Universal credit - Will there be any housing cost help?

sarah2024

I have yesterday finished my universal credit form and sent it online

My question is. I am single and I live with my adult son

He works full time and I am unemployed and on sick

Will there be any housing cost help for rent within my universal credit claim

Or because my adult son of 24 works full time do I receive no help towards housing costs ?

I get a single persons discount for council tax I believe

Thankypu sarah :)

poppy123456

If you have liability to pay rent to a landlord then you'll be entitled to housing element of UC. If you're not currently receiving a qualifying disability benefit such as daily living PIP/ADP or mid/high rate care DLA then there will be a non dependant deduction of £91.47/month.

With council tax you shouldn't be entitled to single person discount when you live with your adult son. Do they know that he lives with you?

Kimmy87

You likely get Council Tax Reduction, which isn't the same as a single person's discount.

You do need to let your local council know you have applied for UC.

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/benefits/universal_credit_housing_cost_contributions

There will be help under UC with rent, known as Housing element.

As your son lives with you, a non dependant deduction of £91.47 from your Housing Element will be made.

Unless you get Daily Living PIP or middle/high care DLA?

In which case no non dependant deduction will be made.

sarah2024

yes they know he loves with me

I’ve proberbly got the council tax thing wrong then

My son handles that side of stuff for me so I’ve prob just assumed that’s how it works

I’m so useless I never know what I’m doing with stuff like this :(

So my situation is

I have just changed from Jsa to universal credit the form went in last night

I am a single person

My son lives with me

He works full time

And I don’t get any disability premiums or anything

I have been putting in sick notes and will prob soon have to do a wca

The landlord my son pays full rent to when I was on Jsa is the local council housing

There was no help for us with rent

When he started working full time 3 years ago all my housing benefit stopped and my 24 year old son has been paying full rent ever since

Only money I was getting is Jsa

So I prob won’t get any help with rent

I’ve always though it a bit unfair that with me being out of work and on Jsa just because he works full time he has to pay all the rent

Because obs how can I afford any rent on Jsa

I’m just confused tbh

poppy123456

If you're not working then there will be some help with the rent. Housing element of UC is a lot more generous than housing benefit for non dependant deductions. Housing benefit deductions are based on earnings but for UC it's just a standard £91.47/month deduction.

Have you reported your health condition when you filled out the form and provided a fit note? If not then you will need to make sure you do this. You will need to continue to provide fit notes without any gaps until a decision is made on your WCA.

sarah2024

I phoned my local council rent place up about an hour ago

I told her I needed to let them know I had had to change over from Jsa to universal credit

She said I didn’t really need to let them know about this and said but we wil make a note of this on your account

She said we have made a note on the council tax too just in case

But she said I didn’t get any housing help on Jsa because my son works full time

So the rent falls to him

I said well what about on the new system universal credit

She said there won’t be any differance you won’t be entitled to any housing help it’s just a matter of changing to the new system

So I said I won’t get any housing help cost then

She said no

It’s really upsetting as I feel so bad for my son footing the bill because of my cercumstances I’m putting pressure on him all the time

poppy123456

You were advised incorrectly by the person you spoke to. As I advised, non dependant deductions are a lot more generous when claiming UC than they were for housing benefit. It's a shame you didn't get some expert advice when your housing benefit stopped and you could have claimed UC back then.

See link.

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/benefits/universal_credit_housing_cost_contributions

When you filled out the form as you're living in social housing did you give them details of your current landlord? They will check with social housing for your rent liability.

sarah2024

so are you saying the full rent my son is paying at the moment

when the universal credit has bee sorted the rent he pays will be reduced by £91.47 per month ?

When I did the universal credit forms with my sons help last night. I did tell them about my health conditions

I had allready sent my fit note to Jsa earlier this month do I need to send it to them again via my journal or does the one I sent Jsa that’s still valid till 31st December just get automaticity passed over to them

Thankyou so much to everyone for trying to help me

poppy123456

As you're living in social housing, if you have no spare bedrooms you'll be entitled to full housing element but this will be reduced by £91.47/month. This means that he will need to pay £91.47/month instead of the full rent.

You will need to provide a fit note for UC because it's a different benefit to JSA. When you filled out the UC form it would have asked you if you have a health condition, you should have said yes to this. Then it would have asked you if your health condition affects your ability to work and you should have answered yes to that. You will then need to provide a fit note within 7 days and this should appear on your "to do list" from there you click "report a fit note" and you'll just need to provide details of that fit note but keep it just incase they ask to see it.

sarah2024

the rent people over the years have not advised me I’d be better off on universal credit it seems to me they didn’t really care

All this time there could of been some help towards things when my son bless him started working that’s amounts to an awful lot he has paid out over the past 3 years

I feel so bad for him

I didn’t know that if I changed to uc there would be more help for us

I think he is going to be really annoyed about this

As he been trying to pay rent and save up a mortgage deposit so he can one day leave home and try to buy a house

The housing team could of told me this back then

Wish there was a way to get this money back for him

I realise there isn’t

But it’s a shame I feel an idiot tbh :(

sarah2024

yes I did tell them on the form about the landlord who it was and all they

no one has ever told me that I could get help with rent on uc

It seems very unfair to me that my some has paid full rent for the past 3 years

poppy123456

The problem here is that your local Authority are not benefits advisors and they are not responsible for telling you what you maybe entitled to. I appreciate how frustrating it is though.

There are advice agencies such as Citizens Advice or Welfare Rights that could have advised you and even using a benefits calculator, which are available online.

sarah2024

I did tell them about my health yes

And I did click yes to it affecting my ability to work

I will go on my journal and upload the fit note to them

I have just this minute read the link you sent me about housing costs on uc and getting help

Fuming really

I don’t think my son is going to be very happy he’s been paying all this money out and struggling to pay this when we could of had help all this time

I feel really bad for him as he works really hard

I live in a 2 bed house

poppy123456

I agree, it's frustrating but there's nothing you can do about that now, sadly. Living in a 2 bed property will mean there's no spare bedrooms because there's a bedroom each.

If you claimed a qualifying disability benefit in the future there would be no deductions at all for UC.

sarah2024

yes I know understand that this is no one’s fault but my own I should of investigated more about help

I prob wasn’t thinking straight my son was starting uni my partner had just left me and left us in a lot of debt these past 3 years have been such a struggle 😢

I wish I’d known this back then 🤦‍♀️ I will upload my fit note this evening

Keep a copy of it

Then I think they said they are going to phone me about id purposes as I didn’t have 3 they was asking for

Only my provisional licence for photo Id

Don’t know what else I can use

I’m assuming I will have to go into the jobcentre with my id soon

sarah2024

Jsa just phoned me and said I only need to upload the dates of the fit note and that’s it

If I wanted to upload the actual fit note or picture I’d have to get uc to send me a link or something

poppy123456

Yes just provide the details on that fit note, which i did advise in a previous comment. Please keep hold of the fit note incase they ask to see it.