Universal credit housing element

jemima72

NedS said:

jemima72 said:

NedS said:

jemima72 said:

NedS said:

jemima72 said:

We have just had our first UC statement and they have missed off our housing element because their system didn't recognise the name of the council.

We live in a house provided by the school my husband works at and only pay £115 rent per month, so not having the housing element included will cause an overpayment as the work allowance is more than if housing is included. 

Does anyone know if we can just not have a housing element, or would this not be allowed as we would be better off?

Why are the housing costs so low? Are you paying lower rent in exchange for a reduced salary for your husband?

If so, I'm wondering if they may choose to treat it as notional income if he is maybe being paid less than would be the going rate in exchange for cheap housing?

No, I think he is being paid what would be the going rate for a caretaker. 

It is deducted from his wages, so would notional income be if they treated it as if his net pay was after the £115 had been deducted rather than adding it back on, if that makes sense?

His wages reported to UC should be the figure before the £150 for rent has been deducted. He gets paid in full, and then pays the rent out of his income like everyone else does.

Yes that's what they did. Sorry, I don't understand the notional income thing. 

Notional income (although it doesn't sound like it applies here from what you have said):

Say, for example the wage for a full time caretaker were minimum wage equating to around £1500/month, but the employer only paid £1000/month because they had made a notional deduction of £500/month to cover "rent" for allowing use of an on-site property. UC may decide that they had an additional notional income of £500 in addition to the £1000 they were being paid, as they are being paid this in kind. The reason I asked the question was because rent of £150/month is not typical of market rates, which means either they are being extremely generous or they are providing a benefit in kind that may potentially be treated as notional income.

Ahh I see. We have a tenancy agreement which states rent, we have had a couple of rent increases since living here, plus his manager wrote us a letter for proof of rent in case UC needed more proof, so I don't think it is either of those things. I think it is a perk of being on site and having to live with the job.

xxxxxxxx

I will attempt to answer your question after doing a bit of research but I need to know more about what is going on.   Please give all the details, trying to get my head around this. 

He would have his work allowance either way.  not having a H.E. would surely cause an underpayment not an overpayment.

Did they quote his UC payment award yet with earnings deducted?
UC award rate?  
what has been quoted for take home earnings and earnings deduction (from UC)?
His gross monthly salary before tax ? 
Presumably you have no income?
His take home after tax and deductions? (please list all deductions).

Can you calculate it out for me with and without HE. 

His earnings are downloaded from HMRC they will stay the same unless they are manually adjusted somehow?  

There are rules for what is "take home earnings", it is something like Gross minus any amount for income tax, National insurance and pension. 

Other deductions are to be treated as earnings so Union subscription, rent etc are not disregarded.  HMRC should sort all of this out and it cannot be changed.

To answer your other question, it doesn't matter if they make a mistake or you make a mistake in your calculations, if an over payment discovered due to someone's error it will be recovered. All overpayments on UC are recovered. The only appeal could be against the calculation of the overpaid amount. 

jemima72

xxxxxxxx said:

I will attempt to answer your question after doing a bit of research but I need to know more about what is going on.   Please give all the details, trying to get my head around this. 

Did they quote his UC payment award yet with earnings deducted?
UC award rate?  
what has been quoted, take home earnings, and earnings deduction (from UC)?
His gross monthly salary before tax ? 
Presumably you have no income?
His take home after tax and deductions?

Can you calculate it out for me with and without HE. 

His earnings are downloaded from HMRC they will stay the same unless they are manually adjusted somehow?

Thank you but I know how much we should be getting etc, all I am wondering is if there is any rule saying you have to claim the housing element if it means you are worse off than not. 

xxxxxxxx

jemima72 said:

Thank you but I know how much we should be getting etc, all I am wondering is if there is any rule saying you have to claim the housing element if it means you are worse off than not. 

I don't see how you can be better off without H.E. (I edited my post above).

calcotti

xxxxxxxx said:

jemima72 said:

Thank you but I know how much we should be getting etc, all I am wondering is if there is any rule saying you have to claim the housing element if it means you are worse off than not. 

I don't see how you can be better off without H.E. (I edited my post above).

Because not claiming the HE would increase the WA by £229 which is more than the value of the HE, £115 in this case, thereby increasing the amount of UC payable.

xxxxxxxx

Calcotti, 

What rule is that? How much is the work allowance normally? What is the purpose of this rule?  Thanks

calcotti

xxxxxxxx said:

What rule is that? How much is the work allowance normally? What is the purpose of this rule?  Thanks

When applicable the amount of WA depends on whether or not help with rent is included on the claim. As explained
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-work-allowances/universal-credit-work-allowances
(Beyond my ability to explain the purpose of the rules.)

xxxxxxxx

So people who own their homes get more benefit, how interesting. 

 

calcotti

xxxxxxxx said:

So people who own their homes get more benefit, how interesting. 

No they don’t because they are not getting help with rent. 

xxxxxxxx

OP Jemima  

If I am to get your answer, I will need your salary and take home figures to include listed deductions from gross.  

And your UC award rate inc all elements inc the reason for the Work Allowance.

For now, I suggest you ask for this exception on your journal, then they cannot say later that you did not ask for it to be applied to the claim.