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Council saying apply for Universal Credit when on ESA.

Hi
My brother is on ESA (Support element) and get's PIP too - the lower one. He has just moved to a house and I've been helping him apply for housing benefit. He keeps going out of the house and my father is very high-risk for Covid as he's a pensioner and also very weak now due to ill health.
When applying for Housing Benefit we went on the government website and filled in all his details. The website said he is eligible with an estimated value and everything else and said he can claim and asked for his post code and from that transferred to the council website. All details were filled in early April but no answer was received. We've emailed them on Friday asking why and they have replied with the following:
"Thank you for your e-mail. We have received your claim form and we were waiting for council tax to make you liable before we can process your council tax reduction. Your council tax bill has now been raised and the processor will process you council tax reduction claim in due course and will write to you once it has been done. As you don’t receive the severe disability premium we are unable to consider you for housing benefit. You can make a claim for Universal Credit to see if they can award you rent allowance".
Is this correct?
Can he not claim for housing benefit?
Does he have to first claim Universal Credit?
Please advise as we've given all the information yet they're going on about a "severe disability premium". This seems to imply that only disabled people can claim housing benefit, which I very much doubt.
Would be very much appreciative if somebody can guide us with the correct process and what we need to do.
Thank you.
My brother is on ESA (Support element) and get's PIP too - the lower one. He has just moved to a house and I've been helping him apply for housing benefit. He keeps going out of the house and my father is very high-risk for Covid as he's a pensioner and also very weak now due to ill health.
When applying for Housing Benefit we went on the government website and filled in all his details. The website said he is eligible with an estimated value and everything else and said he can claim and asked for his post code and from that transferred to the council website. All details were filled in early April but no answer was received. We've emailed them on Friday asking why and they have replied with the following:
"Thank you for your e-mail. We have received your claim form and we were waiting for council tax to make you liable before we can process your council tax reduction. Your council tax bill has now been raised and the processor will process you council tax reduction claim in due course and will write to you once it has been done. As you don’t receive the severe disability premium we are unable to consider you for housing benefit. You can make a claim for Universal Credit to see if they can award you rent allowance".
Is this correct?
Can he not claim for housing benefit?
Does he have to first claim Universal Credit?
Please advise as we've given all the information yet they're going on about a "severe disability premium". This seems to imply that only disabled people can claim housing benefit, which I very much doubt.
Would be very much appreciative if somebody can guide us with the correct process and what we need to do.
Thank you.
Replies
Housing benefit has been replaced by Universal Credit for most people (there is a housing element on UC).
However, if your brother lives alone (or if the only other adults living with him receive PIP/DLA/AA) he could possibly have SDP on his claim (or be entitled to it).
SDP is worth over £60 a week and if he claimed Universal Credit he would lose eligibility for it. It’s worth looking into whether he is entitled to SDP or whether he is already claiming it. If so, he CAN claim housing benefit and his claim for it should be allowed. If he doesn’t have SDP and isn’t eligible, then they are correct that he would have to claim UC to receive help with housing.
Scope
If you have a few minutes to spare, we'd appreciate your feedback on our online community.
Scope
If you have a few minutes to spare, we'd appreciate your feedback on our online community.
I've checked his PIP letters and they do state he can get help with Housing
I understand your concerns and rest assured we'll exhaust other options first before even thinking about UC.
@Adrian_Scope.
Hi is not on SDP. What is the process for getting SDP added to his claim please?
Thank you all again
@Naughtynan there are some instances where you can actually be better off on UC.