PLEASE HELP - UC and housing benefits muddle

maybluebells34

Please don’t judge me and I would greatly appreciate any advice offered. 

My youngest turned 5 last year and so I made the move to UC from income support. Under income support I  received housing benefit but I also topped up the rent. The housing benefit was paid directly to the landlord and I never saw any of the money. 

Under UC, the housing element meant that it was the first time I had access to rent funds. I have seen been paying my landlord with the rent element and topping up as necessary. 

Now the issue is, is that apparently my housing benefit was never stopped. I don’t understand how this can be because firstly, online it states that the council will be made aware once a claim ant is receiving UC as both HB and UC cannot be awarded. 

It seemed my council were indeed aware of this because they asked me to evidence my UC, which I did. I was the. I have in the last month received a letter awarding me housing benefit based on income support?!! I immediately wrote to them (have evidence) to say that this cannot be as I am receiving UC.

Now UC are maintaining that I have been overpaid and have removed my housing element. They even said that an individual cannot claim UC and HB together but clearly, this is happening? 

What I would like to stress is that I had no idea that housing benefit was still being paid. Given that I had never had access to the actual funds in hand, I was completely unaware and no one told me. What confuses me is that my council even asked for my UC claim and have still awarded me HB? How can this be? I have evidence of paying my rent solely with UC money and evidence of the fact that I have never received HB directly. 

I’m not sure where to go from here. There seems to be confusion between all parties and I am at a loss. Please help. 

maybluebells34

Apologise sincerely for the typos. It’s 5am and I haven’t slept a wink with worry. 

Caz3121

has your landlord confirmed that you have overpaid by the housing benefit amount?....can you calculate how far in advance you are paid up till?

huckster

Sounds like an issue with original information on the UC claim and the verification process.

Normally, if a claimant states they had Housing costs for an address, it  then goes on to ask more questions. If these are answered correctly, UC sends a form to Council Housing Benefit to stop this duplication of Housing and an overpayment from occurring.

Suggest you send a journal message on your UC claim and ask why the information on your original claim disclosure did not lead to the Council Housing benefit being notified, to avoid duplication, as well as any overpayment from occurring.

maybluebells34

Caz3121 said:

has your landlord confirmed that you have overpaid by the housing benefit amount?....can you calculate how far in advance you are paid up till?

No my landlord hasn’t mentioned a thing! It’s via agency placed by the council. 

maybluebells34

huckster said:

Sounds like an issue with original information on the UC claim and the verification process.

Normally, if a claimant states they had Housing costs for an address, it  then goes on to ask more questions. If these are answered correctly, UC sends a form to Council Housing Benefit to stop this duplication of Housing and an overpayment from occurring.

Suggest you send a journal message on your UC claim and ask why the information on your original claim disclosure did not lead to the Council Housing benefit being notified, to avoid duplication, as well as any overpayment from occurring.

I will. Can I ask where I go from here? I’m sure the council is well aware that I’ve been awarded UC as they asked for evidence. Yet have also awarded me HB in the basis of income support? Surely they should know that this shouldn’t be the case?

calcotti

maybluebells34 said: It’s via agency placed by the council. 

If you are in certain types of accommodation then your housing costs are covered by Housing Benefit and should not be included in Universal Credit. I wonder whether that is what has happened here.

Is your accommodation 'temporary accommodation' that you have been placed in by the council? If so then Housing Benefit is the correct benefit and the housing costs should not be included in UC.

When you applied for UC there is a question in the Housing section that asks if you are in temporary accommodation. If this applies perhaps you completed that section incorrectly (obviously you would not have known the significance of the question).

I think the best starting point is to check with the council whether or not they are satisfied that the Housing Benefit is correct and if so ask them to confirm why. You will then know where you stand.

If you have been overpaid UC then the overpayment will be recovered by deduction from future payments. In the meantime you must be in credit with the landlord and should therefore be able to recover money from them. (Perhaps the council will help you with this if you have difficulty.)

huckster

To be honest, I don't think you answered the questions correctly on the original disclosure. If the questions are answered correctly,  this would have enabled UC to contact the Council, so they would be aware you were claiming UC within a few weeks of you claiming UC.

The whole system is reliant on the disclosure questions being answered correctly, as it then automatically enables actions to be completed including notifications to council. 

Not ruling out an error UC or Council, but your posts indicate information was not correct at the beginning of the claim.

maybluebells34

huckster said:

To be honest, I don't think you answered the questions correctly on the original disclosure. If the questions are answered correctly,  this would have enabled UC to contact the Council, so they would be aware you were claiming UC within a few weeks of you claiming UC.

The whole system is reliant on the disclosure questions being answered correctly, as it then automatically enables actions to be completed including notifications to council. 

Not ruling out an error UC or Council, but your posts indicate information was not correct at the beginning of the claim.

Yes I answered everything correctly when disclosing my information. I even have submitted evidence to the council myself 

maybluebells34

calcotti said:

maybluebells34 said: It’s via agency placed by the council. 

If you are in certain types of accommodation then your housing costs are covered by Housing Benefit and should not be included in Universal Credit. I wonder whether that is what has happened here.


Is your accommodation 'temporary accommodation' that you have been placed in by the council? If so then Housing Benefit is the correct benefit and the housing costs should not be included in UC.

When you applied for UC there is a question in the Housing section that asks if you are in temporary accommodation. If this applies perhaps you completed that section incorrectly (obviously you would not have known the significance of the question).

I think the best starting point is to check with the council whether or not they are satisfied that the Housing Benefit is correct and if so ask them to confirm why. You will then know where you stand.

If you have been overpaid UC then the overpayment will be recovered by deduction from future payments. In the meantime you must be in credit with the landlord and should therefore be able to recover money from them. (Perhaps the council will help you with this if you have difficulty.)

The property is paid on a nightly basis. So yes it is temporary accommodation. But as far as I was aware, given that I am claiming UC for living costs, I cannot be awarded housing benefit? But the council have done so in the basis of me receiving income support. This is despite me sending evidence that I am on UC 

calcotti

maybluebells34 said: The property is paid on a nightly basis. So yes it is temporary accommodation. But as far as I was aware, given that I am claiming UC for living costs, I cannot be awarded housing benefit? But the council have done so in the basis of me receiving income support. This is despite me sending evidence that I am on UC 

If it is temporary accommodation the cost of the rent cannot be covered by UC. Housing Benefit is the correct benefit and any housing element paid through UC has been incorrectly paid.

https://www.gov.uk/housing-and-universal-credit

You cannot get Universal Credit to help with housing costs if any of the following apply:

• you’re living in supported or sheltered housing (such as a hostel) which provides you with ‘care, support or supervision’

• you’re living in temporary accommodation, such as a B&B arranged by your council

• you’re living in a refuge for survivors of domestic abuse

Apply for Housing Benefit instead.

When you applied for UC there would, to the best of my knowledge, have been a page that asked if you were in temporary accommodation and if so what kind of accommodation it is plus a question about whether or you were getting or had applied for HB.

Either you completed this incorrectly or UC failed to take it on board. As they have been paying the housing element to you UC will no doubt have sent a notice to the local authority to end your HB claim but it has presumably take some time for the local authority to respond (or for UC to pick it up) that they are still paying HB because of the nature of the accommodation.

Regardless of where any fault lies any overpayment of UC is recoverable.