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Bedroom tax deduction bringing HB to an end
I have a client who had a non dep moved in with her, non nep charges left a couple of £ HB but due to 14% under occupancy she is now liable to pay full rent. ( was previously 2 spare bedrooms now only 1)We managed to get an award of PIP but there is a couple of weeks gap so she is being advised to claim UC.
non dep now has a baby but the gap is still there
any ideas ?
Did the couple of weeks’ gap happen in real time? Was there a complete Monday to Sunday benefit week in which there was no currently operative HB awarding decision, and the most recent decision was the one ending the award? If so, it will not be possible to revive the HB award.
If the gap was only established later and HB was still in payment at the material time, it could be dealt with by way of a closed period supersession which leaves the ongoing award untouched.
Hi HB
the decision to end HB was made in
November 2020after PIP was awarded FEB 2021 and backdated to October 2020 and HB would be due as no non dep charge would be appropriate.
would that work then?
If the ends won’t meet up it’s a tough obstacle to get past. The situation on the ground as it were between November and February was that the claimant was current not entitled to HB with effect from , what, late September-ish? In February, she becomes entitled to PIP from October but that needs a new HB claim because the previous award had already ended wef September.
Some local authorities might be prepared to stretch the concept of the closed period supersession almost to breaking point and say “what we would have done in November if the claimant had already become entitled to PIP with effect from October?” At that time, the most recent HB decision was the one awarding HB some time before October, so they would have made a closed period superseding decision. Because it has taken so long for the PIP to be sorted out, you now want them to revise the decision that ended HB prospectively and replace it with a closed period superseding decision because, at the time when the decision was made, there was an undetermined entitlement to PIP. That is tenuous to say the least - you want them to act as if they already knew about event 2 (PIP) but did not yet know about event 1 (non-dep moved in).
I am hoping they go down the line you suggest , I’ve also received proof of non deps child being born also in October which would also negate the bedroom deduction..
If the ends won’t meet up it’s a tough obstacle to get past. The situation on the ground as it were between November and February was that the claimant was current not entitled to HB with effect from , what, late September-ish? In February, she becomes entitled to PIP from October but that needs a new HB claim because the previous award had already ended wef September.
Some local authorities might be prepared to stretch the concept of the closed period supersession almost to breaking point and say “what we would have done in November if the claimant had already become entitled to PIP with effect from October?” At that time, the most recent HB decision was the one awarding HB some time before October, so they would have made a closed period superseding decision. Because it has taken so long for the PIP to be sorted out, you now want them to revise the decision that ended HB prospectively and replace it with a closed period superseding decision because, at the time when the decision was made, there was an undetermined entitlement to PIP. That is tenuous to say the least - you want them to act as if they already knew about event 2 (PIP) but did not yet know about event 1 (non-dep moved in).
Thanks again HB
council went with this option