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Universal credit housing increase, advice welcome

life

Moved to a shared 5 bed house and was given £400 and was told I'd have to cover the rest which was £200. Since February 2021 was paying the extra money but my last UC payment statement says they pay the full £600? I'm not arguing with it just intrigued to find out why. I'm on UC and pip. Will call them tomorrow but any info tonight would be swell.

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poppy123456

You will need to check the LHA rates for the area you live. https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/ if you're under 35 but your PIP includes the daily living part you'll be entitled to the 1 bedroom rate.

life

I'm under 35. So should I have been getting the full rent paid from the start? I've been on pip for about 3 year but just moved over to UC February 2021 when I moved in.

poppy123456

If your PIP includes daily living part you'll be entitled to 1 bedroom rate of LHA. This doesn't always cover your whole rent. You will need to put your postcode into the link above and drop the box down to 1 bedroom.

calcotti

life said:

I'm under 35. So should I have been getting the full rent paid from the start? I've been on pip for about 3 year but just moved over to UC February 2021 when I moved in.

You rent is capped at the one bedroom LHA rate. As advised by poppy, you can check this here https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/Search.aspx. You are entitled to the relevant LHA rate or your rent whichever is less.

life

So shall I call them tomorrow and ask for backdated payments or just be happy and continue as is? Thanks for the advice @poppy123456 btw 👍

calcotti

life said:

So shall I call them tomorrow and ask for backdated payments or just be happy and continue as is? Thanks for the advice @poppy123456 btw 👍

Check the numbers first. If you have been underpaid ask them to recalculate your previous months of entitlement. (Did you tell them about your PIP when you first claimed UC?)

life

Yes I checked my lha rate and seems my full rent should have been paid from the start of my UC claim. Thanks again. @calcotti will ring tomorrow, thanks 👍

calcotti

You may be better posting a message in your journal as a payments query.

life

@calcotti yes I told UC I was on pip they gave me the transitional protection when I moved over from ESA. That transitional payment has now stopped but I'm better off now. And will do @woodbine 👍

calcotti

life said:..That transitional payment has now stopped ..

The transitional payment would reduce/stop if other parts of your UC award increased or were added. What changed to end the transitional protection? If it is mostly the increase in the housing element that has stopped the transitional protection but the housing element has been incorrectly paid throughout then the ‘increase’ shouldn’t be taken into account against the transitional protection. They instead need to recalculate every month of your UC award since you moved across using the correct housing element to do the calculation.

life

Housing element increase maybe? I will leave a note or call UC tomorrow and find out the full story and let you know, thanks again for the advice 👍

calcotti

life said:

Housing element increase maybe? I will leave a note or call UC tomorrow and find out the full story and let you know, thanks again for the advice 👍

When did the transitional element stop - did it coincide with the increased housing element?

life

Yes in my last UC statement transitional element stopped and rent was paid in full.

calcotti

life said:

Yes in my last UC statement transitional element stopped and rent was paid in full.

That means that what you should be asking is that they review your housing element from the start of your UC claim to take into account that you have had Daily Living PIP throughout and are therefore entitled to the one bedroom LHA. Given that the housing element should have been higher from the start of the claim the SDP transitional element should not have been reduced on the latest statement.

life

Just got off the phone and explained to the my issue and she said she can't answer it so will get a case manager to contact me from now until 6pm tomorrow 😳 what if I'm sleeping 😂

I said I'm in pip so shouldn't I be getting the full rent from the beginning she said no, that doesn't affect UC 🤷

I'll play the waiting game. Thanks for all advice 👍

calcotti

life said:

I said I'm in pip so shouldn't I be getting the full rent from the beginning she said no, that doesn't affect UC 🤷

Which is incorrect. It's the downside of doing things on the phone because you are reliant on them understanding what you are saying. It's why I suggested posting a journal message.

One thing that puzzles me is what has prompted them to change your housing element at this point in time.

You may still wish to post a message as a payment query in your journal. Something along the following lines (you will need to check that what I've suggested is accurate).
I claimed UC in February 2021 at which time I was transferred from ESA.
My claim includes the standard allowance, the LCWRA element, the SDP transitional element and the housing element.
You have been paying the housing element at a rate of £400/month. I understand that this is because you calculated the housing element based on the shared room LHA rate due to me being aged below 35.
However I was in receipt of Daily Living PIP at the time I claimed UC and I now understand that this means that I am entitled to the one bedroom LHA rate. I note that my latest statement has increased the housing element. I don’t know what has prompted this but i infer it is because the correct LHA rate has been applied.
I believe therefore that, because the wrong LHA has been applied until now, I have been underpaid the housing element since the start of my claim. I request that you recalculate my UC entitlement since the start of my claim.
I note too that the ‘change’ in my housing element on my latest statement has resulted in the erosion of the SDP element. Had the correct housing element been applied from the start there would be no ‘change’ in the element and there should therefore still be ongoing entitlement to SDP transitional element and therefore request that once the housing element has been corrected you reinstate the SDP element.

calcotti

Further to the above. If UC recalculate your previous statements the old statements will be replaced by new ones. I therefore suggest that you download copies of all of your statements to date so that you can refer to them should the need arise.

life

Wow @calcotti that's helpful. I'm going to copy and paste it to my journal if that's ok. Makes more sense the way you said it 👍

life

And I've downloaded all relevant UC statements from the start of my claim as advised, thanks again and I will let you know the outcome as soon as I do 👍

calcotti

life said:

Wow @calcotti that's helpful. I'm going to copy and paste it to my journal if that's ok. Makes more sense the way you said it 👍

Of course you can. (I thought the last bit was a bit clunky but hopefully they will understand it.)