Housing benefit and apprenticeships

presurrection · 9 November 2018 at 1:16PM

Hi

My 19 year old son has recently been offered an apprenticeship 300 miles away from home. Obviously this isn't very well paid and he would need accommodation

My question is, would he be entitled to benefits such as housing support while he is away?

Apologies if I haven't included enough information. I have been trying to look into this myself and there seems to be a lot of conflicting information

Thanks

poppy12345 · 9 November 2018 at 1:38PM

presurrection wrote: »

Hi

My 19 year old son has recently been offered an apprenticeship 300 miles away from home. Obviously this isn't very well paid and he would need accommodation

My question is, would he be entitled to benefits such as housing support while he is away?

Apologies if I haven't included enough information. I have been trying to look into this myself and there seems to be a lot of conflicting information

Thanks

You need to check what's in the area, if it's a full Universal credit area then it will have to be this and as he's only 19 he may not be eligible for the housing element unless it's under certain conditions.
See this link.
http://england.shelter.org.uk/legal/benefits/universal_credit/housing_costs_under_universal_credit/conditions_for_the_housing_cost_element/18_to_21_year_olds_condition

pmlindyloo · 9 November 2018 at 2:10PM

poppy12345 wrote: »

You need to check what's in the area, if it's a full Universal credit area then it will have to be this and as he's only 19 he may not be eligible for the housing element unless it's under certain conditions.
See this link.
http://england.shelter.org.uk/legal/benefits/universal_credit/housing_costs_under_universal_credit/conditions_for_the_housing_cost_element/18_to_21_year_olds_condition

The legislation re housing costs for 18-21 yr olds has been revoked.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/1129/made

presurrection · 9 November 2018 at 2:23PM

Thanks both. I am however a little confused.

@poppy12345 I should have said he starts work in Jan 19. As the link you have provided contains the below, am I to assume it doesn't apply here?

"Note that new regulations will come into force on 31 December 2018 to restore eligibility for housing costs for 18 to 21 year-olds.[1] Until the existing regulations are amended, the situation described below continues to apply."

@pmlindyloo Do you mean that housing benefit for 18-21 year olds is not available?

Apologies to both for my dimness in this matter. I'm really not familiar with the benefits system!

poppy12345 · 9 November 2018 at 2:52PM

To know which would be possible to claim you'll need to know what's in the area he's going to be living in first. If it's a full universal credit area he won't be able to claim housing benefit at all, it will have to be UC.
http://ucpostcode.entitledto.co.uk/ucdate

presurrection · 9 November 2018 at 3:09PM

poppy12345 wrote: »

To know which would be possible to claim you'll need to know what's in the area he's going to be living in first. If it's a full universal credit area he won't be able to claim housing benefit at all, it will have to be UC.
http://ucpostcode.entitledto.co.uk/ucdate

Hi Poppy

Apologies, I don't specifically mean "housing benefit" as a service itself. I just mean whether he would be entitled to benefits for support with housing while he works as an apprentice.

Thanks for the link you have provided, it requires a full postcode but we have not yet arranged a flat for him. I've added the postcode of the local JobCentre plus and it states that it is a full service area

pmlindyloo · 9 November 2018 at 3:53PM

It is difficult to work out what your son may be eligible since we do not know the local housing allowance for the area he will be living in or his earnings.

What is important is that his housing costs will be assessed under the local housing allowance rules and for his age he will only be eligible for the shared accommodation rate. (You could choose the area he will live in and look up the rate on the local council website. A flat will be out of the question unless you are subsidising him. It would, most likely, have to be a shared house.

I strongly suspect that he will find it difficult to manage on his earnings and what he will get from Universal Credit or HB (if he does not have to claim UC)

If he is not moving to a UC area then the only benefit he will be eligible for would be HB and he will be eligible for the shared accommodation rate only as he is under 35 and is not claiming any disability benefits like DLA/PIP.

Whatever he ends up claiming it is very likely to be a huge struggle financially while he is doing an apprenticeship unless you would be prepared to 'bail him out' financially.

You could argue that this would be a good experience for him to learn about budgeting etc but he is young and no doubt enjoys having all the trappings of youth like a mobile phone/nights out etc.

Plus he may have council tax to pay, electricity/gas bills/internet/water etc etc

It might be worth looking for an apprenticeship where he could live at home - just my opinion!

Alice_Holt · 9 November 2018 at 4:12PM

Doesn't seem financially sustainable to me, unless his family can subsidise his living expenses.
May also be difficult for him to cope socially and emotionally (leaving friends and family 300 miles away, and starting a completely new venture and entering (possibly) a different culture)

Does the company offer a subsistence package for employees moving to the area (probably unlikely)?

presurrection · 9 November 2018 at 4:13PM

pmlindyloo wrote: »

It is difficult to work out what your son may be eligible since we do not know the local housing allowance for the area he will be living in or his earnings.

What is important is that his housing costs will be assessed under the local housing allowance rules and for his age he will only be eligible for the shared accommodation rate. (You could choose the area he will live in and look up the rate on the local council website. A flat will be out of the question unless you are subsidising him. It would, most likely, have to be a shared house.

I strongly suspect that he will find it difficult to manage on his earnings and what he will get from Universal Credit or HB (if he does not have to claim UC)

If he is not moving to a UC area then the only benefit he will be eligible for would be HB and he will be eligible for the shared accommodation rate only as he is under 35 and is not claiming any disability benefits like DLA/PIP.

Whatever he ends up claiming it is very likely to be a huge struggle financially while he is doing an apprenticeship unless you would be prepared to 'bail him out' financially.

You could argue that this would be a good experience for him to learn about budgeting etc but he is young and no doubt enjoys having all the trappings of youth like a mobile phone/nights out etc.

Plus he may have council tax to pay, electricity/gas bills/internet/water etc etc

It might be worth looking for an apprenticeship where he could live at home - just my opinion!

Agreed! Unfortunately it's a very specific apprenticeship he has his heart set on, and there's little I can do but try to help as much as I can!

In the area he is moving to, Cat (A) = £68.18 per week or £295.45 per calendar month according to the council website.

Let's assume he is working 35 hours at the minimum apprentice wage and will earn around £130 per week and moves into a houseshare

As far as I can see the area operates a Universal Credit full service - Given those estimates, do you think he would be entitled to some amount of help with housing?

If so, if he moves into a flat, would he be eligible to the same funding (and just require additional support)?

Thanks for all your help with this!

pmlindyloo · 9 November 2018 at 4:44PM

You could try using this benefits calculator:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/benefits-check/

I have worked it out to be about £45 a week Universal Credit which means he would have a total income of about £175 per week.

I am not totally sure if benefit calculators allow for apprenticeships (they seem to!)

Calcotti is good at these kind of figures. Perhaps she will be kind enough to do a calculation for you.

Basically he would get a standard allowance of £58.10 a week and an allowance of £68.18 per week for his housing costs (this is a set amount for housing costs and would be the same no matter if the rent was higher.

Then his earnings will reduce his UC award at a taper of 63p for every £1 a week.

silvercar · 9 November 2018 at 5:20PM

Agreed! Unfortunately it's a very specific apprenticeship he has his heart set on, and there's little I can do but try to help as much as I can!

He is 19. A lot of young people his age will be going to university and relying heavily on parental support due to the student loan system being parental means tested and the loan often not being sufficient. Is there a way you could support him in the same manner?

Housing benefit and apprenticeships

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