Universal Credit deductions

Good afternoon.

I have a client who seems to be having the equivalent of £10 per week deducted from their UC. The client must have answered the question “do you receive any other income” reply, “son gives me £40 board per week”
It is strange why it is £10.00 though.

On a QBC calculation there does not seem to be any deduction that’s the mystery. The non dependant concerned is under 21there is a deduction if you enter legacy benefits though.
I wonder if anyone has the answer to this question.
I have searched in CPAG etc
I cant find the answer apart from there seems to be an implication of no deductions.

hope someone can shed light on this

thanks

nigel

What do the payment summaries on the journal list it as? And what is the actual monthly amount of it?

This looks wrong.  The DWP seem to have applied the legacy benefit treatment of the boarder’s payment.  They appear to have disregarded £20 plus half of the balance (£10) and taken the remaining £10 into account as income.

I think the correct approach is to ignore the payments from the boarder.  Because he is a boarder he is then not treated as a non-dependant and not part of the extended benefit unit.  This means he should not qualify for a bedroom.  If the property has two bedrooms, the one bedroom LHA rate only should be allowed or a 14% reduction if in the social sector applied to the UC housing cost.

Happy to stand corrected if anyone thinks differently.

Hi
sorry for the delay.
The client has no access to the account now because they are in the process of a change of circs and claiming as a couple.

My suggestion is see what happens with this claim and if the deduction is on it look to challenge it.

I agree doing a benefit calculation there seems to be no deduction on UC but there is on legacy benefits.

I am glad you agree that the deductions may have been applied incorrectly.
Going forwards if the deduction is re applied then look to challenge. There could then be a loose argument to have the previous claim looked at if the deduction has been applied incorrectly.

I hope that is right

thank you all for your help

best wishes

Nigel

Could it be that they’re treating it is an ‘unearned income’ as and thus deducting UC at a rate of £1 for every £1 of board? However, this wouldn’t be the right approach, as page 122 of CPAG lists rental income from a room in your own home as disregarded, on the basis it counts as disregarded capital. As such, I don’t think it could be that.  Edit: definitely, won’t be as that’s obviously doesn’t match up at £1 for £1.

MickD - 05 February 2019 09:58 AM

This looks wrong.  The DWP seem to have applied the legacy benefit treatment of the boarder’s payment.  They appear to have disregarded £20 plus half of the balance (£10) and taken the remaining £10 into account as income.

I think the correct approach is to ignore the payments from the boarder.  Because he is a boarder he is then not treated as a non-dependant and not part of the extended benefit unit.  This means he should not qualify for a bedroom.  If the property has two bedrooms, the one bedroom LHA rate only should be allowed or a 14% reduction if in the social sector applied to the UC housing cost.

Happy to stand corrected if anyone thinks differently.

I disagree about the LHA rate/size criteria. Both make provision for non-dependents, and I think the son would be a non-dependent. Shelter’s Help with Housing Costs book (p60) gives the example of renting out your home to a close relative as an example of a lodger being class as a non-dependent for the purpose of housing costs because it’s not done on a commercial basis. As such, the son should be included in any LHA allowance or size criteria calculation. Instead, my understanding is it would be a non-dependent deduction, but this doesn’t apply as the son is under 21 (CPAG, p93).