hb 30th %ile

deadby40

my claim for hb started in oct 2009 and was successful. i live in a flatshare. i received a letter recently about the 30th percentile changes for under35s which says the council have me down as living in a 1 bed flat. i am now terrified i owe the council a small fortune in overpaid hb. obviously they need telling but i would like to know what will happen. i never told them anything other than the truth and they scanned the documents i used to substantiate my claim. when my claim began i was under the max shared room rate to the point that i got the 15£ top up until it was cancelled this year.

hb covers my rent pcm in flatshare atm. i m 33 and also receive severe disability premium/esa wrag income related/dla high care,low mobility. i know the severe disability premium ringfences people in a 1bed flat but i am in a flatshare. in january, will my hb be reduced? my dla (and thus the premium) is up in may and the landlord is putting my personal rent up by 55£pcm and asking me and the other tenants to sign a new lease which i am totally unsure if i am in a position to responsibly do.



i do have a welfare rights officer that i have been seeing a lot recently but thats because my esa 50 arrived (again). i have tried to explain the situation but she just said the shared room rate (for under 35s in january) does not apply if you receive dla high/middle care, which makes me think she hasn t really got that i live in a flatshare as opposed to a 1bed flat.

finally are tax rebates something i should be informing the council regarding hb about? again my welfare rights officer says, in their opinion it is capital and at less than 16000 would be discounted. this, in the context of everything being such a downer doesn't sound right.

tx for any help

HappyMJ

If you have 2 or more rooms for your exclusive use then you can be paid the 1 bed rate whether disabled or not.

Your welfare rights officer would know more than the forum people here and if she is telling you that as long as you receive the benefits you do then you won't be affected by the under 35 rule so don't worry about that.

Tax rebates are capital as your welfare rights officer is explaining you can have up to 16,000 and it'll be ignored.

Why are you not questioning the welfare rights officer? These questions are for them. They are the experts. If you come on here you will just get a lot of random opinion and you will have no idea what is correct or not.

deadby40

tx for yr answer.

i know what she is saying is correct but i think that she is basing it on incorrect facts. i have sole use of one (bed)room and share facilities of bathroom, living room and a lounge.

i just wondered if anyone had a personal experience of the correct facts as laid out in post#1

fluffymovie

If you get the severe disability premium, you get the 1 bed rate.

In my LA we are writing to all under 35's to make them aware but it might be that they aren't weeding out those that don't need to be warned