LHA 1 Bed Rate After PIP win

OverlyAnxious

Hi,

I just wondered if anyone else had issues with the council not raising the LHA cap after a PIP win recently?   I fully appreciate the staffing issues currently so if it's just a case of waiting then that's ok, but I don't know if it is that and feel like I'm just being ignored atm.

They automatically added SDP to my list of 'income' when checking the website, long before I'd even received confirmation of SDP so the electronic systems must be working quickly between DWP & Council.

I won the PIP award about a month ago, and SDP around 10 days later, but still no change to the LHA amount.

I've tried emailing two different housing departments within the council but neither have responded and it's now been 10 & 6 working days respectively.

There is a phone number listed next to one of the email contacts but I really struggle with phones and don't think it's free either as it starts with 03.

Is there any reason that I wouldn't eligible for the 1 bed rate?  I did have slightly too much in savings when I first started ESA so lose a pound a week.  The amount had dropped since but it was too much hassle trying to change it for the sake of a pound.  Does savings affect the HB LHA cap at all?  I've also now got all the PIP & SDP backpay which I know gets disregarded for ESA but may affect housing?

Thanks

OverlyAnxious

woodbine said:

Afternoon just to say that 03 numbers are landline.

Yeah, I think they're charged at 'local' rate from Googling now, but don't know what the cost actually is nowadays.  

I've been on my current Broadband & phone contract for 17 months and never once made a call to anything other than the 0800 PIP line so far.

alieshia

@OverlyAnxious 03 numbers cost up to 9p per minute from a landline and between 3p and 55p from a mobile unless you get inclusive minutes then they are free. https://www.gov.uk/call-charges

OverlyAnxious

Thanks all,

I just have a PAYG mobile as I never use calls or texts, just use a little data with the BP app to buy diesel without having to go into the kiosk and talk to a person.  Looks like calls cost 3p a minute, but not sure if there's a connection fee.

It's taken some digging to find the landline charges but it looks like 16p a minute, plus a 23p connection fee!!!!   I always thought mobiles cost more than landlines lol.

I'm actually in the process of changing provider, upgrading to superfast BB next month, so just checked their call costs, and it looks like 11.5p per minute, plus 19p connection charge.  So it'll still be MUCH cheaper to use the mobile if I ever have to again.

Thanks for the confirmation regarding LHA & savings @Hart86

OverlyAnxious

Apparently it's my forum anniversary today!  Thought I better celebrate that by trying to call the council lol...

They didn't seem overly confident that PIP would change the LHA rate due to my age, but said they'd look into it over the next week or two.  Hopefully they manage to sort it without any more hassle.

Oh, and there's no connection fee on an O2 mobile it seems, call lasted 9 minutes and cost 27p.

Chloe_Alumni

I hope they are able to get to get back to you quickly @OverlyAnxious! Please do let us know.

OverlyAnxious

Finally got the LHA rate raised to one-bed!  

I've been checking the council website every day since calling, today is 2 weeks to the day when I called and it's now showing the one bed rate and the 'next payment' is a large amount which must be the backpay.

Very relieved to finally have all the finances sorted for a while!  Just hope I can make the most of it and get some improvement in health conditions.

Chloe_Alumni

Amazing news @OverlyAnxious!!! So happy for you!! I really hope things go smoothly now.

janer1967

Great news so glad everything is sorted for you and you can relax and think about what you can spend all that back dated money on 

Adrian_Scope

I'm glad you managed to call them and that this has now been sorted @OverlyAnxious. It's been a long time coming and I'm really pleased for you.