Rule changes for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit from April 2011 and from January 2012

The government has changed the rules for people who make a new claim for these benefits from the Benefits Service after April 2011. Most of the changes mean less benefit, but there is good news for some disabled private tenants who receive regular overnight care (See 3. below). We may be able to work out your benefit based on you needing an extra bedroom.

If you were already claiming from us before 1 April 2011, some of the changes may not affect you straightaway. However, everyone whose benefit is worked out under the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rules will be affected by the LHA changes below before December 2012.

See details of the Housing Benefit changes from January 2012 that affect single people aged 25 to 34 who are tenants of private landlords (page 2 of this document).

1. Local Housing Allowance (LHA) changes

These changes affect you if your benefit is worked out under the LHA rules - this includes most people who rent from a private landlord and whose Housing Benefit claim for their current address started from 7 April 2008 onwards.

You can check whether the LHA rules apply to you or not. If your benefit is worked out under the 'old rules' which applied before April 2008 then the LHA changes below don't affect you. If you made a new claim on or after 1 April 2011 and the LHA rules apply to you, then these changes apply to your claim straightaway. If you are already claiming, see the details under each change for when it starts.

• No more 'excess LHA'
  If your rent is less than your LHA rate, then you may have been getting more Housing Benefit than the rent you pay, because we were allowed to use a rent of up to £15 a week more than your actual rent to work out your benefit. The new rules from 1 April 2011 mean we can't do this any more. If you were already claiming from us before 1 April 2011, we must stop using a higher rent from the date we look at your LHA rate again after April 2011. This is usually on the anniversary of your claim (the 'anniversary date'), but if you have a change like moving home or needing a different number of bedrooms before this date, we will stop using the higher rent when that change happens. 

• The highest LHA rate is now for four bedrooms, not five
  

  If you were claiming from us before 1 April 2011 and we are using the five bedroom LHA rate, the rules tell us to delay using the four bedroom rate until nine months after your first 'anniversary date' (the date we look at your LHA rate again) after April 2011. The government has introduced this nine month delay to help you look for cheaper accommodation if your benefit goes down. If you move or have a change that means you need fewer bedrooms before the end of the nine months, then we must start using the four bedroom rate from the date of the move or the change.

  However, if you move or have a change in your household that means you need fewer bedrooms before your first 'anniversary date' after April 2011, we can't delay using the four bedroom rate at all. We must use the new rules from the date of the move or the change.

• The LHA rates have gone down
  The government has reduced the LHA rates. Before the April 2011 changes, about five in ten properties in your area were affordable for people on Housing Benefit. From April 2011 the rates have gone down, with the result that only about three in every ten properties are affordable for people on Housing Benefit. For example the three bedroom rate in March 2011 was £144.23 but for June 2011 it is £126.92. The one bedroom rate in March 2011 was £103.85 but for June 2011 it  is £93.46. 

  If you were claiming from us before 1 April 2011, the rules tell us to delay using the reduced LHA rate to work out your benefit until nine months after your first 'anniversary date' (the date we look at your LHA rate again) after April 2011. The government has introduced this nine month delay to help you plan what to do if your benefit goes down. If you have a change in your household that means you need more bedrooms before your 'anniversary date', then the nine months start from the date of your change. If you move or have a change that means you need fewer bedrooms before the end of the nine months, then we must use the reduced LHA rate from the date of your move or your change. 

  However, if you move or have a change in your household that means you need fewer bedrooms before your first 'anniversary date' after April 2011, we can't delay using the reduced LHA rate at all. We must use the new rules from the date of the move or change.  

• An extra rule about when we can pay your LHA to your landlord
  We usually have to pay LHA to you, the tenant, but there are rules to say when we can or must pay your landlord instead. This extra rule means that from April 2011 we can also pay your benefit straight to your landlord if they help you get a new tenancy, or keep your current one, by charging a reduced rent that is affordable for you (this means an amount close to the LHA rate for the size of the home). We want to encourage landlords to reduce rents (or keep them low) so we are using this new rule to pay Housing Benefit straight to landlords as much as we can. 

2. The amount we have to take off your benefit for non-dependants has gone up

This change may have reduced your Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit if you have an adult (not your partner) living with you. For example, grown-up children or other relatives or friends aged 18 and over. We call them non-dependants and we must take a set amount off your benefit for them. These set amounts hadn't been increased since 2001, but the government put them up in 2011 and is putting them up in 2012, 2013 and 2014 to catch up to where they would have been if they had increased every year since 2001. There are exceptions when we don't have to take this money off your benefit. However, if we were making a deduction already, this will have gone up from the beginning of April 2011.
Find out about non-dependant deductions.
See the amounts we must take off from April 2012. The government plans to put the deductions for non-dependants up again in 2013 and 2014. 

3. Good news! Extra help for disabled private tenants

From 1 April 2011 Housing Benefit can help with the cost of an extra bedroom if:

• you or your partner are disabled;
• you rent from a private landlord; and
• either or both of you need and receive regular overnight care from a carer who doesn't live with you, but who has sole use of a bedroom in your home.

The care could be provided by an individual or a team of carers. We need evidence that regular overnight care is needed and is provided.  

We can then include an extra bedroom when we decide which LHA rate to use to work out your benefit, if the LHA rules apply to you. If the 'old rules' apply to you, we ask the Valuation Office Agency to include an extra bedroom for the carer in their valuation. We can do this from 1 April 2011 for new claims and existing claimants. If you are already claiming, please contact us to let us know if you think you will qualify. But don't worry, even if we find out late, we can work out your benefit again to give the extra help from when you qualify (but we can't go back before April 2011).

However, this change won't help if your rent is currently below the LHA rate (or, for the 'old rules', below the Valuation Office Agency's valuation of your home) without an extra room, as we must work out your benefit using the amount of your rent.

There are even more changes that started from January 2012.

Find out details of the January 2012 changes 

Need more information about the April 2011 changes?

• If the LHA rules apply to you, we will write to you about the LHA changes given above before they affect you.
• You can also get information about the changes to Housing Benefit from the government's Directgov website.
• You can contact us on 0161 234 5003 or fill in an online form  with your query.
• There is a special team provided by Greater Manchester local authorities to provide advice about how these changes will affect you and to help with your housing options. They can provide practical help and support and could also help you in talks with your landlord. Their phone number is 0845 120 2093. You pay at the rate for a local call if you call from a landline, but it may be more from a mobile phone (the advisor can ring you back if you ask them to). You can also speak to an advisor from the team when their Mobile Advice Centre is in your area. Or, visit their website at www.helpwithrent.org.uk