Move from supported to council tenancy within the borough

Hello, am just double checking.

We have a client moving from supported accommodation to a ‘standard’ council tenancy - all within the same borough (we are full service throughout). He was already receiving HB in his previous accommodation. He submitted a change of circs form and they responded saying he needed to claim UC. I cannot see that this is the case. I am chasing the council to clarify, but wanted to double check I wasn’t missing anything.

Many thanks

If he is receiving UC at his specified accommodation address then he is only getting hb by virtue of para 3 of regulation 8 of the Universal CRedit Transitional Provisions regulations 2014;

(3) An award of housing benefit to which a claimant is entitled in respect of
1specified accommodation does not terminate by virtue of this regulation.

and this will cease to apply once he moves out of specified accommodation.

If he is not getting UC at the specified accommodation address then the move is a change in circs for hb purposes and does not by itself trigger a claim to UC so hb would continue.

For info: LBHF isn’t wholly full-service - I think about 2% of LHBF postcodes are still live-service.

Thanks both. I am aware of the small pockets of LBHF but for these purposes, he was moving from one full service postcode to another. Thank you though!

He is claiming ESA. As it happens, HB called me today and agreed they had been incorrect and the issue has been resolved - HB back in payment and backdated to change of circs date.

It depends whether he is/was already on UC I think:

- The UC Transitional Provisions Regs stop him from being entitled to HB and UC at the same time except in specified accommodation, and also require HB to stop as soon as he makes a new claim for UC except in specified accommodation
- Article 7 of the No 23 Order prevents him from making a new claim for legacy benefits in most circumstances, but doesn’t stop him from continuing to receive any legacy bens he was already getting

If I understand the OP correctly, this claimant has not yet made a UC claim and is not trying to make any new legacy benefit claim so he can stay on ESA and HB even though the HB award is no longer for specified accommodation