UC award notice / housing costs

Hello ... can anyone tell me whether the award letter for UC should or does detail a breakdown of how the ‘housing costs’ element has been calculated, including detailing any deductions such as Underocc or Housing Costs Contribution?

I was shown a letter during a visit to Oldham yesterday and told verbally that they don’t include this information, confusingly just the amount of the Housing Costs element, giving rise to the need for detective work ....

I’m not sure if there’s one exact answer to your question. A recent client of mine brought in with her two award letters, one for Nov-Dec, the other for Dec-Jan. She is subject to bedroom tax and so her HE is reduced by 14%.

On one of her letters, under the heading ‘How your Universal Credit payments are worked out’, section 1 (the elements that apply to the claimant) had her total housing element, before bedroom tax applied. In section 4, (deductions for overpayments, loans etc) it had the spare bedroom tax and the amount that would be deducted from her UC award as a result of this.

On her second letter however, the housing elelment included in section 1 already had the 14% deducted. It didn’t say this, it just had the actual HE she would be paid after the deduction had been applied. In section 4 there was no mention at all of the bedroom tax.

Perhaps this was because it was her second award letter and thus it was assumed that the first had adaqueately showed that her HE was subject to a 14% spare bedroom deduction, and from now on her award letters will just display her actual housing element. But who knows.

Thanks for replying.  Interesting!