Moving into work - housing benefit run on

Hi, I wondered if any of you could help as I am having no luck with the Jobcentre Plus helpline.

I was claiming income support and carer's allowance up until 2 weeks ago as I now have a job (20 hours per week). My son has a disability, hence the carer's allowance. I rang the local Jobcentre (after being on hold on the central number for goodness knows how long) and the man said I would be entitled to housing benefit run on for 4 weeks. He also said I don't need to tell the council/tax credits etc as it was his job to sort it all out.

However, today I got a letter from Jobcentre Plus stating I don't meet all the criteria for the run on. There is no mention of what the criteria is btw. It says to ring the number on the front of the letter for an explanation so I did this and (after 10 minutes of being in a queue) got "I only deal with income support, you have to talk to your council".

Now, it's not the end of the world financially but all I want to do is find out WHY I am not eligible as it may mean something somewhere has been inputted incorrectly.

Does anyone have any ideas?
I have been claiming income support since January 2010 so it is well over the 26 weeks cut off date.

Many thanks for any help.

Comments

  • fluffymovie
    fluffymovie Posts: 1,417
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    Hi there

    Firstly, good luck in the new job!

    The Housing Benefit Run On is administered by the HB section and we make the decision about whether you qualify or not. The criteria are
    1 - Been on a qualifying benefit for 26 weeks or more (IS/ JSA IB/ IB/ ESA IR) AND
    2 - You have signed off to start work for 16 hrs per week or more AND
    3 - The job is expected to last for 5 weeks or more.

    Normally, we would receive a form called and IWK4 which is an In and Out of Work form directly from the Jobcentre. We would see you had been on IS for more than 26 weeks without a break and we would make the decision to load the Run On. We aren't obliged to follow the Jobcentre but you would miss out on a job grant and return to work payments if they don't agree with us.

    Best thing would be to contact the HB office, inform them of the work and request the run on, They can then check the Jobcentre records using a system called CIS and see if there are any notes about why you aren't entitled from the IS side of things.

    Good luck, I hope the job goes really well.
    I currently manage a Housing Benefit service and have been working in Housing / council tax benefit (as was) since 2001.

    All views expressed in my posts are my own opinions and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.
  • rainbow81
    rainbow81 Posts: 400
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    Hello and thank you, what a great reply! I have received the job grant already so was a touch confused/worried I shouldn't have got it.

    I emailed my council and they've just replied and said I WILL get the run on and also what my entitlement will be when that runs out (v helpful for the budgetting :money:). I know I sound like I am after every penny - really I'm not, I just didn't want a cascade of events that would lead to us not having enough money to pay the rent - especially if it was just down to an error somewhere.

    Thanks again for your help, it really helps to know the processes in place.

    Oh, and I love the job, I'm so glad to be back at work :D.
  • rainbow81 well done on the job and glad to hear you're getting a clear picture of what you'll get which will help with budgeting. I just wanted to say don't feel guilty for 'going after every penny', you're entitled to it even if you just pop it in a savings account.
    "If you don't feel the bumps in the road, you're not really going anywhere "
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