Bedroom Tax

Simon1979

Hello

I am a single father living in a three bedroom house with a daughter aged 9 and a son aged 4. At the moment I am entitled to housing benefit for a two bedroom house as the council says the two children are aged under ten they can share. In two months my daughter turns 10, can anybody give me some advise on what I need to do when she turns 10 as I imagine I would be then entitled to housing benefit for three bedrooms.

Many thanks.

DomRavioli

It is pretty simple. Call the local authority on the day (or the next day if is a sunday or non working day) she turns 10. They will be able to do a recalculation and see if you are entitled to a 3 bedroom rate.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

The computer system should automatically recalculate it - will be entitled to 3 bedroom once one of the children turns 10.

Simon1979

Many thanks. I guess I would still have to call or will it just automatically change. Would It be dated from the day she turns 10. Thanks for your help sorry for asking more questions.

FRESTER

On a similar note.
We get some HB and our son will turn 18 soon but is still in full time further education.
Do we need to let the council know he is still at college on his 18th birthday or will they assume this is the case anyway for as long as we receive child benefit for him ?
Thanks in advance

spikeripley

FRESTER wrote: »

On a similar note.
We get some HB and our son will turn 18 soon but is still in full time further education.
Do we need to let the council know he is still at college on his 18th birthday or will they assume this is the case anyway for as long as we receive child benefit for him ?
Thanks in advance

I was in your situation and they said as long as your getting child benefit it will continue but I would phone them anyway just to make sure there's no mistakes made because they can take ages to rectify them.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

FRESTER wrote: »

On a similar note.
We get some HB and our son will turn 18 soon but is still in full time further education.
Do we need to let the council know he is still at college on his 18th birthday or will they assume this is the case anyway for as long as we receive child benefit for him ?
Thanks in advance

As soon as he turns 18 they will automatically treat him as a non dep (or at least every Council I have worked at does) unless they have proof of his course details. Best contact them ASAP.

Child Benefit is the only benefit Council's don't have direct access to.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

Simon1979 wrote: »

Many thanks. I guess I would still have to call or will it just automatically change. Would It be dated from the day she turns 10. Thanks for your help sorry for asking more questions.

It will be from the following Monday.

FRESTER

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

As soon as he turns 18 they will automatically treat him as a non dep (or at least every Council I have worked at does) unless they have proof of his course details. Best contact them ASAP.

Child Benefit is the only benefit Council's don't have direct access to.

Thanks for that I will give them a call next week.

lighting_up_the_chalice

A bit belt 'n' braces, I know, but I would visit rather than just phone. Speak to an adviser, notify them in person and get a written acknowledgement (most councils provide them as a matter of course) then there can be no confusion at a later date when they claim to have no record of your phone call. A bit of a pain in the short term, but it may save a whole host of aggro in the longer term.