UC, Mental Health and Rent Payments

unsureandconfused

Hi,  I migrated over to UC from ESA when the letter arrived.  Everything went well and I didn't come up with any problems.  I get the same amount of money as I migrated and have protection I think it's called?

Where rent was concerned, I was told to pay £29.42 which I have always paid.  I did this and never missed any payments..  Today I received my 3 monthly rent statement from the council and I didn't look right so I phoned the council.  The woman went through it and ended up telling me that UC are not paying enough and asked me to put a post on my journal which I have done.  The amount which isn't being paid is 34.32 which would mean I am paying over £60 every 2 weeks.  Does this sound right or is something wrong?

huckster

Not enough info in your post to answer accurately.

If the housing is wrong, then report a change under the section where you live and what it costs. And confirm the rent and eligible service charges.

I think it is unlikely the UC Housing amount is wrong if this relates to social housing, as the UC process requires the social housing landlord to confirm the rent and service charge amounts.

Not all service charges are covered under UC. UC will only cover eligible service charges and it is possible you could be paying some other charge to the Council..

Before you report change on UC claim, I would suggest you check your UC statement carefully. Does the Housing section show rent and service charge amounts match the most recent rent and eligible service charges advised by the Council in writing ?

sgthammer

UC would normally pay council rents in full unless you have a spare room. Do you?

Did your rent go up recently (probably April)? If that was at the same time as the change from ESA to UC, the increase could have been missed in your assessment.

This just guesswork based on the amounts. If you go into the Payments tab on your UC account there'll be a breakdown of what you're getting and why, which should make things clearer.

unsureandconfused

I'm so confused I'm going to make an appointment to sit down with someone from the council and work all this out.  I looked at my statement on UC and it said my rent is a different figure to what it should be.  I was sitting on the phone with a council woman who told me what figures to put in when i was migrating so I have no clue what is going on.  

unsureandconfused

sgthammer said:

UC would normally pay council rents in full unless you have a spare room. Do you?

Did your rent go up recently (probably April)? If that was at the same time as the change from ESA to UC, the increase could have been missed in your assessment.

This just guesswork based on the amounts. If you go into the Payments tab on your UC account there'll be a breakdown of what you're getting and why, which should make things clearer.

I looked on the statement and the amount of rent is a different figure. My rent did go up in April but it was the new rent UC were told about as I migrated in June.  I have no spare room.  Its even more confusing because this council have rent every week on a Monday but UC is monthly.

huckster

Council Housing benefit and UC Housing work in slightly different ways 

UC is a monthly benefit and therefore over 12 months UC will include Housing for 52 weeks.

Whereas under Council Housing Benefit, as it is a weekly benefit, it could be that over a relevant period of time with rent payment due on a Monday, it may be that 53 weeks are counted by the Council.

It could the missing week is causing this issue. As the Council are requiring you to pay more to avoid being in arrears.

unsureandconfused

I think it best if i go and see the council face to face and get it sorted.  My mental health is really bad at the moment and i dont want this to make it worse

Robbie64

The amount of Housing Element you should get is Eligible Rent x 52 divided by 12. Any payments you have to meet yourself (eg water rates) are not included in your eligible rent.

How much is:

1. Your gross weekly rent (ie the overall amount of rent you have to pay each week)

2. Your weekly eligible rent (the amount that would have qualified under Housing Benefit and for which you should now get UC)

From the above you should be able to calculate how much UC Housing Element you can get with the remainder of your gross rent being the amount you need to pay each week / month.