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PIP and Bedroom Tax confused

sarah50

My husband and I are in a 2 bed housing association house. I have just been looking on disability rights uk website who say an adult couple can have a 2 bed, without paying bedroom tax if your receiving a qualifying benefit. ie daily living component of personal care. I just rang housing benefit to ask them why I was being charged it and they said it only applies if I am buying in overnight care. Please could someone with benefit knowledge please clarify. Thankyou

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poppy123456

Hi,

Yes, this is correct. If you're able to share a bedroom with your partner then you won't qualify for the 2 bed rate. The bedroom tax will still apply to you.

poppy123456

What it says on the disability rights website is this.

One bedroom is allowed for:

every adult couple (unless it is inappropriate for you to share a room because of disability and one of you gets a qualifying disability benefit, in which case two rooms would be allowed). If you're able to share a bedroom then the bedroom tax will apply to you.

https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/bedroom-tax-number-bedrooms-allowed

Yadnad

poppy123456 said:

What it says on the disability rights website is this.
One bedroom is allowed for:
every adult couple (unless it is inappropriate for you to share a room because of disability and one of you gets a qualifying disability benefit, in which case two rooms would be allowed). If you're able to share a bedroom then the bedroom tax will apply to you.
https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/bedroom-tax-number-bedrooms-allowed

Surely then someone who snores throughout the night would mean that they must sleep in separate rooms in order to avoid keeping the other person awake all night?
Whether they actually do so is another matter.
Or is it that the reason has to be a serious medical condition or disability that would preclude them sleeping together - say one is on permanent oxygen throughout the night or has violent nightmares and is likely to injure the other party?

poppy123456

Snoring would most certainly not be reasons to have a bedroom each. I'm unsure which medical conditions would apply but snoring not.

sarah50

Thankyou for your input I must have read it wrongly. I wonder what makes it inappropriate to share as my condition is definitely not helped by sharing. Is anyone on here able to clarify what inappropriate to share means under the legal definition?

poppy123456

You do share though, if your condition is made worse by sharing and you have a spare bedroom then wouldn't it make sense to sleep in the other room?

poppy123456

An extra room can be considered if medical equipment is used. Have you applied for a discretionary housing payment to help with the bedroom tax? This maybe possible.

sarah50

Hi @poppy123456 Thankyou again for your reply, now my PIP has been stopped pending appeal our income has dropped by 50% so I will definitely be looking into applying for a DHP that's partly why I was trying to understand the rules. I guess you are right that using the other room and sleeping separately seems like a no brainer, and we have discussed it but our marriage is under a lot of strain now made significantly worse. The lines between Husband and carer already blurred it feels like giving up on the marriage. Hope you understand it's not so black and white all sorts of dynamics in play.

poppy123456

You're welcome. I certainly do understand. PIp or DLA is one thing that you do need in order to be able to claim this anyway, so you wouldn't be able to right now. I would definitely look into the DHP, for this you'll need to ask your local council for a form but you may want to get some help with filling it in because they ask every question and want to know everything about your spending etc. I remember applying for the DHP a couple of years ago and had help with the forms because they certainly do give you a headache and that's putting it mildly :|Good luck!

kebabs2u3

Hi I’m living in a 2 bedroom housing association flat on my own I have just received pip, on my journal from the dwp today it asked if my disability needs me to use my spare room for overnight care, my daughter and son take turns to come over to care for me 5/7 nights a week will I now not have to pay for the extra bedroom tax ? Thanks I’m advance

poppy123456

kebabs2u3 said:

Hi I’m living in a 2 bedroom housing association flat on my own I have just received pip, on my journal from the dwp today it asked if my disability needs me to use my spare room for overnight care, my daughter and son take turns to come over to care for me 5/7 nights a week will I now not have to pay for the extra bedroom tax ? Thanks I’m advance

You need to tell them about the overnight care you receive and then a decision maker will make the final decision. Once the decision is made you'll receive a letter on your journal.

kebabs2u3

Thankyou poppy, all they asked if I do need overnight care and when from nothing else I’ll await the outcome