UC migration and HB amount

Hi,

Currently I'm still on legacy benefits (ESA, HB). As a result of recent rent increases, the HB I claim and receive is quite a bit less than my rent. I am considering requesting a reassessment of my HB so as I might receive an increased amount and get more of my rent covered, but partly as a result of being on the autistic spectrum, I am reluctant to change anything unless I absolutely have to.

My question is as follows: when it eventually comes to migrating to UC, will the portion of UC I receive for housing costs be related to (i) the amount of HB I am receiving at the time (regardless of the rent amount), or (ii) the actual rent amount?

(Obviously, if the answer to the question is (i), then I'll have to be sure that I'm claiming as much HB relative to my rent as I can before the migration to UC happens).

Would appreciate any assistance.

Hi,

Thanks David for your reply and the Shelter link, which I've digested. However, I'm still unclear; I'll try rephrasing the question as maybe I haven't put it very clearly.

When I moved into my flat some years ago, my rent was just a little higher than the LHA at the time, so when I initially claimed HB, the amount I received was almost all of the rent amount.

In the time since, my rent has risen several times; however, since I have still been able to meet my housing costs from combined benefit income and have not been too pressured economically, I haven't requested a reassessment of my rent. (This is partly because I don't want to give the Local Authority any prompt to attempt to get me to apply for UC - I know that they should not do this in these circumstances, but I've heard of it happening; I'm aware that if I move to UC outwith the Managed Migration process then I'll lose any Transitional Protection).

As a result, I'm still getting the same amount of HB as I did when I moved in some years ago, and so my rent amount is now a fair bit higher than the HB amount I receive. The LHA has of course increased year on year in the time I've lived here, so I could receive more HB if I requested a reassessment based on my new, increased rent amount. However, to date I've not requested an HB increase.

When it comes to migration to UC, will the DWP calculate housing costs based on the actual amount of rent I am required to pay (or at least as much of it that can be paid by HB according to the LHA); or will they look at how much HB I've actually been claiming at the time of migration (an amount that is, as things stand, a fair bit lower than the rent and LHA amounts), and effectively say "if you've only been claiming that amount, then clearly that's all you need", and award me the same amount as I'm getting now? If this latter scenario is the case, then clearly I'll end up receiving much less UC for housing costs than I otherwise might do.

I hope that makes more sense. Many thanks again for any help.

Hi again,

Just a quick point to clarify: you mention that a rent increase cannot enable the Council to make me apply for UC instead of HB - is this the case in Scotland as well as in England?

Thanks in advance
TT