ESA when living with someone who works?

Cheezykins

Hi all,

A friend of mine is thinking about moving up to where I live as the job prospects given medical stuff etc. where she is are not great, and I live in the home counties where things are much better. I have a spare room and she could live there quite easily.

She currently claims income based ESA, would she still be able to continue claiming this until she manages to find work? What assistance would she be able to receive towards rent and bills? She currently lives with her parents and pays token rent / no bills.

I'm happy to help her out but would ideally like to be able to charge rent on the room, and im not sure ESA is enough to pay for a share of the bills / council tax, or even if she would take me out of the single occupancy discount for council tax.

I have a reasonably well paying job, and am concerned that this would be assessed against her claim, despite us not being partners etc.

Any help or pointers would be fantastic.
Cheers.

Caz3121

If you are not partners then there should be no change to her ESA.

Have a look at the rent a room scheme re renting out a room to her. If the rate you charge includes bills then the amount paid by housing benefit (which will be capped at the shared accommodation rate) will be reduced and ESA would be used for bills.

Do you own your property? If you rent does your lease allow you to have a lodger?

pmlindyloo

Your friend's income based ESA would not be affected.

The only possibility of your income being taken into account is if they considered that you were living there as partners.

You need to look at your local council's website and find out the local housing allowance rate for shared accommodation. This is the amount your friend would receive as regards housing benefit. She would need to produce evidence that she was living there and paying rent ( rent book/lodger's agreement/letter from you)

You would lose your single person's discount of council tax so you need to take this into account.

Depending on which group of ESA your friend is in this is probably doable as her rent will be paid (and then she can pay it to you)and she will be left with her ESA intact.