 wrote: »

hi can anyone tell me if all these housing changes affect me i have been getting hb since 1997 in same rented private house

also can i ask we have 2 bedrooms if my daughter moves out does that mean our housing benefits gets droped to 1 bedroom or does that not happen in our case

thanks

have you been moved over to lha? you would have moved over if you have had a break in your claim. otherwise you will be classed as an odrt private tenant. this was the old scheme before lha. As a odrt tenant your hb is assessed by the rent officer and therefore will not be affected by these changes. with your daughter moving out again this will not affect your benefit unless you have a break in your claim and are moved over to lha

bob40

pandaspot wrote: »

have you been moved over to lha? you would have moved over if you have had a break in your claim. otherwise you will be classed as an odrt private tenant. this was the old scheme before lha. As a odrt tenant your hb is assessed by the rent officer and therefore will not be affected by these changes. with your daughter moving out again this will not affect your benefit unless you have a break in your claim and are moved over to lha

hi

thanks for that quick reply in answer to your ? i have not been notified of lha change but not sure if i would have been can you tell me what odrt means

as far as rent officer when we used to get rent increases and i summited to housing office they used to say rent increase will depend on what rent officer says thats all i know and in all the time we have been here i have had no break in my claim

thanks

pandaspot

bob40 wrote: »

hi

thanks for that quick reply in answer to your ? i have not been notified of lha change but not sure if i would have been can you tell me what odrt means

as far as rent officer when we used to get rent increases and i summited to housing office they used to say rent increase will depend on what rent officer says thats all i know and in all the time we have been here i have had no break in my claim

thanks

odrt is deregulated tenancy. Its the code we use in work for claims before lha.

you wont be affected then at all, you are on the old scheme, and will remain on the old scheme until there is a break in your claim. However you might be better off on lha. It might be worth having a look into it.

we have been looking at the old scheme claims recently in work and seeing if claimants are better off on lha. the majority of them are and we have given people on average an extra £8 per week hb. some of them have had an increase of £15 per week.

dawnlouise123

inneedofmoney wrote: »

Hi, looking at that chart I guess for north devon/cornwall borders for a 3 bed house its saying maximum of 137.31 a week for 3 bed house? which would work out 595 a month (as our rent is 550 a month I guess that means we get exactly 550 a month hb and if it gets increase then we can claim upto the 595 a month? so all we are losing out on is the 15 overpayment a week?) thanks for your help

New shadow rate=137.31 PW (137.31 X 4 = 549.24 every 4 weeks, 13 payments in a year - assuming all councils work the same way)

Yes you would lose the top up. Depending on when your L/L puts your rent up depends on how it affects you. Currently if there is a rent increase it's only applied on the LHA anniversary date.

inneedofmoney

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

If you are going to rely on welfare to support your growing family, then you should know by now that these state handouts are always subject to change.

Thanks for your 'helpful' comments, I know they are subject to change, however I wasnt planning on relying on them but until the doctors can sort out my husbands treatment for his sleep apnea he has just been diagnosed with where he stops breathing about 300 times a night, unfortunatly we have no other choice as he is not fit to work and has lost his driving license due to his diagnosis and unfortunately at 31 weeks pregnant I cant get a job.

bob40

pandaspot wrote: »

odrt is deregulated tenancy. Its the code we use in work for claims before lha.

you wont be affected then at all, you are on the old scheme, and will remain on the old scheme until there is a break in your claim. However you might be better off on lha. It might be worth having a look into it.

we have been looking at the old scheme claims recently in work and seeing if claimants are better off on lha. the majority of them are and we have given people on average an extra £8 per week hb. some of them have had an increase of £15 per week.

hi

i again thank you for your responce from what you say then i am gratefull that these changes wont affect me unlike some people who are goinmg threw this terrible time

as for lha i am no better off in my area so in my case i will just stay the way i am which like i said i got to be gratefull for that and also luck for me i am an assured tennant so again i deem myself very lucky

oh can i ask 1 more question will i be affected by the 30 percentile
thanks

pandaspot

bob40 wrote: »

hi

i again thank you for your responce from what you say then i am gratefull that these changes wont affect me unlike some people who are goinmg threw this terrible time

as for lha i am no better off in my area so in my case i will just stay the way i am which like i said i got to be gratefull for that and also luck for me i am an assured tennant so again i deem myself very lucky

oh can i ask 1 more question will i be affected by the 30 percentile
thanks

Hi that's no problem. No you won't be affected at all by the 30% percentile