UC Housing Costs

Hello

I have a client who has shared care of her children, she has them about one third of the time. She lives in a 3 bedroom private rented property, but only gets the UC housing costs element at the one bedroom LHA rate .

I know there have been numerous bedroom tax decisions which deal with social sector rent restrictions (mainly for HB) which hold that only one parent can be paid HB in respect of a bedroom for any given child. For example these:

https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKUT/AAC/2015/34.html
https://www.landmarkchambers.co.uk/resources/cases/r-cotton-and-others-v-secretary-of-state-for-work-and-pensions-2014-ewhc-3437-admin/

Any opinions on whether this HB case law is binding in respect of UC for private rented tenants, or any thoughts on whether there’s any scope for disputing this decision?

Many thanks

Alex

I don’t think this case law is binding in respect of UC, because the Act and regulations approach the issue in a slightly different way. The UC regulations carry over from HB the policy that a child can only have a bedroom in one place for benefit purposes, but whereas in HB that is determined by which parent gets child benefit, in UC the test is which parent has “the main responsibility” and that is either agreed between the parents or decided by the SoS. The decision doesn’t have to follow the child benefit.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/376/regulation/4