Housing Benefit Issue - change of liability letter

partysis81

Hi,
Looking for some advice, ive received a letter this morning from the council regarding my LHA.
I have only been claiming since May this year, and have been getting £91.43 per week - £182.86 going into the bank every fortnight.

The letter this morning says "Reason for calculation - Change of liability"
then says my weekly entitlement is £56.81.

But then further down the letter, it says the first/next payment will be for £172.97 on 1st aug 2011 for fortnightly arrears.

so im confused??? ive given them a call, and the man said he cannot see why ive received this letter, as he cant see anything on the system about a drop in entitlement. I told him the letter states change in liability, and asked him what this means, which he said is when you move from one property to another??

None of our circs have changed since the original claim, so im getting worried. Ive got to ring them back on monday to see if its been looked into for me.

Can anyone shed any light on this? or had a similar thing happen??

partysis81

anyone?? getting really worried

Hovel_lady

Hi, I read your post earlier and was hoping someone would have an answer for you by now.
All I can suggest is that if you can go and see the housing benefits people. Don't wait until Monday as it's worrying you so much.
If you can't ring again and get an answer. Ask to talk to a manager if they're not helpful.
Try not to worry too much. I have a friend on HB who sometimes gets letters that are nonsense - it does get sorted out.
Good luck

nannytone_2

could it be something to do with LHA dropping to the 30th percentile?
previously it was paid at 'average' rent, but it is dropping to the lower third of rental charges.

fluffymovie

When does your claim start?

In my council, change of liability would mean a change in rent. If your claim had been based on the full rent for 13 weeks that would explain it!

Could you afford the rent when you moved in?

partysis81

Hi i only started claiming at the beginning of may this year, would it change so quickly? also, didnt the new rules come in from april? so my claim would have been assessed under the new rules anyway. I rang again yesterday, in the hope i would get someone else on the phone with more knowledge, he looked into more with me, but even he was baffled by it. He said if the amount changes due to "change in liability" there should be notes on the system to say why, and there arent any on my claim. He was reluctant to say it was an error (obviously covering himself) but he admitted it was possible.
I just think £40 a week is a massive drop when none of my circs have changed.
To answer one of the questions, we were able to afford the rent before, as we were both working full time, but i lost my job and we have 8 month old twins so when we found out we were entitled to claim in may, we did.

elmer

If your circumstances change ie you lose your job, and you claim LHA, if you have not claimed in the past year you will be assessed under the 13 week rule.

THis means that you get your full rent up to the LHA limit, paid for 13 weeks to give you time to look for somewhere cheaper after this ends.

After the 13 weeks your claim will be assessed as everone elses on you income and circumstances, and that will be the amount you will be paid from then on.

Is this the situation with you?

elmer

partysis81

the 13 week thing fits in, but for the time we've been getting it, we haven't been getting the full limit,
our rent is £150 per week,
our councils 2 bed limit is £115.38
we've been getting £91.43 per week, which theyre now dropping to £56.81.

this is the first time we have ever claimed housing benefit.

fluffymovie

Pretty sure it's the end of 13 weeks protection.

We send letters 2 weeks in advance of changes so may - august sounds right.

Basically, your HB is calculated using the full rent for 13 weeks and after that drops to use the appropriate LHA in force in the month you claim. If you check the LHA rate for May, is the amount the amount showing on your letters as gross liability? If yes then that's what gas happened

If you pm me your council and the details in the letter I'll check fir you ( I work in HB, not trying to get any dodgy info!!)

partysis81

ive pm'd you, thanks

why dont they tell you when you claim about the 13 weeks? coz they didnt utter a word, and you'd think these people ive been talking to would know about it when im querying it all??

ive just compared the benefit decision letters, and its the "weekly eligible rent" that has changed on the letters. one is the full amount of 150 and the newer one says 115.38

louloupot2012

hi sorry i know this was a while back but this has happened to me and our council offices are closed until monday and i dont know what it means and its worrying me my rent has gone from £73 a week to £0.00 from 29th june this friday because of change of liability.

thankyou louise.