Legacy benefits and housing benefit.

Alice_Holt

calcotti said:

Alice_Holt said:

Not sure if Scotland is different, but...

Yes, that seems correct to me.

Alice, not clear to me why a change of tenancy type should require a change from Housing Benefit to UC. If a claimant on HB moves to a different address in same local authority they can simply update theHB claim. Why can't they do the same for a change of tenancy type?

OP, subject to what Alice says, i am not convinced you need to claim UC.

         My thinking was that it constituted a change from a temporary accommodation tenancy (which is paid via HB) to a permanent tenancy, and that change was the reason for the council's advice. A new application for a permanent tenancy would be under UC rather than HB ?
       However, I'm not entirely sure I haven't jumped to that conclusion because of the council's advice given to the OP.

      Apologies OP, and good that calcotti has picked that up.
      Shelter may be able to confirm -  https://england.shelter.org.uk/get_help            

Prudent

Aliecholt thank you. I had not considered Shelter. We had quite a few issues with the council making errors about her rent when she was on the temporary tenancy hence I wanted to check out whether they are correct. I followed the link Movingforward posted which seemed to confirm that she only needed to apply for UC if she moved to another council area. This had been my original understanding of the situation until the council said she would need to apply for UC. 

MovingForwards

I've gone through 5 different council sites and can't find anything to match these circumstances. 

All had an online change of circumstances form but unfortunately I couldn't get on to the 2nd page unless I filled in personal details. 

I have managed to look at several for England and all they ask is details of the change and proof of it. 

Benefits are the same up here as they are set by the UK government, not Scottish Parliament.

Sorry it's not much help.

MovingForwards

I'm not sure there would be a move to UC.
She's not moved council / property, no one is moving in / out. All that's happened is she now has a very secure tenancy.

I would speak to shelter and while logically it makes sense to report the change, it's illogical a move to UC would be required just for that.

calcotti

My starting point would be that she has a valid Housing Benefit claim. She is having a change of circumstances which, as far as I can see, does not require a new benefit application. Therefore the local authority should be able to simply treat this as a change of circumstances and modify the claim accordingly.

If there was a UC claim already in place, rather than ESA, then it would be true that HB would have to end and help with rent would need to be added to the UC claim - however that is not the situation here.

calcotti

Found discussion on similar situation on Rightsnet
https://www.rightsnet.org.uk/forums/viewthread/17260/
This appears to confirm that advice OP has been given by local authority is incorrect.

Prudent

I am extremely grateful for all the input. I will phone the council back today and (if I can get through!) I will update the thread. I will update the thread as I go along, even if no one else can add anything, as it might help someone in the future. 

Nannytone

Im just wondering....
Because temporary housing has to be paid through housing benefit rather than UC...
Where did she live prior to the temporary housing?
Was she previously claiming housing benefit?
Possibly it was only the nature of the housing that made a claim for hb necessary, rather than UC.
If it had been a secure tenancy  ftom the startwould she have had to claim UC or hb?

Hope that makes sense

calcotti

Nannytone said: Possibly it was only the nature of the housing that made a claim for hb necessary, rather than UC.

If it had been a secure tenancy  ftom the startwould she have had to claim UC or hb?

My take is that once a Housing Benefit claim exists it can continue unless a UC claim already exists in which case a switch from supported housing to secure tenancy would require a switch to HB because an HB claim can only exist alongside UC in limited circumstances. In this case OP is still on legacy benefits so, I think, HB can continue with a change of circumstances.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/236974/hbgm-c6-reconsidering-revising-superseding.pdf

Change of circumstances

6.660  When there has been a change of circumstances since the effective date of the decision, or if it is expected that a change will occur, the DM may supersede the decision which is currently in force.

6.661  It is not necessary for a claimant to make a new claim following a relevant change of circumstances.

Prudent

Thank you again to everyone. I emailed the council on Friday afternoon including all of the links you have so kindly researched for me and summarising the information. I have asked them to respond as quickly as possible as the stress has an impact on my daughter. I got a bounce back email from them saying to expect delays at present. When I emailed them about a previous issue it seemed to take about 48 hours for them to read the email. I will phone on Wednesday morning if we have heard nothing by then. I have updated her housing officer by text and copied her in the email. The housing officer does not make the decision on the allocation of housing benefits, but is our 'link' person.