UC housing Costs in shared accommodation

We have a claimant who is a lodger. They have no connection to the landlord at all and have a Tenancy agreement.

The claimant is over 35yrs and would be entitled to the single bedroom self contained rate of Housing costs.

What is less clear is whether UC will pay the Self Contained rate or the Shared rate as the cl. only has a bedroom and shares the rest of the house

p. 106 of the 23/24 handbook indicates that the Self-contained rate is payable and I cant see and regulations that specify anything different but I thought I ought to check to see if anyone else has any information

UC doesn’t care whether you are living in shared accommodation or not. It just looks at your age. As your client is over 35, the one bed rate would apply. For HB, the rules are different and a person who actually occupies shared accommodation may still be stuck on the lower rate.

See, primarily, para 27-28, sch 4, UC Regs 2013 on who is a ‘specified renter’.

Thanks Elliot, I was somewhat concerned by the rather vague statement from the CPAG book and you have confirmed what I thought