Transcript Housing Benefit Changes from April 2013

Housing Benefit changes
from April 2013
Janine Cox, Revenues &
Benefits manager
Size criteria for social tenants
• From April 2013 Housing Benefit will be worked
out based on how many bedrooms you need for
your household size.
• Affects working-age households only – if you
or your partner are a pensioner this change will
not affect you.
• Will apply to working-age tenants in Temporary
Accommodation
• Will not apply to working-age tenants in
supported accommodation i.e. hostels
• Will not apply to working-age tenants in
Sheltered accommodation
Size criteria for social tenants
• HB will be worked out based on the number of
bedrooms the household needs, which is:
• one bedroom for
–
–
–
–
–
every adult couple (same or opposite sex)
any other adult aged 16 or over
any two children under 16 of the same sex
any two children regardless of sex under age 10
any other child
Size criteria for social tenants
• One additional bedroom will be allowed where
you or your partner require occasional
overnight care
• If you have children who cannot share a
bedroom because of a health condition or
disability we may allow a separate bedroom for
them dependant on individual circumstances
• Children away at college or university can be
considered as part of the household if they
return home during holidays.
• We will need information from you on in all these
circumstances.
Size criteria for social tenants
• Housing Benefit will be reduced by 14% for one
spare bedroom, as defined by the criteria
• Housing Benefit will be reduced by 25% for two
or more spare bedrooms, as defined by the
criteria
• The reduction is from your Housing Benefit not
your income
Size criteria for social tenants
• If you suffer a bereavement you will
receive up to 12 months protection before
this change might affect you.
• If you could afford your rent so were not
claiming Housing Benefit but lose your job
the size criteria will not apply for the first
13 weeks of any new claim for Housing
Benefit.
Size criteria for social tenants
• We are writing to all those we think will be
affected by this change, based on the
information we already hold about who lives in
your household.
• If the information we hold is wrong you must tell
us, you may lose benefit if you don’t.
• We are working closely with other council
departments to ensure tenants know all their
available options.
Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs)
• The government is providing extra funding for
the DHP fund, especially to help disabled
tenants and foster carers.
• This is a cash limited fund. Each case will be
looked at individually but not all applications can
be paid in full.
• A DHP cannot cover ineligible services such as
heating charges, or overpayment recovery
action
• A DHP can be used to pay moving costs.
• We can pre-agree provisional DHPs before April
2013 so you know in advance if and how you will
be affected by the changes when they happen.
Benefit cap
• From April 2013 the maximum amount of
benefits a household can claim will be limited.
• Affects working-age benefit claimants only,
not pensioners
• Total income from benefits is to be capped at
£500 per week for couples or lone parents,
£350 per week for single people
• Benefits included: Income Support and Job
Seekers Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, Child
Benefit and Child Tax Credit, and Housing
Benefit among others.
Benefit cap
• The cap won’t apply if you, your partner or any
children are in receipt of Working Tax Credits
or certain disability benefits.
• The cap will be applied through Housing Benefit
even though it is the DWP that decide who will
be capped and by how much.
• The DWP have identified those households
likely to be affected and have already written to
them with advice.
• The list so far contains about 30 council
households, we are contacting and visiting these
households in person to discuss their options.
Changes to council tax benefit
• From April 2013 the council will be responsible for a
new local version of what was council tax benefit (CTB)
• The Government is reducing the money available to
Councils for this by 10%, for Brighton and Hove this is
about £2.5million
• The final scheme has not been agreed yet – public
consultation has ended, everyone of working age who
gets CTB at the moment was written to and invited to
take part in the consultation. We expect the final decision
to be made by Full Council in December 2012 so
information will follow afterwards.
• Any scheme which is introduced will have to take
account of people who are vulnerable
Changes to council tax benefit
• The proposals we consulted on are:
– The Council is putting around £1m towards the
scheme but we still need to make further changes
– Pensioners will be protected
– All people of working age will need to make some
council tax payment
– No household will be more than £3 per week worse
off because of these changes (assuming there are no
other changes of circumstances).
– A discretionary fund will provide additional help in
exceptional circumstances for the most vulnerable
Changes to council tax benefit
• The Severe Mental Impairment exemption is not
being changed
• Single person discounts are not being affected
• Everyone who will be affected will be written to
before the change happens
• We will communicate with people in different
ways, for example we will try to telephone those
customers who haven’t had to pay council tax
before when we are able to identify those who
will be affected
Where to find more information
• Contact Housing Benefits or your local housing office:
– Online: using our change of household form www.brightonhove.gov.uk/householdchanges or the benefits claim and calculator
https://brighton-hoveclaims.teamnetsol.com/
– By post: Benefits Services, PO Box 2929, Brighton, BN1 1PS
– By email: [email protected] or
[email protected]
– By telephone: (01273) 292000
• See the council’s website www.brighton-hove.gov.uk there are
different links to pages about Benefits, Housing, Council Tax
• We will be creating an online calculator to see how many bedrooms
you are entitled to and how much benefit you might expect
• You can contact your Housing office for tenancy advice
• The DWP website is www.directgov.gov.uk, there is a factsheet on
the benefit cap and an online calculator available