HB Exempt accomodation refused & backdating UC

If a new claim is made for housing benefit for ‘exempt’ sheltered accommodation, but housing benefit won’t accept it as exempt and the tenant then claims Universal Credit, will they lose benefit for the 6 weeks it took housing benefit to query the exempt status? She is under pension age and will be appealing the HB decision.

Thanks

It depends whether she is already on UC without a housing element.  A brand new UC claim can only be backdated one month, and only then if the claimant satisfies Reg 26 of the Claims and Payments Regs.

If there is already a UC award, the time limit to apply for a superseding decision, or to apply for revision of a decision, can be extended up to 13 months if there are good reasons for the delay.  Pursuing an HB claim in good faith instead of asking for a UC housing element would probably be good enough.

If she is not already on UC and would otherwise neither want nor need to claim it, she has to make a decision now: given the limited provision for backdating, should she claim UC now and declare that she lives in general needs accommodation - in order to protect her position?  If she wins the HB appeal, she can pay off the UC overpayment instantly in full out of the HB arrears.  But she would then (subject to her income) be on UC for living costs, which she might not want.  She could gamble and not claim UC, but then if she loses the HB appeal she will not have any rent money for however long it takes to hear the appeal - but if she wins the HB appeal she avoids going onto to UC in circumstances where she preferred not to.

Thank you for your reply. It is a new claim for UC. It seems odd to be appealing HB saying its exempt and claiming UC saying its not. I assume there is no other way.

Nicola Hersh - 25 September 2020 09:47 AM

Thank you for your reply. It is a new claim for UC. It seems odd to be appealing HB saying its exempt and claiming UC saying its not. I assume there is no other way.

The “other way” would be to stick with the HB appeal and not claim UC. Presumably it’s a social landlord, so they’re bound by the rent arrears PAP. If you can show the landlord that HB will eventually be paid, then they shouldn’t take any possession action (and they ought to assist with getting it sorted).

I have a tenant at the moment who is getting tax credits and misses the benefit cap because working 16 hours per week, but is paid four weekly, so would be capped most of the time on UC (for now, at least). HB stopped and I was able to advise that the appeal will almost certainly succeed, so I could advise the rent team that the HB will be paid, but we might just have to wait a bit.

Ultimately I suppose it depends on how certain you are that this is an exempt accommodation case, and on whether the claimant has anything to lose by being on UC after it’s all sorted out.