quickie about LHA rules

Wee_Willy_Harris

I stand corrected.

bestpud

pandaspot wrote: »

It is going to get tough out there. Especially with the increases in nondependant deductions in april. Which will probably mean a lot of nondeps being asked or forced to leave the family home as claimants won't like/want the deduction. Then in jan the shared rate being extended to 35.

Definetly encouraging/forcing the under 35's to get employment.

Why would someone force their child to move out rather than pay the deduction? It's only a few pounds for those earning relatively high amounts for someone living at home!

I've just checked the rates as your post makes it sound like the deductions will be huge from April!

Jowo_2

bestpud wrote: »

Why would someone force their child to move out rather than pay the deduction? It's only a few pounds for those earning relatively high amounts for someone living at home!

I've just checked the rates as your post makes it sound like the deductions will be huge from April!

I had this debate with Pandaspot a few weeks ago as I was shocked that a parent would kick a child out who is earning a wage rather than ask them for keep equivalent to their loss of HB, particularly as it never seems to exceed more than 10% of the non-dependents earnings on a low wage and 20% if they earn nearly £400 per week, so it's fairly peppercorn rent by commercial standards.

They said it's out of ignorance of the extent to which they are affected. I got the impression that the person on benefits panics. I suppose there's also an element of ultra dependency - the person on benefits isn't comfortable with the change.

If a council isn't notified of the change in circumstances in a timely way (for example, they'll know the kid's current studies are coming to an end but the parent hasn't said what earnings, if any, they have) then they will either suspend the claim or deduct the maximum HB charge of about £60 without explaining why.

We had a thread here from a student alarmed this way - despite leaving school and going onto FE, their household simply got a letter saying there would be a £60 pw shortfall which she had to pay and no information about exemptions or the sliding scale of deductions versus earnings which would show it as a fairly trivial sum.