Changes for customers aged 25 to 34
What is changing in January 2012?
From January 2012, if you are a single person aged between 25 and 34 years with no children and make a new claim for housing benefit and you are renting self contained accommodation, you will receive benefit based on the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) shared room rate.
Who is affected by the changes?
Anyone who is a single person aged between 25 and 34 years with no children and renting self-contained accommodation.
If you are making a new claim for housing benefit after 1 January 2012, or move to a new address after that date, you will be affected by the changes. We will use the LHA shared room rate when calculating any housing benefit.
How is this different?
Under the old rules:
For a single person under 25 with no children and renting self-contained accommodation, their housing benefit was calculated based on the LHA shared room rate
For a single person over 25 with no children and renting self-contained accommodation, their housing benefit was calculated based on the LHA one bedroom rate
The change: the government has extended the age range for the LHA shared room rate calculation for housing benefit from under 25 years of age to under 35 years of age.
What happens to my claim if I have been on housing benefit before January 2012 and I am under 25, single with no children?
Your claim will not change; you will continue to receive housing benefit calculated on the LHA shared room rate until your 35th birthday unless you have a change in your circumstances that entitles you to a higher LHA rate.
What happens to my claim if I have been on housing benefit before January 2012, I am over 25 but under 35, single with no children?
If you are currently receiving housing benefit on the LHA one bedroom rateand your claim started before the 1st of April 2011, you will continue toreceive this until the anniversary date (date of claim) of your claim after January 2012. Your benefit will be recalculated from the anniversary date and will be changed to the LHA shared room rate.This would result in a reduction of housing benefit.
What is an anniversary date?
This is the date in which your claim was first calculated under the LHA scheme. Your claim is re-calculated at the same date every year unless you have a relevant change of circumstances. We will write to you again before your anniversary date informing you of the change to your benefit entitlement.
However the government has accepted this change in your housing benefit is not due to an increase in your income but a change in benefit regulations. As such they have introduced a transitional protection period of up to nine months. This means that your housing benefit will remain at the higher amount from your anniversary date for up to nine months before it is reduced to the LHA shared room rate, unless you have a change in your circumstances. The purpose of the transitional period is to allow you time to look for alternative, cheaper accommodation.
If my housing benefit goes down because of the regulation change, can I get any extra help to pay my rent?
Every local authority operates a Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) scheme.
The scheme is intended to help applicants that can show financial hardship with regard to paying their rent and/or council tax. See our Discretionary Housing Payments webpage for more information.
How do you calculate the LHA rates used in the January 2012 changes?
We are given the LHA rental figures each month by the Valuation Office Agency. We have no control over the LHA rent levels used in your housing benefit calculation.However as part of the benefit claim process, we do make sure you are allocated the correct LHA rate for your circumstances.
How does this affect me if I am over 35 years of age, or living with a partner and or children?
The January 2012 changes will not affect your claim. However you should let us know of any changes in your financial and/or family circumstances without delay.