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bedroom tax bereavement 52 week protection
Couple affected by the bedroom tax have 14% restriction applied, as 2 bedroom, one of the couple die, does the 52 week protection not apply in this case as eligible rent was reduced by 14% prior to death of partner?
Can’t get my head round this one.
thanks
Couple affected by the bedroom tax have 14% restriction applied, as 2 bedroom, one of the couple die, does the 52 week protection not apply in this case as eligible rent was reduced by 14% prior to death of partner?
Can’t get my head round this one.thanks
My understanding is that the bereavement protection only protects the eligible rent which applied on the day before death occurred. So in the circs you describe the reduced HB rate will continue to be paid - it does not go back up to paying full rent.
I’m not sure if I’m missing something here but if the couple had 2 rooms then presumably one was “spare” and therefore subject to 14% bedroom tax.
When one of the couple died then the surviving partner still attracts HB for one bedroom only and is still subject to 14% bedroom tax because the required number of bedrooms has not changed….. 52 protection only applies if for example another family member who occupied the second bedroom died.
Please forgive me if I’ve mis-understood but I don’t think your client has the 52 protection because it was their partner who died and there was one spare room then and there is one spare room now and therefore the eligible rent has not changed.
No you are not misundestanding anything - that’s exactly how it is.
The claimant has a kind of underlying or latent 12 months’ protection which would kick in if something else happened to reduce the eligible rent still further, but on the facts presented it is difficult to imagine how that could happen (for example, no third bedroom occupied by a non-dep who might move out during the next 12 months)
Thanks for your help
Took a bit of getting my head round this one, but basically it is the eligible rent that is protected for the 52 weeks, so in the case of a household where there was a PC age partner who protected them as a couple being treated as under occupying, the surviving younger partner has the eligible rent protected. If both under PC age, the eligible rent would have been reduced and remain at that rate.