Latest Housing Benefit News

Changes to Housing Benefit for single people under 35

Housing Benefit is changing from 1st January 2012 for single people aged 25 to 34 who rent from a private landlord. The Government is introducing changes to Housing Benefit so that single people in this age group will only be entitled to the shared accommodation rate to help with their rent (rather than being able to claim for self-contained one-bedroom accommodation).

This means that single people will only be entitled to the lower rate of Housing Benefit for a room in shared accommodation if all of the following apply:

• You are a single person
• You are occupying one-bedroom self-contained accomodation in the private rented sector
• Your Housing Benefit is due to be reviewed from January 2012 onwards
• At the date of the review you will be aged 25 or over but under 35 years, and
• You are not covered by any of the exemptions on sharing accommodation.

The change means that from January 2012 onwards, instead of the one-bedroom self-contained rate for Housing Benefit, you would move onto the shared accommodation rate that applies on the date of your annual review. This rate will be much lower than the one bedroom self contained rate. The exact amount will only be known on the date of your annual review as the rates change each month. However the current shared accommodation rates for property in this district range from £69.23 to £75.04 per week, which gives an indication of the likely rate from 1 January 2012. If your Housing Benefit is not assessed under Local Housing Allowance rules we cannot provide an estimate at present, although the rate is likely to be much lower than the current rate.

You will not be affected by these changes if you

• Get the severe disability premium, or
• Need an extra bedroom for an overnight carer who does not live with you, or
• are subject to active multi-agency management under the Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA), or
• have spent three months or more in a homeless hostel, or more than one hostel, specialising in rehabilitation and resettlement within the community. To benefit from this exemption claimants would need to have been offered and to have accepted support services to enable them to be rehabilitated or resettled in the community.

Where to go for more Information

Directgov housing benefit website

Directgov provides information on public service in one place including up to date information on the Housing Benefit changes.

Local Authority Housing Benefit / Housing Service. Your local authority can help you to find out exactly how these changes will affect you.

Valuation Office Agency (VOA) website

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is an executive agency of HM Revenue & Customs and holds information on local housing allowance, fair rents and council tax and many other related topics website.

Citizens Advice in Epping Forest

The Citizens Advice service provides a wide range of advice.

Shelter website

Shelter offers confidential housing, welfare benefits and debt advice through a network of advice services; freephone Housing Advice Helpline on 0808 800 4444 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 8am to 5pm Saturday and Sunday.