Housing benifit and descetionary benifit

ELMATHUD

Hi just had a nightmare time with houseing benifit my wife has a part time job self employed .Was earning less than 10 pounds a week we(was told they didnt need to know if it was less may have been hmrc) also moved at the sametime to a higher rented house instead of a flat as my son has astma and the flat was mouldy and damp

housing cost increased from 365 to 595 a month
my wife earned 104.40 before tax over 6 months (4 ponds a week )
was told benifit over payed by 103 pounds over the 6 months
(was told by the lady on the phone houseing benifit takes 65% and council tax take 20 %) still does not add up

Also houseing benifit was reduced to 10 pound a week for the new property " i asked how they came to the figures they could not explain going to ring me back and will not pay me till 23 rd any shortfall due (the money was for food bah )"
Happy Xmas from Huntingshire distict concil

BigAunty

If you are in private accommodation, you can identify the maximum Local Housing Allowance for the property size you are eligible for in your local area on the Direct Gov website (or perhaps on your local council website, too). If you are a couple with 1 child, you'd be eligible for a 2 bedroom property, for example. Then any income could reduce means tested benefits, like LHA.

Then you can double check your complete entitlements on the Turn2us online benefit calculator.

Did you check this out before you moved out as it's usually very tough to make up a significant shortfall between the rent and LHA from other benefits? The problem with applying for discretionary housing benefit is that it is just that - at their discretion, and so cannot be relied upon.

What is the difference between your rent and the LHA that you are due according to those calculators?

I hope your wife wasn't working more than 1.5 hours per week to earn that £10 through self employment!

tatonette

BigAunty wrote: »

If you are in private accommodation, you can identify the maximum Local Housing Allowance for the property size you are eligible for in your local area on the Direct Gov website (or perhaps on your local council website, too). If you are a couple with 1 child, you'd be eligible for a 2 bedroom property, for example. Then any income could reduce means tested benefits, like LHA.

Then you can double check your complete entitlements on the Turn2us online benefit calculator.

Did you check this out before you moved out as it's usually very tough to make up a significant shortfall between the rent and LHA from other benefits? The problem with applying for discretionary housing benefit is that it is just that - at their discretion, and so cannot be relied upon.

What is the difference between your rent and the LHA that you are due according to those calculators?

I hope your wife wasn't working more than 1.5 hours per week to earn that £10 through self employment!

What's the significance in that comment?

I hope your wife wasn't working more than 1.5 hours per week to earn that £10 through self employment!

Why does it have to be no more than 1.5 hrs of work?

She made a 'profit' of less than £10 a week. That is not the same as 'earning' £10 a week.

She could have sales of £10,675 and expenses of £10,665, leaving just £10 profit!!

She could have been working more than 1.5 hours.

If I was you I would read up on the difference between gross sales/turnover and net profit.

ELMATHUD

Thanks for the replys worked out wife was earning 4 pounds a week before tax after. Tax i guess you take a third off leaves 2.66 take off 65% for over payment in housing benifit and 20 % in Concil Tax benifit
Leaves 40 pence a week .
Concil worked it out as my wife earned 2.66 a week after tax but wanted 3.75 back
My concil is huntingshire but my LHA area is classed as peterborough but i dont live in peterborough bah so they are able to charge less LHA i i am only entield to a 2 bedroom propety as my children are both under 10 (but the local housing association tells me i need a 3 bedroom property as i would be over crowded )

Something is seriously wrong with the world when most jobs in my area dont pay enough to pay the bills without help from the goverment

BigAunty

tatonette wrote: »

What's the significance in that comment?

I hope your wife wasn't working more than 1.5 hours per week to earn that £10 through self employment!

Why does it have to be no more than 1.5 hrs of work?

She made a 'profit' of less than £10 a week. That is not the same as 'earning' £10 a week.

She could have sales of £10,675 and expenses of £10,665, leaving just £10 profit!!

She could have been working more than 1.5 hours.

If I was you I would read up on the difference between gross sales/turnover and net profit.

I am self employed and know the difference between gross turnover and profit, thanks very much.

If she only manages to make 0.1% profit on a gross turnover of 10k, it's time to wind down the business, I would say....!

Because under the proposed move to Universal Credit, the self employed will be treated as if they earn the National Minimum Wage as the threshold for getting other benefits. This is from the proposal document

"“Some self-employed people under Tax Credits report very low levels of income. We know that in starting up a business that it can take some time before it becomes profitable. But once established we would expect to see a reasonable income from the business activity. So for Universal Credit we are considering introducing a floor of assumed income from self-employment for those registering as such. The floor will be set at the National Minimum wage for the reported hours; clearly profits above this limit may be received and reported.”

Many people posting problems with benefits are unaware of the significant changes to the benefit system which will start affecting them from next year onwards which means that some self employed will encounter big issues with it.

So if the OP had advised that his wife had earned a tenner for 16 hours work, for example, she would be stuffed under UC.

And the HMRC are currently challenging tens of thousands of self employed who get tax credits to see their accounts and verify that they've put in the required amount of 'hours' to qualify for it.

ELMATHUD

its a second job