In Burnip v Birmingham CC, Trengove v Walsall MBC, and Gorry v Wiltshire C [2012] EWCA Civ 629, the Court of Appeal considered whether the application of the bedroom rule in the housing benefit regulations as regards private rented accommodation discriminated against those who needed an extra bedroom for a carer or because their children could not share a room as a result of disability (see here for our discussion of the Upper Tribunal decisions). The Court held that it did so discriminate and they were spot-on (in my view at any rate) in extremely careful, sensitive judgments notable for their dismissal of discretionary housing benefit payments as a justification … Read the full post
Archive for the 'Benefits' Category
[Updated 15 March, see below]
Joe Halewood, who runs a fine blog on supported housing at SPeye, has unearthed a rather alarming statement from the DWP buried in the impact assessment on under occupation changes to HB for social housing from October 2011. The passage (at para 5) reads:
“From 1 April 2013 it is intended to introduce size criteria for new and existing working-age Housing Benefit claimants living in the social rented sector. The size criteria will replicate the size criteria that apply to Housing Benefit claimants in the private rented sector and whose claims are assessed using the local housing allowance rules”
The implication is that … Read the full post
I confess never to have thought too deeply about this question, but it is clearly important and not exactly free from doubt. In Oxford CC v Basey [2012] EWCA Civ 115, the question arose for the Court of Appeal in the context of the range of payments which are eligible for housing benefit. Rather than go through the convoluted process of explanation, let’s adopt the description of HB for these purposes by the Upper Tribunal: “… housing benefit includes the costs of cleaning and fuel for communal areas other than rooms in all accommodation, but also includes the costs of cleaning and fuel for communal rooms in sheltered accommodation”. The … Read the full post
Wychavon DC v EM is a double decision, so to speak, by Judge Mark on a housing benefit matter, with broader implications regarding incapacity. In essence, EM is profoundly disabled (mentally and physically). Her parents moved her from a care home, with the support of Worcestershire CC (which also encouraged the understanding that entitlement to HB would follow), to an annex they constructed at their home. EM had previously lived in the garage at their home, but this was unsuitable as EM required round the clock care from three carers, who needed their own accommodation. EM’s parents could not afford this new arrangement without housing benefit. EM’s dad entered into … Read the full post
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Payne & Cooper (test case) [2011] UKSC 60
This is a decision of the Supreme Court. It considers the issue of whether deductions in respect of Social Fund Loan repayments and overpaid benefits can continue to be made after the making of a DRO during the moratorium period of 1 year after which time the debt will be written off. It also tidies up the existing law and introduces coherence which both parties sought.
Mrs. Payne had received a Social Fund loan of £843 in September 2007. In August 2009 she obtained a DRO listing the SF loan as a qualifying loan. … Read the full post
The Chartered Institute of Housing and the Guardian have put together the results of a survey into the effect of the housing benefit/LHA limits and the pegging to the bottom third of market rents coming into force in January. Specifically the survey looks at how many private properties in each area will cease to be affordable through housing benefit, how many housing benefit claimants there are in each area and, where available, how many properties remain affordable.
The headline is that just shy of 800,000 properties nationally (including Scotland) will cease to be affordable, though there is considerable variation across areas and even across London boroughs. There is a projected … Read the full post
Just when I thought we weren’t going to have a seasonal story this year. Westminster Council have ridden to the rescue.
A new proposal, announced by the eminently sane and reasonable Councillor Phillipa Roe, is that from April 2013, Westminster are to maintain a naughty and nice list and to use it for awarding or withholding Council Tax Benefit.
we believe that potentially linking council tax benefit to certain levels of behaviour is a sensible and fair way forward that rewards those that play an active part in their community whilst cracking down on those that misbehave or break the law
Yes, they’ll know if you’ve been bad or … Read the full post
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