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Homes for Ukraine Scheme
Further to this post (https://nearlylegal.co.uk/2022/03/the-forthcoming-ukranian-housing-scheme/) from our friends at Nearly Legal, the following question has been posed:
2) Is the £350 pcm to be treated as income for tax purposes (or for benefits purposes)? That seems to me to be quite important. It would, for example, be ludicrous if someone who rented their home and received some HB/UC was then to lose that benefit because the £350 pcm for letting a spare room took them over the relevant income thresholds.
Giving this a very small amount of thought on a Sunday, isn’t the benefits position likely to be that:
*For UC, the income wouldn’t be taken into account unless it is specifically added into reg 66 for some reason. There could be an issue around HCCs as the Ukrainians would have no liability to pay anything for being in the property and would therefore not be excluded from being non-deps.
*For HB, the income would seem likely to be taken into account as income other than earnings, unless a specific disregard is introduced. The limited disregard under para 42, sch 5 would perhaps apply, allowing the claimant to keep about 2/3 of the money. There would again possibly be an issue with NDDs.
Interested what others make of it.
I would expect (and hope) the government to introduce a disregard for the payment.
Impact on people with single person discount on Council Tax needs looking at too.
*For HB, the income would seem likely to be taken into account as income other than earnings, unless a specific disregard is introduced. The limited disregard under para 42, sch 5 would perhaps apply, allowing the claimant to keep about 2/3 of the money. There would again possibly be an issue with NDDs.
Interested what others make of it.
Para.27 of Sch.5 perhaps?
27. Any payment made to the claimant or his partner for a person (“the person concerned”), who is not normally a member of the claimant’s household but is temporarily in his care, by—
(a)a health authority;
(b)a local authority but excluding payments of housing benefit made in respect of the person concerned;
(c)a voluntary organisation;
(d)the person concerned pursuant to section 26(3A) of the National Assistance Act 1948 F55; F56…
(dza)[F57the person concerned where the payment is for the provision of accommodation in respect of the meeting of that person’s needs under section 18 or 19 of the Care Act 2014 (duty and power to meet needs for care and support);]
[F58(dzb)the person concerned where the payment is for the provision of accommodation to meet that person’s needs for care and support under section 35 or 36 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 (duty and power to meet care and support needs of an adult);]
[F59(da)a clinical commissioning group established under section 14D of the National Health Service Act 2006;
(db)the National Health Service Commissioning Board; or]
F60(e). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[F61(f)a Local Health Board established under section 16BA of the National Health Service Act 1977 or established by an order made under section 11 of the National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006
I would expect (and hope) the government to introduce a disregard for the payment.
Impact on people with single person discount on Council Tax needs looking at too.
I would expect nothing from this particular Government other than incompetence, confusion and excuses.
I would expect nothing from this particular Government other than incompetence, confusion and excuses.
I admit it did cross my mind that I might be being hopelessly optimistic when I made my previous post!
Apparently, CTR and single persons discount will not be affected by homing a Ukrainian refugee.
Any update on the impact/effect on the hosts benefits? Anyone seen anything in the way of regs etc? Impact on HCC, NDDs, SDP, bedroom tax etc
We asked that at the stakeholder forum last week - waiting on a response…
We asked that at the stakeholder forum last week - waiting on a response…
Great. Thanks Daphne
A set of Q&As; via the stakeholder forum -
£350 payment
Q: Where the sponsor is on housing benefit, how will the payment be treated?
A: Payment of the £350 thank you payment can be disregarded for Housing Benefit as income and capital because it is a payment of local welfare provision made by local authorities.
Q: Where the sponsor is on universal credit, how will the payment be treated?A: The payment will be treated as unearned income and disregarded for the purposes of calculating Universal Credit.
Q: Where the sponsor is on pension credit, how will the payment be treated?A: The payment can be disregarded for the purposes of calculating State Pension Credit.
Q: Where the sponsor is on income support or income-related ESA, how will the payment be treated?A: The payment will be disregarded for the purposes of calculating ESA.
Q: Where the sponsor still has a severe disability premium or element within their legacy benefit or pension credit, will that be protected in any way if they accommodate a refugee?A: As the Ukrainian national and their family members, if applicable, are living temporarily with the host they are not considered to be normally residing with them. This means that the host will not lose their entitlement to the severe disability premium.
Q: Will a sponsor getting a 25% council tax reduction as a single-occupier lose that discount if they accommodate a refugee?A: Our understanding is that entitlement to the council tax single person discount should not be impacted by an individual’s participation in the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Q: Where the sponsor is affected by the LHA limit or RSRS, how will the refugee be considered?A: As the Ukrainian national and their family members, if applicable, are to be treated as not normally residing with their host, there is no change to the number of bedrooms which the claimant is entitled to under the removal of the spare room subsidy. We have always been clear that a host will be no better or worse off in terms of their benefit entitlement.
Q: If the landlord wishes to charge additional rent to the £350 a month (which is lower than the SAR rate of LHA, and far below the 1-bed rate for those aged 35+), how will the refugees universal credit be calculated?A: The DLUHC guidance for sponsors is clear that the accommodation offer is rent free. However, if a rent liability is created, the UC award will treat any rent liability in the usual way and it will be subject to any LHA restrictions.
Q: Will payments be made where the sponsor is related to the refugee and if so, will they be treated as a non-dependent with the NDD or HCC applied?A: We think the two schemes are getting confused here. The Homes for Ukraine Scheme which is a DLUHC led scheme is separate to the Home Office fast track visa scheme for family members. Any Ukrainian national who arrives in the UK through the family visa scheme and moved in with a family member will be treated as a non-dependant.
Q: If a sponsor accommodates 2 or 3 refugees, will the payments be treated as earnings from self-employment for benefit purposes?A: No, they will be disregarded as unearned income in Universal Credit.
PIP and AA applications for Ukrainian refugeesQ: Regarding PIP and AA applications for Ukrainian refugees – will the requirement to be in the UK for 104/156 weeks be waivered?
A: On 22 March DWP introduced new legislation exempting certain cohorts from having to meet the Past Presence Test for Disability benefits (104 weeks residence in the UK out of the previous 156) and exempting the same cohorts from having to meet the Habitual Residence Test for income related benefits which can take up to 3 months.The following cohorts will be exempt from the Habitual Residence Test (for income related benefits) and the factual habitual residence test and Past Presence Test (for Disability benefits).
Those with a right of abode in the UK, including British nationals and non-British nationals with pre-existing leave in the UK who left Ukraine in connection with the Russian invasion on 24 February 2022 and were resident in Ukraine immediately before 1 January 2022.
Anyone granted leave either under or outside the Immigration Rules who left Ukraine in connection with the Russian invasion on 24 February 2022 and were resident in Ukraine immediately before 1 January 2022.
New LA Welfare Direct is all about Ukrainian nationals and various aspects of the schemes.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/la-welfare-direct-bulletins-2022/la-welfare-direct-42022
Cheers Paul .. have added here too: https://advicelocal.uk/ukraine