How is housing benefit calculated?

willing2learn_3

Hi

I'm wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction for working out housing benefit?

I work full time, an average of 41 hours per week (that's excluding lunch and teabreak). I've noticed if i get a pay rise then (naturally) my housing benefit goes down......

My question is, if my hours were reduced by approx 5 a week, would housing benefit go up to help with the reduction in income.

This isn't what it sounds. I don't really want to reduce my hours by that much, but it might be the only way it would work according to the company's rota and business needs.

My GP has advised i reduce my hours (due to certain health problems), but i only really want to reduce them a little (not as much as 5 hours a week, rather 8 in a month...) I would still be working full time. I only earn about 10,000 pa at the moment and am single.....so i do have to consider whether i really can do this.

I do intend to seek promotion which would increase my wage and/or find better paid work but this will take time.

thanks for listening

Eager_Elephant

Hi

As a quick answer, if your income comes down then naturally your Hb/CTB will rise.

For every £1.00 you lose in income you should roughly get an extra 65p a week HB and an extra 20p per week CTB.

Just be careful if you are dropping to less than 30 hrs as you may lose any disregards you may be getting.

EE

willing2learn_3

Thanks Eager-Elephant

I wouldn't drop any less that 35hrs/week. I just have a rota that's awkward, sometimes with 9 day stretches with just a day off in between and i find the structure of the rota hard, rather than the amount of hours.

redmel1621

If you have a letter from your recent claim/renewel, on the second page it gives a full breakdown of how they work it out (well it does on mine)
I was just doing this myself, but to see how much we would lose with an income increase.........

it should tell you how much the law says you need to live on, any income that is disregarded and how much excess income you have....65% of this income is then taken off your your eligible rent and that is the amount of entitlement.

Have a look for the breakdown sheet......

Mel x

Tucker

If you want to try working it out without doing the calc yourself, try using this:

https://buryclaims.teamnetsol.com/index.jsp

It may not relate to your area but won't make any difference.

willing2learn_3

Thanks RedMel and Tucker

I've found the breakdown sheet and have worked out what HB i might get for various different hours of work. Interesting that if i do 33 hours of work/week, i only lose £10.00 per month in income because housing benefit goes up more than for my current hours.....

doesn't seem right though to rely on that, so i'm probably going to go for a 35 hours week.

Not sure if i've done these calculations correctly! Don't fully understand what they mean by 'disregarded income.'

I might post up the calculations i've done here.....cos i suspect there are some of you that might be able to spot inaccuracies quite easily.

Also i'm wondering what this whole LHA is all about! (?)

Elle00

willing2learn wrote: »

Thanks RedMel and Tucker

I've found the breakdown sheet and have worked out what HB i might get for various different hours of work. Interesting that if i do 33 hours of work/week, i only lose £10.00 per month in income because housing benefit goes up more than for my current hours.....

doesn't seem right though to rely on that, so i'm probably going to go for a 35 hours week.

Not sure if i've done these calculations correctly! Don't fully understand what they mean by 'disregarded income.'

I might post up the calculations i've done here.....cos i suspect there are some of you that might be able to spot inaccuracies quite easily.

Also i'm wondering what this whole LHA is all about! (?)

Disregarded income is income that the council aren't allowed to include in their calculations. So this is something like basic living allowance, a set amount of any child maintenance, certain disability things etc etc.

LHA is to do with those renting privately, instead of receiving fair rent for a property - people now receive an allowance and are expected to make it stretch to whatever they can find in that budget.

There is a manual calculation for working out housing benefit entitlement. But there's a good reason it comes with an entire handbook!!

Go with what you've worked out as an estimate. My old man works in housing, his take on these things is always that the only way to be sure of what you'll get is to go and get it. I've not had an accurate prediction yet (that includes both HB and the JCP).

willing2learn_3

Tucker wrote: »

If you want to try working it out without doing the calc yourself, try using this:

https://buryclaims.teamnetsol.com/index.jsp

It may not relate to your area but won't make any difference.

Thanks Tucker but the calculator says i only have to pay £14.00 /month council tax......don't understand that since i currently pay £78.

I'll give it another go though, cos it is quite straightforward.

willing2learn_3

Someone gave me this website link to work out your net pay and how much you pay in tax and national insurance...thought i'd share

http://www.ir35calc.co.uk/PAYE_NI_Net_Salary_Tax_Summary.aspx?

Thing is it asks you to include bonuses. What if you don't know or can't predict these bonuses?

I can't remember what Housing Benefit orginally did for my work bonus. I told them what i might get and roughly what it might be and i told them when i actually got it....don't remember it having any effect on the amount of benefit I recieved....

astonsmummy

willing2learn wrote: »

Thanks Tucker but the calculator says i only have to pay £14.00 /month council tax......don't understand that since i currently pay £78.

I'll give it another go though, cos it is quite straightforward.

are you sure it isnt listed as per week?

willing2learn_3

Ok here are my calculations:

If i were to do an average of 33.02 hours/week:

average earnings /week = £186 (net)
applicable amount = -£59.15
Gives excess income = £126.85
65% of this is £82.45
Eligible weekly rent/council tax = £118.27
Less % of Excess Income = £82.45 = £35.82 / week
x 52 weeks in a year and divided by 12 months is £155.22

net pay is £806/month
HB would be £155.22 /month

TOTAL income = 961.22/month (this is £9.10 less than what i currently receive on 35.40 hours/week)

Anyone thinks this looks about right?