Important changes to your benefit from 1 April 2011
The government has made a number of changes to housing and council tax benefit, which the council is by law required to implement.
Changes to Non-Dependant Deductions
A non-dependant is an adult who lives with you but is not your partner or a joint tenant. For example, an adult son or daughter or friend. Your housing and council tax benefit may be reduced because you have a non-dependant. From April, these deductions will be higher and this could mean you will get less help towards your rent.
Changes that apply if you rent from a private landlord
If you have someone who stays overnight to care for you or your partner, you may get more help with your rent. Please contact us if this applies to you.
Changes that apply if you have moved or claimed benefit since 1 April 2008
The Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rules have changed. This is the scheme we use to work out how much help you get towards your rent, based on how many bedrooms your household needs. The rules have changed so that:
• The maximum amount of help you can receive will be the four bedroom rate
• There is now a maximum amount payable for each property size.
• Where your rent is less than the current LHA rate, you are presently allowed to keep a maximum of up to £15 over and above your rent (an excess). This will stop
• At present the LHA rate is set at the middle level of rents for properties in your area. This will change to the rent that is one third from the bottom. This means that the rates we use to calculate your benefit will go down, and so will the amount of benefit you receive.
When will this apply from?
If your Local Housing Allowance rate changes, you move address, or you are making a new claim, this will happen straight away.
Otherwise the excess payment will stop on the first anniversary of your claim after 1 April 2011 and the other changes will happen nine months after this.
We will write to you before the anniversary so you know when it is.
What will this mean for me?
For most people, it means you will get less help with your rent. You may need to consider moving to cheaper accommodation or renegotiating your rent with your current landlord.
For more information please read the Important Changes Fact Sheet|.
An indication of what the new rate for this month would have been under the new scheme, compared to the actual rate, can be found here|. Gateshead falls within the Tyneside area.
You can compare these to the current rates that apply|.