Housing Benefit for Pensioner

Agathena

Hello

Bit of advise please.
I am due to retire in March. I privately rent a 2 bed flat. Will have no income apart from state pension and a very small pension of around £480pa. I will apply for pension credit and council tax rebate.

My question is will I get the full housing allowance for a 1 bedroom property. I will have to pay something towards this as my rent is about £60 above the LHA for a 1 bed but well below that for a 2 bed.

Need to sort out my finances before I make my final decisions re retiring.

Man thanks

Indie_Kid

You won't be subject to the bedroom tax and will get full housing benefit.

Bollotom

£60 above LHA?? How much is your rent? I would imagine you would get full housing benefit and full council tax relief. Course the rules chop and change recently has caused some confusion. Maybe Housing Benefit Officer will be along soon to answer. I and my partner two state pensions, occupational pension of around £400 monthly and we get £80+ weekly (Rent Normally £120 weekly) HB and have to pay only £9 weekly as opposed to £19. Get a face to face with your housing department as soon as possible And good luck :cool:

fed_up_and_stressed

sh1305 wrote: »

You won't be subject to the bedroom tax and will get full housing benefit.

Bedroom tax does not affect people who Privately rent as the OP has indicated they do. Instead Lha's are worked out as a maximum based on a person's circumstances.


If the OP was given Pension credit guarantee they would be eligible for maximum LHA for a 1 bedroom property (assuming they live alone). As they have indicated they live in a which costs more than this so the difference would have to be paid for by the OP however the council may have a Discretionary Housing Payment fund if is unreasonable for the Op to move to a cheaper property.

Agathena

fed_up_and_stressed wrote: »

Bedroom tax does not affect people who Privately rent as the OP has indicated they do. Instead Lha's are worked out as a maximum based on a person's circumstances.


If the OP was given Pension credit guarantee they would be eligible for maximum LHA for a 1 bedroom property (assuming they live alone). As they have indicated they live in a which costs more than this so the difference would have to be paid for by the OP however the council may have a Discretionary Housing Payment fund if is unreasonable for the Op to move to a cheaper property.

Thankyou for your help. Can I ask a stupid question what does OP mean,

fed_up_and_stressed

OP=Opening poster

Housing_Benefit_Officer

It all depends on how much your State Retirement Pension is going to be.

For 2013/14 the amount the Government state a single pensioner aged 65+ needs to live on is £163.50.

If your income from your pensions is £163.50 or less then you will qualify for the 1 bed LHA rate.

If you have not claimed HB in the previous 52 weeks and could afford the rent when you moved in then you have 13 weeks protection (ask for this when your claim) This means they will use your full rent figure for 13 weeks before using the 1 bed LHA rate.

Do you have any savings above £10,000?

Agathena

No I dont have savings, but have deferred my pension for 3 years but have been told they ignore this when working out HB.

My Pension is £119.40 but should be topped up with Pension credit.

Sounds like I will have to use my deferred pension to top up my rent.

Thanks for your help

BigAunty

fed_up_and_stressed wrote: »

As they have indicated they live in a which costs more than this so the difference would have to be paid for by the OP however the council may have a Discretionary Housing Payment fund if is unreasonable for the Op to move to a cheaper property.

I thought the idea of DHP was to give a temporary top up in order that it gave the tenants time to find a cheaper property.....?

Housing_Benefit_Officer

Agathena wrote: »

No I dont have savings, but have deferred my pension for 3 years but have been told they ignore this when working out HB.

My Pension is £119.40 but should be topped up with Pension credit.

Sounds like I will have to use my deferred pension to top up my rent.

Thanks for your help

My understanding is they would treat deferred pension as notional income rather than disregard it?

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/236963/hbgm-bp2-assessment-of-income.pdf

Notional income

P2.670 A person may be treated as receiving income which they have not actually received (that is, income they are entitled to, but have not claimed). This is called notional income.

HB(SPC) Reg 41 & 42; CTB(SPC) Reg 31 & 32

P2.671 Notional income may be assumed in any of the following circumstances

• deprivation of income in order to claim, or increase entitlement to, benefit

HB(SPC) Reg 41; CTB(SPC) Reg 31

• retirement pension income which would be available to the claimant if they applied for it

HB(SPC) Reg 41; CTB(SPC) Reg 31

lld01

Agathena wrote: »

No I dont have savings, but have deferred my pension for 3 years but have been told they ignore this when working out HB.

My Pension is £119.40 but should be topped up with Pension credit.

Sounds like I will have to use my deferred pension to top up my rent.

Thanks for your help

Pension Credit will take the deferred pension into account also as income whether you claim it or not.