Specified Accommodation - HB vs UC

I’ve had a rather unsatisfactory exchange with one of the HB DM’s and would like to check I’m in the right.

They have stated that it is the council’s policy that all new claimants of HB in supported housing should claim both HB and UC for ‘protection’ in case the HB claim is refused, so that UC housing costs can later be backdated (whereas there would be no backdate if the UC claim was delayed). I have argued that this is poor advice which would mean claimants lose transitional protection and would be left many thousands of pounds worse off over a long period of time.

Their answer was that all working age claimants should be claiming UC anyway and that I am giving incorrect advice by not telling them to claim UC at the outset because this could mean they lose out on entitlement if the HB claim is refused and leave them liable for rent arrears. I ended up just agreeing to disagree but remain of the opinion that this policy is detrimental to claimants and that there are set routes for UC migration through natural and managed migration, which are being circumvented.

Do you think my position is correct? If so, are there any steps that could be taken to challenge this policy? Thanks.

The sort of people this applies to probably won’t be worse off on UC.  The ones who would want to avoid natural migration in favour of undergoing managed migration later are mainly people with an SDP, especially if they also have LCWRA - but normally there won’t be much doubt about the kind of supported accommodation they live in.  The dubious specified accommodation claims tend to involve single homeless type schemes.  On the whole I don’t think it’s such bad advice to suggest that someone in borderline supported accommodation should protect their position by claiming UC and declaring possible housing costs entitlement, pending the outcome of the HB claim.

But it’s only advice, it’s not something the Council can impose as a policy.  It’s OK for the Council to say “we are being honest with you here, it’s touch and go whether you occupy specified accommodation - if I were you I would think about claiming UC as back-up”.  It’s not OK for the Council to say “we won’t take any action on your HB claim unless you claim UC”.

They should deal with the HB claim on its merits and leave it to the claimant to judge the pros and cons of a UC claim after taking advice from all sources available to them, including but not limited to the Council.

Thanks for the measured response. I totally agree with your comments regarding borderline cases, but this appears to be a blanket policy for all specified accommodation claims. We don’t operate any of the type of dubious/borderline schemes you refer to, but we do have various supported and adapted properties for single people into which Adult Services allocates suitable residents and arranges their care, where the SDP would come into play so it’s something that could be an issue for other claimants.

The case which gave rise to this incident, to my eyes at least, is such an obvious example of specified accommodation that the thought never crossed my mind that the HB claim would fail. It felt as though the department had to be educated regarding the managed properties route as they were fixated on specified exempt accommodation and failed to consider other categories of specified accommodation. I feel really uncomfortable recommending for someone to make a ‘protective’ claim for UC when I know this will trigger natural migration, leaving them worse off in both the short and long term, especially in cases where the specified accommodation criteria are clearly met. I feel like there shouldn’t be so much mystique around the subject to make such a claim necessary.

I guess it’s just something to deal with on a case-by-case basis and ensure the claimaint is fully armed with the correct knowledge to make their own decision. However, that’s difficult to achieve given the vulnerable nature of the claimants involved.

I always go through a wee flow chart then run the specified accommodation address past the Council’s HB Team Leader to check whether it counts for HB. They tell me whether the specified accommodation is on their list and if it’s not, they will run through the client’s situation and give an opinion.

For the future, it might be worth you trying to get some partnership working in that vein to avoid any uncertainty or time wasted making 2 claims.

Bit late in my reply but re HB Anorak - a lot of the dubious specified accommodation we see is for social care placements and learning disability clients and therefore the SDP cohort which does make the blanket UC application tricky.