Means-tested benefits

Universal credit

If you have stopped getting the child element in your universal credit (UC), either because your child counts as ‘looked after’ by the local authority or because s/he has been away from home for more than six months, tell the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as soon as your child comes home so the child element is included again and your work allowance and childcare element can be adjusted, if relevant. If the carer element has stopped, tell the DWP as soon as you have ‘regular and substantial’ caring responsibilities for your child again (see here).

Income support and income-based jobseeker’s allowance

If you are still getting amounts in your income support (IS) or income-based jobseeker’s allowance (JSA) for your child, but the amount of IS/income-based JSA has changed because the disabled child premium and/or the enhanced disability premium stopped, tell the DWP when your child comes home and disability living allowance (DLA)/personal independence payment (PIP) payments start again.

If you were getting amounts in your IS/income-based JSA for your child and these have stopped altogether, you cannot get these amounts back when your child comes home unless you have continued to get amounts for another child in your IS/income-based JSA.

If you were getting a carer premium and this has stopped because carer’s allowance (CA) has stopped, tell the DWP when your CA starts again. If you lost entitlement to benefit (eg, IS) because you lost the carer premium or for some other reason, you will usually have to claim UC instead.

Housing benefit and council tax reduction

If your housing benefit (HB) or council tax reduction (CTR) amount has changed because the carer premium stopped (eight weeks after CA stopped), tell the local authority when your CA starts again. If your HB/CTR amount has changed because the disability and/or enhanced disability premium stopped (when the DLA care component/PIP daily living component stopped), tell the local authority when your child’s DLA care component/PIP daily living component starts again.

If your child has stopped being treated as part of your household, tell the local authority as soon as s/he comes home and ask it to include the appropriate amounts in your HB/CTR applicable amount and to apply the correct ‘size criteria’.

If you have lost entitlement to HB because of reduced amounts in your applicable amount or for some other reason and you are under pension age, you will usually have to claim UC instead.