Most of my sheltered housing tenants receive Housing Benefit to help pay rent and service charges. However, if a tenant is not eligible for Housing Benefit (eg not on Guarantee Credit and over £16,000 capital) is it then possible to apply for Guarantee Credit on the basis that the service charge is included in the appropriate amount? in some cases, this could "float" the claimant onto Guarantee Credit entitlement. Is there a regulation which does not allow this to happen?

The answer is no , (Sch 5 para 1(a) SPC Regs 2002), no amount may be met in respect of housing benefit expenditure

Thanks.

I have changed my mind on this one. Its not been tested, but it can be argued that (Sch 5 para 1(a) SPC Regs 2002), does not have the effect of disallowing service charges in this way, all it does is prevent duplicate payments of service charegs both by HB and SPC.

My new argument is reinforced by Reg 8(3) of the HB Regs (although it does not appear to have been amended yet to take SPC into acount)

"(3) Where a person who has been awarded housing benefit in respect of a dwelling becomes entitled to income support
or an income-based jobseeker’s allowance and his applicable amount for the purpose of calculating his entitlement to that benefit includes an amount
in respect of a payment made by him in respect of that dwelling, the payments made by him in respect of that dwelling shall continue
to be eligible for housing benefit for a period of four benefit weeks beginning with the benefit week after the date on which he becomes entitled to income support
or an income-based jobseeker’s allowance."

Looks like claiming for sevice charges via SPC could be a goer after all

Noted, if I come across any cases where this works I will let you know.