Halló Mike
My son Sigurður has a long term disability, he is 24 and he is on ESA and PIP.
He wants to move out and rent a room in a shared house but he thinks that he is not entitled to housing benefit.
Can you tell me if that is right and then why? He seems to think that you have to be on Universal Credit to be entitled to housing benefit.
Thank you and I do miss your training courses : )
Ragnheiður
Hello Ragnheiður,
Sigurður is right.
Housing Benefit is closed for new claims (by under 66’s) so anyone taking on a new tenancy who needs help with rent must claim Universal Credit.
This means that their old means-tested benefits get closed, and they all get bundled into the one UC claim.
The jargon of the benefits system would say that they have been naturally migrated to UC.
PIP would not be affected by this. It would continue as a separate thing.
Assuming that Sigurður is in the ESA support group his monthly Universal Credit would be:
- £257.83 Standard Allowance
- £343.63 LCWRA element
- £469.98 Housing Costs Element (or less if his actual rent was lower than this figure)
- £1,071.44
The Standard and LCWRA bits come to £601.46pcm or £138.30 per week which is more than his current ESA of £131.30.
Most people of Sigurður’s age get a lower rate for housing – the shared accommodation rate of £350.01 – but that would not apply to him because he gets PIP
There is a way of getting more UC though:
If he moves into a new property and, before he claims UC, he tells ESA about the move, they will allow an extra bit of ESA called a Severe Disability Premium.
Then if he makes a claim for UC he will get an extra £120 per month, called a Transitional SDP Element.
Read this article and check out the example of Bargitta.
I can foresee three problems, but they are easy to prevent/sort-out:
Problem 1:
The gap.
When you claim Universal Credit, you get your first payment one-month-and-one-week after claiming.
To cover this gap, your old ESA rolls on for two weeks after the UC claim, and you can ask for a benefit advance to cover the remaining two-and-a-bit weeks.
Problem 2:
When Sigurður claims UC he may be told that he must submit a new sick-note / medical-certificate / doctor’s-statement, and have a new Work Capability Assessment.
This is wrong.
His old ESA assessment carries though to his Universal Credit claim.
He must not provide a new medical certificate since this will start a completely unnecessary and stressful process.
Instead he must (gently) explain that under Regulation 19 of the Transitional Provisions Regulations, the old assessment is still valid.
Problem 3:
If he moves into shared accommodation, DWP may say that he cannot have the extra Severe Disability Premium because he has other adults living with him.
This would be wrong since the other adults in shared accommodation would be joint occupiers not non-dependents.
So he could have the SDP which would mean that he could get the extra element when he claims UC.