12. Housing benefit

CPAG

12. Housing benefit

Discretionary housing payments

Note: for most people under pension age, housing benefit (HB) is replaced by universal credit (UC) and you cannot normally make a new claim for HB. The exception is for people living in certain types of accommodation, such as temporary homeless accommodation. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook (for subscribers) for more information.

HB is a means-tested benefit that helps low-income households with rent payments. You can get HB whether or not you are in work, provided you satisfy the conditions of entitlement.

Your local authority is responsible for the administration of HB.

Who can get housing benefit

If you are not in the UC system, you can get HB if:1s130 SSCBA 1992; s115 IAA 1999; reg 10 HB Regs; reg 10 HB(SPC) Regs

•you or your partner are liable to pay rent on the dwelling you occupy as your home; and

•you are not in a category that is excluded from HB (see here); and

•you satisfy the habitual residence test, including having a right to reside, and are not a person subject to immigration control. These terms are explained in CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook (for subscribers); and

•you and your partner have savings of £16,000 or less, unless you are on guarantee credit of pension credit (PC), in which case your capital is not taken into account; and

•your income is sufficiently low.

1 s130 SSCBA 1992; s115 IAA 1999; reg 10 HB Regs; reg 10 HB(SPC) Regs »

Who cannot get housing benefit

Some groups of people are excluded from HB – eg, most (but not all) full-time students, most people who live in care homes, and people whose agreement to pay rent is not on a commercial basis or whose liability to pay rent has been created to take advantage of the HB scheme. For more information, see CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook (for subscribers). Many 16/17-year-old care leavers are excluded (see Chapter 10).

Amount of benefit

The amount of HB you get depends on your income compared with the amount the law says you need to live on. Also, there are limits set on how much rent HB will cover. This section gives an outline of how HB is calculated, so you can see how a change in your circumstances or in your income might affect your entitlement.

Step 1: calculate the maximum housing benefit

This is the maximum amount the local authority can pay. HB does not cover some charges, such as those for fuel and meals. Your maximum HB may not be as much as your actual rent. Most private tenants have their maximum HB determined by a local housing allowance. This is a flat rate based on the area in which you live and on the size of your household.

Working-age tenants in the social rented sector (ie, local authority or housing association tenants) have their maximum HB reduced if they are deemed to be under-occupying their home – ie, if they have one or more spare bedrooms. This is commonly known as the bedroom tax. Note: this does not apply to you if you are over pension age and there are some other exceptions – eg, if you have a disabled child and they cannot share a room due to their disability. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook (for subscribers) for more details of this reduction. See the relevant chapter of this Handbook for how it affects your particular situation. If you are affected by the bedroom tax, you should claim a discretionary housing payment (see here).

Step 2: deduct amounts for non-dependants from maximum housing benefit

A ‘non-dependant’ is someone aged 18 or over, usually a friend or adult relative, who lives with you but not on a commercial basis. A non-dependant deduction is made to reflect an assumed contribution from them to the household, whether or not they pay anything. Sometimes no non-dependant deduction is made – eg, if the non-dependant is under 25 and gets certain benefits, or is someone who normally lives elsewhere. If you or your partner get pension age disability payment (PADP), attendance allowance (AA), the daily living component of adult disability payment (ADP) or the care component of child disability payment, disability living allowance or Scottish adult disability living allowance, or are certified as severely sight impaired or blind by a consultant ophthalmologist, no non-dependant deduction is made.

Non-dependant deductions are made at a fixed rate, depending on the income and circumstances of the non-dependant. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook (for subscribers) for details.

Step 3: if you get means-tested benefits

If you get income-related employment and support allowance (ESA), PC (guarantee credit) or UC, your HB is your maximum HB minus any amount for non-dependants. You do not need to continue with the remainder of these steps.

Step 4: if you do not get means-tested benefits

If you do not get income-related ESA, PC (guarantee credit) or UC, you must compare your income with your applicable amount. Your applicable amount is made up of:

•personal allowances; and

•premiums; and

•components.

The applicable amount includes allowances, premiums and components for yourself and for your partner, if you have one. It also includes allowances and premiums for dependent children.

