Housing benefit ideas

Mediocre_Dad

Hi MSE,

I'm new here, and new to benefits. I was wondering if anyone has an idea of what housing benefits I could receive given my circumstances;

Single dad
2 children aged 3 and 5
Working 26 hours/week
Taking home ~£1100 a month after tax
Getting ~600/month from CTC & CB
I've put my details into a .gov recommended calculator and it says ~£150/month. Is this near enough correct? I was thinking it would be much more, like £300-400/month.

I know more details would be needed to get a precise figure but is this ~£150 about right?

Thanks in advance.

poppy12345

Mediocre_Dad wrote: »

Hi MSE,

I'm new here, and new to benefits. I was wondering if anyone has an idea of what housing benefits I could receive given my circumstances;

Single dad
2 children aged 3 and 5
Working 26 hours/week
Taking home ~£1100 a month after tax
Getting ~600/month from CTC & CB
I've put my details into a .gov recommended calculator and it says ~£150/month. Is this near enough correct? I was thinking it would be much more, like £300-400/month.

I know more details would be needed to get a precise figure but is this ~£150 about right?

Thanks in advance.

The benefit calculators are only correct if you put the right info into them, so if you put everything in right then that would be what you could get.

pmlindyloo

Mediocre_Dad wrote: »

Hi MSE,

I'm new here, and new to benefits. I was wondering if anyone has an idea of what housing benefits I could receive given my circumstances;

Single dad
2 children aged 3 and 5
Working 26 hours/week
Taking home ~£1100 a month after tax
Getting ~600/month from CTC & CB
I've put my details into a .gov recommended calculator and it says ~£150/month. Is this near enough correct? I was thinking it would be much more, like £300-400/month.

I know more details would be needed to get a precise figure but is this ~£150 about right?

Thanks in advance.

Are you receiving working tax credits?

It depends on what your local housing allowance is. They vary from place to place. Your eligibility would be based on the two bed rate for your area. You can look up the rate on your local council website.

PasturesNew

The way it works is this:

In each area they take a value that is equal to the 30th percentile of rents across that area - and that amount is the LHA rate for the area. The area may be quite vast.

What you're entitled to will depend on your circumstances - in your case a 2-bed value as your kids are young.

It might be that if you compared your whole rent against the LHA for a 2-bed in your postcode area your rent is much much higher than the LHA rate would ever give you.

So first they look at what the system allows you as a maximum (2 bed LHA rate in your postcode). Then they do maths based on your income.

So it's a fluid amount, varying across the country, but defined by the same rules countrywide. But, the area the calculation works on could be vast.

This website tells you the value of maximum LHA in your postcode area: https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/Secure/Search.aspx - you'd need to look at the 2-bed rate.

You then need to Google for a "Broad Rental Market Areas" Map of your area to get a map of where your area covers (it could be a whole county in some parts of the country).

From this you will start to see what they base the calculations on.

You might find that you decide to move somewhere cheaper, but cross a BMRA border and the rates are different.

Mediocre_Dad

Thanks for the info guys.

The LHA in my area is ~98/week.

But the calculator is telling me ~150/month, so just ~£34/week. Is this reduction to be expected because of my earnings?

tboo

Do you have any childcare costs?
What is your rent per week? - LHA or the rent whichever is lower is used for HB

Mediocre_Dad

Childcare £44/week.

Currently not renting, but looking to, and would be 450-500pcm

tboo

This is only a rough estimate as the council will calculate the HB on exact amounts
- HB due £25.94 per week based on the LHA rate not the rent

This is what you are likely to receive no matter what the rent is

So any contractual rent above the LHA and any HB has to be factored into your budget
eg

rent of £500 per mth = £115.38 week
LHA - £424.66 mth = £98 week
difference even before HB added on - £17.38 week = £75.32 mth
HB - £25.94 = £112.40 mth

£115.38 - £25.94 HB = £89.44 per week or £387.60 mth to find
so the lower the rent the less shortfall

but if the rent is lower than the LHA £424.66 then they will use that

theartfullodger

Mediocre_Dad wrote: »

Hi MSE,

I'm new here, and new to benefits. I was wondering if anyone has an idea of what housing benefits I could receive given my circumstances;

Single dad
2 children aged 3 and 5..........

New to benefits? Surely you've been getting Child Benefit for at least 5 years?

And, re

Currently not renting, but looking to, and would be 450-500pcm

If living with family, no rent, OK: If selling your home or renting it out the proceeds/rent paid would usually significantly affect benefits, especially HB.

Good luck!