Housing benefit/LHA

Kazzajr

Hi I have been claiming HB since sept I am a student and was receiving £72.59 pw I have now been informed that due to a change of income (they have decided to count a lone parent grant as income when they previously told me it would be disregarded:rolleyes:) my HB has been reduced to £55.86 pw they are also taking off the overpayment so my benefit will now be £42.85 pw.
I have checked and if I was on the LHA scheme I would be entitled to £73.64 pw benefit (an increase of 17.78pw)

I have a few questions and would really appreciate some help

1. Would I be able to appeal this decision as I was told the lone parent grant would be disregarded and not counted as income?

2. Would I be able to stop my HB claim for 1 week and pay full rent for that week then start a new claim which would mean I would be on LHA rather than HB?

Thanks for reading this and I would be really grateful for any advice.

sjaypink

how much was your lp grant?

Kazzajr

£1240 for the year paid over 10 months

sjaypink

Kazzajr wrote: »

£1240 for the year paid over 10 months

im certainly no expert but thats not really a huge amount and so if you asked if it would be counted and they told you no then you would have no reason to suspect otherwise........................

what im trying to say is if you said 'im earning an extra grand a week- can a still get hb?' & they said yes you can, youd still be expected to realise this was a mistake iyswim

u could not have reasonably expected to have been aware that £25 pw in your circ would effect your claim if you were told otherwise. so yes id say definately try an appeal on those grounds.

in the meantime sorry but i cant help with the lha question!
hopefully some who does know will be along soon, good luck anyway x

Kazzajr

I have been on the phone to them and they are telling me that "I was not informed that the amount would be disregarded" as they have no record of it???

I thought I was doing the right thing looking into if I could afford to go to uni and have been honest about any money I have received, I don't know if I will be able to continue on my course without this money (I know £20pw might not seem a lot but it is to me when I work to a strict budget and have counted it in calculations). So I will have all this student loan to pay back without the benefit of a degree!

What is the point in receiving the grant if it just taken straight off my HB, (all bar 30%)
I would be as well going onto benefits and receiving full HB this seems the only way to be assured I wont be faced with overpayments of HB.

tom9980

Dont be so sure they are giving the correct advice! in the last 2 years ive been told many different things by them (in this case for IS) concerning loans, bursary and grants, it seems almost everytime i tell them about my partners changes i get a different story and lots of hassle.

I would go to see CAB and also you should get good advice at your Uni too they have experience dealing with this, i know i will be if they mess me around again when she renews her loans for her third year.

Dont give up yet and remember Student loans do not work like most loans think of it more like a tax when you earn over a certain amount per year, your degree will be worth this hassle in the end.

sjaypink

tom9980 wrote: »

Dont be so sure they are giving the correct advice! in the last 2 years ive been told many different things by them (in this case for IS) concerning loans, bursary and grants, it seems almost everytime i tell them about my partners changes i get a different story and lots of hassle.

I would go to see CAB and also you should get good advice at your Uni too they have experience dealing with this, i know i will be if they mess me around again when she renews her loans for her third year.

Dont give up yet and remember Student loans do not work like most loans think of it more like a tax when you earn over a certain amount per year, your degree will be worth this hassle in the end.

yes, dont give up your degree !!!!!!! keep at it! get some advice as above and remember itl all be worth it in the end! :T

(take it you were told verbally about the grant being disregarded, not by letter or email then?)

tom9980

sjaypink wrote: »

yes, dont give up your degree !!!!!!! keep at it! get some advice as above and remember itl all be worth it in the end! :T

(take it you were told verbally about the grant being disregarded, not by letter or email then?)

Which reminds me everytime you contact them by phone write down who you spoke to what time it was and the date and what you spoke about and keep it for your records. Also always have both data and paper copies of everything you send and recieve from them including dates in pencil (at the top of there letters to you) or in the file names as well if things go wrong you can go armed with a nice folder full of info. All the stuff they have is now stored in storage and is apparently a mess! (an advisor actually admitted to me it was this way after recent restructuring) when i was chasing up some things i sent them a few months ago.

Kazzajr

I don't think I really will give up on the degree I know it will be worth it. I think I was just mad at the fact that I am trying to do something with my life and researched all benefits etc before I started yet cannot get consistent information from the agencies that are supposed to help!

I was told different things by different departments/agencies and waited until I got all the correct info until I made up my mind whether I could afford uni.

I was told that the lp grant was disregarded when I took all my paperwork into council offices in September where they photocopied it and gave me a receipt which I still have unfortunately it isn't written down anywhere though. My student award letter (incl lp grant) was with all the paperwork that they copied so I don't know why it has taken til now (after my review) for them to realise that they should have been counting this as income. It's not really the fact that the lp grant isn't disregarded that bothers me more the fact that they have waited til now to count it resulting in me having a lot of overpaid HB.
Thanks for your replies

tom9980

Kazzajr wrote: »

I don't think I really will give up on the degree I know it will be worth it. I think I was just mad at the fact that I am trying to do something with my life and researched all benefits etc before I started yet cannot get consistent information from the agencies that are supposed to help!

I was told different things by different departments/agencies and waited until I got all the correct info until I made up my mind whether I could afford uni.

I was told that the lp grant was disregarded when I took all my paperwork into council offices in September where they photocopied it and gave me a receipt which I still have unfortunately it isn't written down anywhere though. My student award letter (incl lp grant) was with all the paperwork that they copied so I don't know why it has taken til now (after my review) for them to realise that they should have been counting this as income. It's not really the fact that the lp grant isn't disregarded that bothers me more the fact that they have waited til now to count it resulting in me having a lot of overpaid HB.
Thanks for your replies

Its a nightmare we made about 10 phone calls, visits to jobcentre, council and got advice from DIAL and other agencies and still got wrong info from everyone! i dont think anybody really has a clue most of the time. Its extremely unfair on those who wish to actually do something with their lifes as well they should be jumping at the chance to help those with genuine need (its gets us off the books so to speak) yet they dont do a good job at all. I honestly wish i had an advisor who could somehow overcome all my health issues so i could work, cant wait to be free from this system.

Kazzajr

You would think they would have a standard procedure that would be followed, I am aware that there are different circumstances depending on the individual but I can't believe I am the only lone parent who has started uni that they have had to deal with.

I will definitely go to CAB, I will take all my paperwork with me I have kept notes of everyone I have spoken to along with the date and time I spoke to them.

I hope you manage to find a solution that suits you and your family.