Child moved away to uni - housing benefit?

Smi1er

mee1973 wrote: »

After phoning the council this morning it appears they now deem him as of leaving home and will no longer pay to keep his room for him. I explained the circumstances and they made a note to discuss with their boss.

So in a nut shell it seems we are being punished for him wanting to further his education. Either I move to a smaller 2 bed home which means he has no home to come to, or he leaves university, returns home and finds a job. How ridiculous.

Sorry but how is returning home and finding a job ridiculous?

Have you contacted Shelter? They're one of the best in giving advice in your situation.

barnaby-bear

mee1973 wrote: »

Hi, my son recently moved away to university, I have received the confirmation letter to give to the council confirming he is there so I will still get 25% discount for single person for council tax but it has suddenly dawned on me that I have no idea how this affects my housing benefit.

I current;y work different patterns, going from full time back down to between 16 to 24 hrs a week, so I still get a portion of housing benefit paid. However, after a recent letter informing me I will now get less due to my son going to uni it has dawned on me I can not actually afford to live.

I have searched all night online to no avail and I am starting to worry an awful lot. I have a 3 bed as I also have a 15 year old daughter so they both need their own bedrooms. Obviously my son will still need his own room when he returns in the holidays and when the 3/4 year uni course finishes he will be returning home.

Are the council expecting me to move into a 2 bed and will not pay any housing benefit for him? I dfon't understand how this would work for when he returns home? Basically they have taken away so much from child tax and are now expecting me to pay even more rent, meaning I have lost £100 a week, this is physically impossible to do as I live on the bread line anyway.

Really appreciate anyone else in the same situation giving me the heads up. I'll be straight down the council tomorrow but until then I am trying to find out everything I can regarding this situation. I don't want to lose my home Which by the way is a housing association specifically for those on low incomes... yet still impossible for me to pay the majority of the rent on what I earn - even if I work full time as I am on a low wage.

Very worried.

Can you post a SOAs?

How much is your rent per month? HA rents are generally very low and it sounds a bit odd that child benefit plus a small top up is leaving you with £25 a month? Are you paying lots of debts?

helenmarianne

Not sure if you got this sorted, but I was successful in challenging a housing benefit decision earlier this year which deemed I wasn't entitled to a 2nd bedroom for my daughter when she went to uni! Please let me know if you want further details. Helen.

pmlindyloo

helenmarianne wrote: »

Not sure if you got this sorted, but I was successful in challenging a housing benefit decision earlier this year which deemed I wasn't entitled to a 2nd bedroom for my daughter when she went to uni! Please let me know if you want further details. Helen.

I would be very interested to know about this and it could be very useful for future queries.


Did you get help challenging the decision?


Did you use any case studies?

mee1973

helenmarianne wrote: »

Not sure if you got this sorted, but I was successful in challenging a housing benefit decision earlier this year which deemed I wasn't entitled to a 2nd bedroom for my daughter when she went to uni! Please let me know if you want further details. Helen.

Better late than never as a reply lol! I did eventually get this sorted thanks. It took a long while though, they eventually asked if they could see my sons rent agreement and decided he would be covered. They wouldn't tell me which information the decision was based on but from a bit of research it seems the number of weeks the rent agreement is for has something to do with it. They also confirmed I would have to go through all of this again next year.