Personal allowances

Circumstances	Weekly rate
Single
Under 25	£72.90
Under 25 on main phase ESA	£92.05
25 or over (and under pension age)	£92.05
Lone parent
Under 18	£72.90
18 or over	£92.05
Couple
Both under 18	£110.15
One or both 18 or over (and under pension age)	£144.65
Pension age
Single (reached pension age before 1 April 2021)	£244.40
Single (reached pension age on or after 1 April 2021)	£227.10
Couple (one or both reached pension age before 1 April 2021)	£366.00
Couple (both reached pension age on or after 1 April 2021)	£346.60
Dependent child	£84.66

Premiums

•Family premium: £19.48, or £22.20 for some lone parents – only included if you were getting it before 1 May 2016, you are still getting HB and have not made a new claim for HB since then.

•Disability premium: if you have not been assessed as having limited capability for work for ESA and you (ie, not your partner, if you have one) are the HB claimant, and if you or your partner get ADP, Scottish adult disability living allowance, AA, pension age disability payment, war pensioner’s mobility supplement, armed forces independence payment, constant attendance allowance or exceptionally severe disablement allowance, you get £43.20 if you are single or £61.65 if you are a couple. You also get the disability premium if you or your partner are certified as severely sight impaired or blind, or have stopped being certified within the last 28 weeks, or you have been entitled to statutory sick pay for a continuous period of 196 days and you are terminally ill.

•Disabled child premium: £81.37 if your child gets child disability payment (CDP) or adult disability payment (ADP). You also get an enhanced disability premium of £32.75 if you child gets the highest rate care component of CDP or the enhanced rate daily living component of ADP.

•Enhanced disability premium: if you or your partner get the highest rate disability living allowance (DLA)/Scottish adult disability living allowance or the enhanced rate daily living component of ADP, this premium is £21.20 if you are single and £30.25 for a couple.

•Severe disability premium: £82.90 if you are severely disabled and you live alone, or you are treated as living alone. You qualify for this premium if you get the middle or highest rate of DLA or Scottish adult disability living allowance, the daily living component of ADP or either rate of pension age disability payment/attendance allowance and no one gets carer support payment (CSP) or the carer element in their UC for looking after you. You will not get this premium if you live with another person aged 18 or over, unless they are separately liable for rent, you only share a bathroom or hallway or in some other circumstances (see CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook (for subscribers) for details). If you have a partner, you do not qualify unless they also qualify in their own right or they are certified as severely sight impaired or blind.

•Carer premium: £46.40 if you or your partner are entitled to CSP (see here). If you are entitled to CSP but not paid it because it overlaps with another benefit (eg, ESA), you still qualify for the carer premium. You get two carer premiums if you and your partner both qualify.

Note: you do not get a disability premium or enhanced disability premium (adult) if you are getting pension age HB.

Components

Instead of a disability premium, include a work-related activity component of £36.55 if you have claimed ESA and been assessed as having limited capability for work, or a support component of £48.50 if you also have limited capability for work-related activity (see here for more about ESA). You will only get the work-related activity component if it is included in your ESA (see here).

Step 5: work out your weekly income

Some kinds of income are ignored. For details, see CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook (for subscribers).

See the relevant chapters of this Handbook for more information on how specific income (eg, fostering allowances and payments from the local authority) is treated.

Step 6: calculate your housing benefit

If your income is less than or the same as your applicable amount, HB is the amount worked out at Step 2 – ie, your maximum rent less any non-dependant deductions.

If your income is more than your applicable amount, work out 65 per cent of the difference. Your HB is the amount you worked out at Step 2 minus 65 per cent of the difference between your weekly income and your applicable amount.

Discretionary housing payments

Discretionary housing payments are extra payments that can be paid by the local authority in addition to your UC or HB.

A local authority can pay you a discretionary housing payment if:1s88 SS(S)A 2018

•you are entitled to HB or UC which includes a housing costs element for rent; and

•you appear to need additional financial help to meet your housing costs.

The local authority has discretion whether or not to pay you, how much to pay you and over what period. Certain expenses cannot be met – eg, a need for financial assistance that arises because of a reduction in HB to recover an overpayment, or a need that arises as a consequence of ineligible service charges under the HB scheme.

Discretionary housing payments can be particularly important if your HB is reduced because of the bedroom tax or the benefit cap. In these situations, you should be awarded a discretionary housing payment.2

1 s88 SS(S)A 2018 »

2 »

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