Universal credit and House benefits

Rizidr

Hi.
I have joint claim and husband is subject to immigration control. I have a baby.My current tenancy agreement is on my name only and getting full house element. I am gonna move out in couple of days. If new tenancy agreement also has my husbands name on will it affect the house elements?

poppy12345

Rizidr wrote: »

Hi.
I have joint claim and husband is subject to immigration control. I have a baby.My current tenancy agreement is on my name only and getting full house element. I am gonna move out in couple of days. If new tenancy agreement also has my husbands name on will it affect the house elements?

You'll still be entitled to the 2 bedroom rate, the same as you're receiving now.

Rizidr

Thank you for your reply.

OhWow

Rizidr wrote: »

Hi.
I have joint claim and husband is subject to immigration control. I have a baby.My current tenancy agreement is on my name only and getting full house element.

Are your council aware that you have a patner living with you? Although you cannot claim extra Housing Benefit for a spouse who is subject to immigration control, his income/savings forms part of your claim.

Rizidr wrote: »

Hi.
If new tenancy agreement also has my husbands name on will it affect the house elements?

If the let is social housing, it will affect his immigration status if his name is on the tenancy agreement because he has "no recourse to public funds" as part of his visa conditions.

calcotti

OhWow wrote: »

Are your council aware that you have a patner living with you? Although you cannot claim extra Housing Benefit for a spouse who is subject to immigration control, his income/savings forms part of your claim.

OP is not claiming housing Benefit. They are claiming Universal Credit which has nothing to do with the council. Partner will have been required to claim UC and any earnings they have will be taken into account but OP will only be getting single person basic allowance, not couple rate. It makes no difference to the housing element, Op is allowed two bedrooms regardless of whether or not she has partner living. This would also have made no difference to amount of hosing benefit payable in the past so partner would not have been benefiting from public funds even under HB and it would not have affected their immigration status.

Council Tax Reduction however is more complicated and if that is being claimed could affect immigration status because the CTR may be higher for a couple than if OP lived alone (because the CT liability itself would be lower due to single person discount if OP lived alone).

OhWow

calcotti wrote: »

OP is not claiming housing Benefit. This would also have made no difference to amount of hosing benefit payable in the past so partner would not have been benefiting from public funds even under HB and it would not have affected their immigration status.

His earnings and savings would reduce a low income benefit claim, such as Housing Benefit and the replacement benefit, Universal Credit, but would not affect the room entitlement where there is a child.



The OP has said she is claiming the full housing element. If her husband is in the UK on a spouse visa or FLR(M) visa then he has permission to work full time.

calcotti wrote: »

Council Tax Reduction however is more complicated and if that is being claimed could affect immigration status because the CTR may be higher for a couple than if OP lived alone (because the CT liability itself would be lower due to single person discount if OP lived alone).

Unless he is in the UK on a Tier 4 (Student) visa. The OP hasn't said what visa her husband is on.


Putting his name on a social housing tenancy agreement can affect any visa, as I have stated above.

calcotti

OhWow wrote: »

His earnings and savings would reduce a low income benefit claim, such as Housing Benefit and the replacement benefit, Universal Credit. The OP has said she is claiming the full housing element. If her husband is in the UK on a spouse visa or FLR(M) then he has permission to work.

OP's housing element is the same regardless of whether or not she has a partner because, as you say, the room entitlement is the same. Partner is therefore not benefiting from public funds. That would also have been true for Housing benefit.

Of course his earnings/capital are taken into account - I said that in my post.

Universal Credit has sensibly been set up to much more closely align with immigration rules which reduces the risk of someone accidentally falling foul of the rules.

Council Tax Reduction would concern me more for the reason explained. Good point about possible student status though which would avoid the potential problem.

I have made no comment on the tenancy for social housing as I have no knowledge of that. Assuming what you have said is correct, which seems logical, I would have thought a local authority would refuse to put them on the tenancy agreement anyway.

OhWow

calcotti wrote: »

Universal Credit has sensibly been set up to much more closely align with immigration rules which reduces the risk of someone accidentally falling foul of the rules.

And also makes all with "no recourse to public funds" the same for extra benefit money. UC ended being able to claim the second adult element of Working Tax Credit for a partner with no recourse to public funds (if you had a child) via a partner that could claim that benefit.

calcotti wrote: »

I have made no comment on the tenancy itself for social housing as I have no knowledge of that.

I know the OP only asked because of a benefit claim, but it could affect her husband's visa if this is not a private let and his name is on a LA property or an HA property if the LA referred them to the HA.


UK Visas and Immigration guidance for how it makes decisions about what UK public funds foreign nationals can claim and what action it must take if they claim funds they are not entitled to.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-funds


From page 14

This page tells you about local authority housing received by the settled spouse or partner of a person subject to immigration control. A joint tenancy cannot be granted to 2 or more people if any of them is a person subject to immigration control who is ineligible for local authority housing. This applies both to local authority housing and to housing which is provided by a housing association as the result of a referral from a local authority. Asole tenancy may be granted to someone who is eligible (for example a British person or person settled in the UK) but whose spouse/partner is not eligible. The ineligible spouse or partner is not counted as accessing public funds as a result of this

calcotti

OhWow wrote: »

UC ended being able to claim the second adult element of Working Tax Credit for a partner with no recourse to public funds (if you had a child) via a partner that could claim that benefit.

Under UC this doesn't happen. Both partners have to claim and their claim is a joint claim. However if one member has NRPF this is known to UC and only the single person basic rate is include not the couple rate. The end result is that the maximum UC entitlement is exactly as it would be as if the eligible partner was a single person. The amount payable is, of course, reduced by the NRPF partner's income/savings.

OhWow wrote: »

A joint tenancy cannot be granted to 2 or more people if any of them is a person subject to immigration control who is ineligible for local authority housing.

That seems to make it quite hard to fall foul of (which is good).

Rizidr

My council knows that husband living with me as it is a joint claim. We both had interview when we applied UC. It is a private renting. My husband earning has been taken into account and i am getting single person rate. My husband is not on spouse visa.

Rizidr

What about the Council Tax Reduction ? Will it affect the CTR ?