Just received 'Housing Benefit changes' letter, not sure of the implications.

earthbound_misfit

whitelabel wrote: »

Im not talking about 4, 5 and 6 bed houses fully paid for for immigrants and the like...

Not going to go into all the details here, but need to say this is NOT the case. 'Immigrants' (the word covers many circumstances!) are not just handed a house willy-nilly ahead of British people. I used to think this was the case, until I found out a lot about housing and the rules the local authority work by, when I found myself vulnerably housed, then homeless.
To get council/HA properties, there are huge waiting lists, and people are only accepted onto waiting lists in the first place if they have jumped through several hoops such as residency and 'recourse to public funds' tests.
They are not prioritised in any way, and many cannot even apply for social housing.
It's worth pointing out that there is a serious shortage of one-bed council properties, so an ill/disabled single person may take longer to be housed than a family.


Ah - I've just realised why they're kicking 25-35yr olds on HB out of one-bed flats.... so there's more to put the 'deserving' older claimants in who currently live in 2/3 bed council houses... :mad:

princessdon

they are not kicking you out are they?

Pardon my ignorance but I thought that you were able to stay (you just had to pay the difference yourself), are they actually evicting those in 1 bed flats?

If so how utterly barbaric and I apologise as I really hadn't realised that is what they are doing.

whitelabel

Sandwich wrote: »

I just wanted to update this thread to let anybody else in the same situation as me know what's going on.

I spoke to the council and they said that what has happened is that they were supposed to notify people of these changes in April 2011, but that they failed to do this in some cases, and as a result they have delayed the timing of these changes for the people who weren't notified, so people have in effect been given an additional 9 months or whatever.

So the letter, despite how poorly it is worded, is right in saying that for myself and whitelabel's friend, the changes won't actually kick in until next year. In my case, that means March 2013.

mmm thats a little different to what Ive been told today
i called with my friend, they had to clear security etc and give permission to speak to me, but the call centre person said the letter was incorrect
and the account is earmarked to have a benefit reduction change from them 6th august and the 9 month protection ends on the 5th august.
They couldnt explain what the 2nd august date referred to or why it said the 9 months starts then.
But they said the amount it was due to be reduced to was from £103.56 per week to £94.62 ??!!
and were arranging to get that sent out in writing with the correct dates, but the processing time is 28 days (can you imaging having that as an SLA in the private sector!)

Ive no idea where that figure arrives from and they couldnt explain either. They are sending my friend and Discretionary Housing Payment claim form, but ill probably print them one off tonight myself, but they are relieved as if that 94.62 is correct, they can probably cover that them selves esp if they get the DHP, which means they can stay on and not have to worry too much about it at least during their treatment

just hope that not another !!!! up as well !

earthbound_misfit

princessdon wrote: »

they are not kicking you out are they?

Pardon my ignorance but I thought that you were able to stay (you just had to pay the difference yourself), are they actually evicting those in 1 bed flats?

If so how utterly barbaric and I apologise as I really hadn't realised that is what they are doing.

Ah, you're right, was getting a little carried away, apologies. No, they're not actually evicting people, but if it is impossible to match the rent shortfall (as is the case for many on HB/LHA, esp. those who already have a shortfall) then these people have to leave the properties.

princessdon

I see - sorry I thought they were evicting you, which even for this Govt would have been a stretch too far!

They are doing this all round. I have a relative who wishes to go into Sheltered Accomodation due to disability and she needs to pay over £300 a month more in rent than what she gets for renting her home and as her income is a few pounds a year over the Pension Credit threshold, but as she needs to move then we will find the money somehow.

Dunroamin

princessdon wrote: »

I see - sorry I thought they were evicting you, which even for this Govt would have been a stretch too far!

They are doing this all round. I have a relative who wishes to go into Sheltered Accomodation due to disability and she needs to pay over £300 a month more in rent than what she gets for renting her home and as her income is a few pounds a year over the Pension Credit threshold, but as she needs to move then we will find the money somehow.

