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Disability Rights Handbook - 2025/26
This content was last updated:
27 May 2025
SECTION F: HELP WITH HOUSING COSTS
Disability Rights Handbook - 2025/26
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Disability Rights Handbook - 2025/26
SECTION F: HELP WITH HOUSING COSTS
Back to previous
SECTION F: HELP WITH HOUSING COSTS
Chapter 20: Universal credit housing costs amount
A. COMMON RULES
1. Introduction
2. When can the amount be included in your award?
3. Liable to pay rent or service charges
Box F.1: Who cannot get the housing costs amount?
4. Occupying accommodation
Box F.2: Treated as occupying accommodation
5. Service charge payments
Box F.3: Service charge payment categories
6. Ineligible service charge payments
B. HOUSING COSTS AMOUNT FOR RENTERS
7. Rent
8. Periods of payment
9. The size criteria
Box F.4: The size criteria: absences from home
10. Non-dependant deductions
11. Calculations involving two homes
12. Calculating the amount: private sector
13. Core rent
14. Cap rent
Box F.5: Exceptions to the shared accommodation rule
15. Calculating the amount: social rented sector
16. The calculation: joint tenants
17. Excessive payments
C. HOUSING COSTS AMOUNT FOR OWNER-OCCUPIERS
18. What are owner-occupier payments?
19. When you cannot get the housing costs amount
Chapter 21: Housing benefit
A. GENERAL CONDITIONS
1. What is housing benefit?
Box F.6: The benefit cap
2. Who can get housing benefit?
Box F.7: Who cannot get housing benefit?
3. What is rent?
4. Housing costs that housing benefit cannot meet
5. Liability for rent on your normal home
6. Temporary absence
7. Moving home and getting housing benefit on two homes
B. RENT RESTRICTIONS
8. Introduction
9. Local housing allowance
Box F.8: The ‘bedroom tax’
10. Rent officers’ determinations
11. Exceptions to rent restrictions
12. Ineligible charges
C. CLAIMS, PAYMENTS & APPEALS
13. How to claim housing benefit
14. When housing benefit starts, changes and ends
15. How housing benefit is paid
16. Getting more benefit
17. Underpayments
18. Overpayments
19. Challenging decisions
D. CALCULATING HOUSING BENEFIT
20. How much do you get?
21. Non-dependants
22. Capital
23. Income
24. Applicable amounts
25. Rules for people who have reached pension age
Chapter 22: Housing benefit: premiums
1. Introduction
2. Disability premium
3. Severe disability premium
4. Enhanced disability premium
5. Carer premium
6. Family premium
7. Disabled child premium
Chapter 23: Housing benefit: income and capital
1. Introduction
2. Whose income and capital is included?
A. INCOME
3. Disregarded income
4. Earnings from employment
5. Earnings from self-employment
6. Earnings disregards
7. Income from benefits and pensions
8. Charitable, voluntary and personal injury payments
9. Maintenance payments
10. Payments to third parties
11. Payments in kind
12. Training and employment schemes
13. Payments towards education
14. Payments for your home
15. Income from tenants and lodgers
16. Payments for care homes
17. Payments for children
18. Income generated from capital
19. Capital treated as income
20. Miscellaneous income
21. Notional income
22. Notional earnings
B. CAPITAL
23. Introduction
24. Capital limits
25. Tariff income
26. How is capital valued?
27. Benefits
28. Personal possessions
29. Trust funds and personal injury payments
30. Training and employment
31. Your home
32. Right to receive income or payment in future
33. Other capital
34. Loans
35. Income treated as capital
36. Notional capital
Chapter 24: Support for mortgage interest loans
1. Introduction
2. What loans are covered?
3. Loan conditions
4. Calculating the loan
5. How the loans are made
6. How long can the loans continue?
7. Interest on the loans
8. Repayment
Chapter 25: Housing costs
1. Introduction
2. Housing costs you can get help with
Chapter 26: Council tax
1. What is council tax?
2. Your dwelling
3. How much council tax?
4. Exempt dwellings
5. Who is liable to pay?
Box F.9: Summary of council tax exemptions for dwellings
Box F.10: People who are disregarded for council tax discount purposes
6. Who is a resident of a dwelling?
7. How to pay less council tax
8. Disability Reduction scheme
9. Discount scheme
10. Second homes and long-term empty properties
11. Appeals
12. Council tax reduction schemes: England and Wales
13. Council tax reduction scheme: Scotland
Box F.11: For more information
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Disability Rights UK. "SECTION F: HELP WITH HOUSING COSTS." In
Disability Rights Handbook - 2025/26.
, 2025. Accessed April 1, 2026.
CPAG,
https://askcpag.org.uk/?id=-266757CITANCHOR.
Disability Rights UK. "SECTION F: HELP WITH HOUSING COSTS." In
Disability Rights Handbook - 2025/26.
, 2025. Accessed April 1, 2026. https://askcpag.org.uk/?id=-266757CITANCHOR.
Contributor(s):
Disability Rights UK
Title:
Disability Rights Handbook - 2025/26
Site name:
CPAG
Publisher:
Publication date:
May 14, 2025
Date accessed:
April 1, 2026
URL:
https://askcpag.org.uk/?id=-266757CITANCHOR
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