disabled student and housing benifit

big_ox

My son starts university in sept. He gets Disability living allowance.When looking on benefits sites they suggest that he may get housing benefit but does anyone know if this applies to halls of residence? Is there anything else he could claim( his disability is linked to his mobility) i would be very grateful for any help as i feel i have spent days and days trawling the internet.Thank you from a very tired mam.

msmicawber

Hi big ox,

I don't know the answer, but will 'bump' your post up the list in the hope that someone knowledgeable sees it.

I do know that Universities have Student Services and Students' Union advisors who are very knowledgeable and who will be there now, so would recommend that you check the University's web site and/or ring them for advice. I'm sure you'll get a quick answer, and that they'll support your son in any way that he requires.

bwgames

Yes, you can.

I claim it.
Most universities, and a lot of HB offices don't know about it unfortunately.
It applies to any rented accomodation, so halls of residences are included. I've claimed it for my halls of residence, and for private rented accomodation I've stayed in.
It's rare for them to pay the full amount, but it will generally cover quite a bit of it. It *is* means-tested, but only on your son's income.

Basically, the process is to just do a normal HB claim with the council for that area, and they will probably ask for further student-specific information afterwards. e.g. the student loan letter etc. They generally only start paying benefit from when they receive the claim, so I would do it now, if you know where he is staying.

A word of warning, you will get *drowned* in paperwork, and keep records of everything and send it recorded delivery etc.
I've had several incidences of letters from the council e.g. "You have not told us about this parental allowance before in your previous claim. Please submit proof, and be aware that you may have to repay any overpayment", to which I reply "Actually, I told you in my letter dated XXX, a copy of which is attached".
So, apply for it, but be very sure to keep records of what you send to avoid any mixups in the future.


What area will he be in?

naf123

I advise u to get a big arch file and hole punch every single piece of paperwork u will have, and photocopy everything u send out (may be wise to invest in a small 3 in 1 photocopy machine which is relatively cheap these days (i got mine for about £25).

Good luck!

big_ox

bwgames wrote: »

What area will he be in?

He is going to Hull.Their council said that they weren't sure but they didn't think he could claim as it was halls of residence. Your reply has been very useful and i will start the ball rolling straight away,Thankyou

Mrs_T_5

hi not sure if this is relevant but i am also on dla due to mobility (spinal injury) i was able to apply for a disabled student allowance. this was funded by my council but they were advised on what help and equipment i required from an independant assessment. I personally had further spinal surgery during my final year and wasgiven a personal assistant for x hours a week to help me get safely to lectures and carry my equipment that was needed. Before the surgery i was given the funding to purchase all of the books on the required reading lists so that i had a copy at home towork with for my assignments - i could not carry all the books to the library as well as well as the library being on a different site to my main lecture rooms. I couldnot also sit in the library for long periods due to the generic chairs and because of this it highlighted the need for the books tobe at hand. I was also provided with a specialist desk andchair at home to allow me to work for longer periods due to comfort and i also wasgivena pc with voice recognition software so i did not have to use the keyboard ( unable to bend forward).

This grant was given to me to complete my 2nd degree which i finished in 2002 i knew nothing about it whilst studying for my 1st!

I am also aware of a number of people with dyslexia being able to borrow or be given laptops with voice recognition. However this is only from my personal experience and not taken from any formal litrature.

any spelling problems i apologise for in advance. My wireles keyboard picks up what it likes!
mrs T

bwgames

big_ox wrote: »

He is going to Hull.Their council said that they weren't sure but they didn't think he could claim as it was halls of residence. Your reply has been very useful and i will start the ball rolling straight away,Thankyou

If its catered halls, he won't get any money towards food. Or utilities (water, electricity etc) in any accomodation. They deduct a set amount from his rent for that...

So, say rent is £120/week inc food. They might deduct...say..£30/week for food, and another £10/week for utilitilies.... leaving £60/week towards actual housing. They would then base their assessment (i.e. means testing etc) on that £60 amount, NOT the £120 amount.

There's absolutely no reason why halls of residence would make a difference. It just means amounts will have to be taken off to take into account the fact the rent includes utilities and perhaps food etc. The council will do this, or they should...

The issue with halls of residence is that on the benefit application form it asks questions like

"does your rent include money towards the following:

meals? if so, how many per day/week? - this is easy enough to answer
lighting? electricity? gas? etc If so, how much goes towards these? - this is not so easy for you to answer."

I was lucky enough that my hall management were the ones who actually told me about the fact I could claim HB, and actually got in touch with the university finance office to work out how much those amounts were, which enabled me to answer those questions.

The big issue here is that virtually no students claim HB, as they usually can't (its open to DLA people only), or they don't know about it, so no universities or councils really understand it....

If its a university halls of residence, then they will probably be more inclined to help than a privately ran halls, so, best to maybe go and see them, and explain the situation....

Edit:

Just seen Mrs_Ts post, which reminded me of something that might be relevant.

The DSA *should*, from what I understand, fund the cost between the room that your son wants, and one he may have to have due to mobility problems.
By this, I mean, say you just wanted a single room without en suite. But, the only rooms that they can provide with the necessary adaptions (if necessary) are en suite and cost more - the DSA should pay the difference.
The problem with the DSA is that its very much up to your local council, and it can be a postcode lottery as to whether they do this without any fuss or not...