Surely she has the option of selling her own property to fund the sheltered accommodation?

earthbound_misfit

It's 'she' actually, and I already apologised for the ott phrase. However, as I pointed out, when people are facing massive shortfalls in rent that thay cannot afford (hence getting means-tested benefits!), then they will have to leave their home. It's being kicked out via the middle man I suppose.
Anyway the original point, however badly phrased, was that I reckon they're trying to free up one-beds in the private sector to take people currently in oversized council housing. Wait and see, I bet in the next few months they announce an initiative to move these people into private one-beds to free up larger council houses for families.

*apologies for going a bit off-topic, will be gone now lol. Anyone think it's feasable to have a website or something to get together "LHA casualties" so people can find housemates in a similar situation so hopefully live together more harmoniously? Or is it just covered by existing house-share sites...? (not for business, just trying to help)

princessdon

Dunroamin wrote: »

Surely she has the option of selling her own property to fund the sheltered accommodation?

It's not selling at the moment - Hence the decision to rent on a 6 mos lease. TBH it needs a bit of ermm modernisation to shift it, but that involves money and time and when they are paying a small fortune in rent and eating away at their savings it leaves a quandary.

That said - It will be done (I will have time on my hands over the summer to give the garden an overhaul and a lick of paint/tidy up etc), but I wanted to say that there are disabled people out there who are having to pay a huge shortfall in rent personally on limited money too. It wasn't a complaint as we accept the situation, more of an observation that if someone wasn't on benefits wanted a 1/2 bed suitable for disabled they pay out of their own pocket and make up the shortfall.

Dunroamin

earthbound_misfit wrote: »

It's 'she' actually, and I already apologised for the ott phrase. However, as I pointed out, when people are facing massive shortfalls in rent that thay cannot afford (hence getting means-tested benefits!), then they will have to leave their home. It's being kicked out via the middle man I suppose.
Anyway the original point, however badly phrased, was that I reckon they're trying to free up one-beds in the private sector to take people currently in oversized council housing. Wait and see, I bet in the next few months they announce an initiative to move these people into private one-beds to free up larger council houses for families.

*apologies for going a bit off-topic, will be gone now lol. Anyone think it's feasable to have a website or something to get together "LHA casualties" so people can find housemates in a similar situation so hopefully live together more harmoniously? Or is it just covered by existing house-share sites...? (not for business, just trying to help)

Absolute rubbish and total scaremongering! There's been no suggestion that council tenants would lose their security of tenure and be moved to the private sector.

whitelabel

whitelabel wrote: »

mmm thats a little different to what Ive been told today
i called with my friend, they had to clear security etc and give permission to speak to me, but the call centre person said the letter was incorrect
and the account is earmarked to have a benefit reduction change from them 6th august and the 9 month protection ends on the 5th august.
They couldnt explain what the 2nd august date referred to or why it said the 9 months starts then.
But they said the amount it was due to be reduced to was from £103.56 per week to £94.62 ??!!
and were arranging to get that sent out in writing with the correct dates, but the processing time is 28 days (can you imaging having that as an SLA in the private sector!)

Ive no idea where that figure arrives from and they couldnt explain either. They are sending my friend and Discretionary Housing Payment claim form, but ill probably print them one off tonight myself, but they are relieved as if that 94.62 is correct, they can probably cover that them selves esp if they get the DHP, which means they can stay on and not have to worry too much about it at least during their treatment

just hope that not another !!!! up as well !

just been looking in to this some more, seems that call centre person wasnt totally clued up
£94.62 is the new 1 room rate, where as it was 103.56
so it seems that my friend will be continuing with the 1 room rate entitlement !>
so may be what sandwich was saying is right and that 9 months will be starting again as they failed to notify people ?
The person was adamant that my friend would have been notified, though they deny it and the council person couldnt give me a date when it was sent...

sounds like an absolute mess at both a national and local level