Brother on less money so getting less HB

Ponsienella

My brother was on SSP of £87.55 per week + he has an occupational pension which equates to £44.91 per week. He claimed HB & CTB which he was awarded. He was also given a disregard of £22.10 per week because he is single and as a result of the amount of hours worked.

However his SSP ended on 30th November and, because he is still ill, he has claimed ESA which he has been awarded from 1st December. The amount is £72.40 per week and is contribution-based.

I contacted his council and informed them of his reduction in income from £87.55 to £72.40, expecting there to be a small increase in the amount of HB and CTB awarded to him. However, the amounts have been reduced and I note there is now no disregarded income.

Can this be right that he now has less income and receives less benefits as a result?

My brother is not unemployed - his employer are keeping his job open for him and he is just off sick but he has been sick for in excess of 28 weeks so has run out of sick pay. (He has Psychotic depression).

Can anyone advise whether this is correct?

In additional my brother recently had a payslip with a small tax rebate on it. Do the council need to be notified about this?

What about if he now claimed Working Tax Credit due to his income going down. If he is awarded Tax Credits would this also affect HB & CTB?

Thank you in advance for any help you can give us.

pmlindyloo

Ponsienella wrote: »

My brother was on SSP of £87.55 per week + he has an occupational pension which equates to £44.91 per week. He claimed HB & CTB which he was awarded. He was also given a disregard of £22.10 per week because he is single and as a result of the amount of hours worked.

However his SSP ended on 30th November and, because he is still ill, he has claimed ESA which he has been awarded from 1st December. The amount is £72.40 per week and is contribution-based.

I contacted his council and informed them of his reduction in income from £87.55 to £72.40, expecting there to be a small increase in the amount of HB and CTB awarded to him. However, the amounts have been reduced and I note there is now no disregarded income.

Can this be right that he now has less income and receives less benefits as a result?

My brother is not unemployed - his employer are keeping his job open for him and he is just off sick but he has been sick for in excess of 28 weeks so has run out of sick pay. (He has Psychotic depression).

Can anyone advise whether this is correct?

In additional my brother recently had a payslip with a small tax rebate on it. Do the council need to be notified about this?

What about if he now claimed Working Tax Credit due to his income going down. If he is awarded Tax Credits would this also affect HB & CTB?

Thank you in advance for any help you can give us.

To answer your last question first.

Since your brother has had 28 weeks of sick pay then he is no longer eligible for working tax credits.

Am a bit confused about HB and CT support.

My understanding is that the disregard is given when the claimant is working http://www.richmond.gov.uk/home/services/housing/help_with_paying_your_rent_and_council_tax/make_a_benefit_claim/about_making_a_benefit_claim/income_for_calculating_benefit.htm

Doesn't seem to be the case here.

In case there has been an error I would be inclined to speak to the council and find out why this disregard was given.

Housing Benefit Officer might be a long later to explain if I have got it wrong.

Perhaps the disregard is given for so long and then stops. The answer is usually in the small print of the regulations so hopefully HBO will shed some light.

oochiepoochie

Hi OP
My understanding is that SSP is treated as earnings from employment so it attracts a disregard when HB is worked out. That £87.55 becomes £65.05 once the disregard is applied. Income from ESA (C) has no disregard at all so the whole £72.40 is taken into account when HB is worked out. Unfortunately, it is correct that your brother is entitled to less HB now.

missapril75

It sounds like a mistake.

It's a while ago but when processing an Income Support claim for someone on SSP we had to record employment and earnings details - but enter 00 hours worked so as not to produce a full time work exclusion and also enter 0.00 as earnings to avoid the system attributing a disregard.

We would then record the SSP payment separately so as to produce a deduction - no disregard - for that income.

It sounds like something similar may have happened but the SSP has been input as earnings, resulting in an erroneous disregard.

If oochiepoochie is correct it would seem a bit of an anomaly.

oochiepoochie

Hm, I'm not sure now. I know the rules are different between Income Support and Housing Benefit and agree that SSP is taken into account in full for IS (having also had the past pleasure of working on that benefit). I am sure though that the first £5 of SSP is disregarded on HB claims but now I'm wondering if the hours disregard of £17.50 is only given if the claimant is actually working those hours and removed if they are getting sick pay iyswim. Hopefully the very knowledgeable housingbenefitofficer will be able to clear this up for the OP. Even if the £17.50 disregard was applied in error, it remains the case that the brother will now be entitled to less in benefit.
As a point of interest (or not, as the case may be), the anomaly between the treatment of SSP on IS and HB claims has been addressed in the UC regulations.

Housing_Benefit_Officer

It is to do with the income disregards. When you work you get a certain amount of your wages disregarded. If you are on SSP the disregards continue. Now he is no longer receiving SSP but ECA C all income is taken into account - so he gets less money but gets less HB/CTS.

The system is set up to make work pay - and this is an example.

allen35

Housing_Benefit_Officer wrote: »

It is to do with the income disregards. When you work you get a certain amount of your wages disregarded. If you are on SSP the disregards continue. Now he is no longer receiving SSP but ECA C all income is taken into account - so he gets less money but gets less HB/CTS.

The system is set up to make work pay - and this is an example.

Fully aware of the above but is there a case (similar to WTC) that he could be classed as still working if intending to return to work or do HB reg's not accomodate this scenario.

If it's a long term illness and SSP has expired and he intends to return to the workplace, therefore the only option of work related income would be ESA, it seems as though he is being penalised.....

Housing_Benefit_Officer

The disregards only apply while working - they don't continue into unemployment.

missapril75

If memory serves, this likely wouldn't have been an issue prior to ESA. If still sick under the previous systems, Invalidity Benefit and, later, Incapacity Benefit when replacing SSP would have been at a higher rate.