If UC allows the spare bedroom, will I get higher rate housing element? Will this be backdated?

hello12345
hello12345 Online Community Member Posts: 5 Listener
edited June 2021 in Universal Credit (UC)
Hello. Hope somebody can help me. After getting my recent PIP award backdated several months, I have just received a notification from Universal Credit to ask whether I regularly need a spare bedroom because of disability. (To which I am answering yes, as I do have the spare bedroom). I understand that if Universal Credit allows the spare bedroom, I will get a higher rate for housing element? Will this higher rate housing element be automatically backdated as well? 

Comments

  • calcotti
    calcotti Online Community Member Posts: 10,005 Championing
    Having a spare bedroom is not the same as needing one. You need to explain what the medical need is.
  • hello12345
    hello12345 Online Community Member Posts: 5 Listener
    Yes I have explained it. My carer had been using it for that purpose, long before I even received PIP, just did not know that UC considered it ☺️

    Does anybody know the answers to my two questions please? 
  • calcotti
    calcotti Online Community Member Posts: 10,005 Championing
    If you allowed the extra bedroom your housing element will increase. I think you will be entitled to backdating, whether it will happen without you having to specifically ask will depend on how efficient DWP are. Wait for the decision to see of they allow it, if they don't refer to backdating post a message in your journal asking about it.
  • hello12345
    hello12345 Online Community Member Posts: 5 Listener
    thank you @calcotti
    and do you know how long it will take DWP to make the initial decision? 
  • calcotti
    calcotti Online Community Member Posts: 10,005 Championing
    edited June 2021
    hello12345 said:
    thank you @calcotti
    and do you know how long it will take DWP to make the initial decision? 
    No. Lots of things are taking longer at the moment but sometimes people get a quick response.
  • Rainbows
    Rainbows Online Community Member Posts: 7 Listener

    Hi

    Can you tell me when the notification appeared on your Universal Credit please as i was recently told that this was an upgrade to the system in January 2024 that now generates a to do for the need of an extra bedroom cross referencing claimants who receive PIP? I am awaiting a tribunal regarding the back dating but would be very helpful to myself if I had evidence of Universal Credit notifying claimants of "tell us whether you use an extra bedroom due to your disability" before January 2024. If anyone can help me it would be much appreciated.

    Thanks

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 62,401 Championing
    https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/888966#Comment_888966

    This thread is more than 3 years old and the member hasn’t been active for almost 3 years so you may not get a reply.

    If you don’t currently have a PIP daily living award if the Tribunal awards it then make sure you report the changes to UC. If this doesn’t automatically generate the extra bedroom question then report to them that one is needed and why it’s needed.

  • Rainbows
    Rainbows Online Community Member Posts: 7 Listener

    Hi Poppy

    Thank you for your reply. If the thread is more than 3 years old then that would confirm that Universal Credit telling me the upgrade only took affect in January 2024 isn't completely correct. I have received PIP & UC for 6 years, the first 4 years was a single claim then my partner moved in & it was changed to a joint claim even though he works full time. I was stressing out changing the claim as UC is the most complex, no common sense system I have ever known. One day I stated on my journal how stressful it was because there were no options for my situation. What I meant by this was it asked how many bedrooms my house gzd but not how many we used & why etc. The journal entry was never addressed as is normal with UC they pick & choose what they answer. Anyway all of a sudden in February 2024 I receive a "to do" that generated in my Universal Credit which was tell us if you use an extra bedroom due to your disability. I filled out the form stating this had been since my joint claim started & I received confirmation that I was entitled to the extra bedroom but not the back payment as it was the claimants responsibility to report this change. I explained on my journal that I never reported any change as there hadn't been a change since my joint claim & I'm now awaiting a tribunal. Universal Credit then identified the reason the "to do" generated automatically was because an upgrade was done to the system in January 2024 which identifies claimants who receive PIP & UC that may require an extra bedroom due to disability. But if I'm reading the above post correctly then this blows what Universal Credit have told me out the water as this claimant is saying this happened to them 3 years ago!! Honestly the system has you thinking you are going bonkers & all to claim just what you are entitled to its mad.

    Thank you again for any information that can be of use to me.

  • honeyhoney
    honeyhoney Online Community Member Posts: 116 Contributor

    I can see that this is the norm when it comes to UC and backdated "extra room".
    I also received my PIP after an MRI which was backdated 5 months.


    While the carrer element was backdated by 5 months, the "extra room" was not. The DM told me that these are their rules and they don't pay back. I don't know if that's the case but I left it as it is.

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 62,401 Championing
    https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/889013#Comment_889013

    It is not automatically paid because not everyone needs regular overnight care or is unable to share a room with a partner.

  • honeyhoney
    honeyhoney Online Community Member Posts: 116 Contributor
    https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/889015#Comment_889015

    I know, I also received a notification after a successful MR,

    I filled it out, waited 1.5 months and after a telephone conversation with DM and I was accepted,

    but from AP when the decision was made, not from the day I submitted the PIP application. (5 months)

  • Rainbows
    Rainbows Online Community Member Posts: 7 Listener

    HI, thank you for the information. When did you receive the notification on your UC after your MR was it before January 2024?

    Thanks

  • honeyhoney
    honeyhoney Online Community Member Posts: 116 Contributor
    https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/889035#Comment_889035

    no it was Feb 2024, just 3 days after MR decision if I remember.

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