Housing benefit is changing

Housing benefit/Local Housing Allowance changes from April 2011

The Government is making changes to Housing Benefit for tenants renting from a landlord in the private sector. These changes will affect the amount of money you receive. The effective date of these changes will be linked to your Local Housing Allowance (LHA) claim anniversary date.

From April 2011, the government are reducing all LHA rates. This will affect the amount you receive nine months after your claim anniversary date, unless you have a change of circumstances before then. LHA rates change each month so we can not say at this stage what your new rate will be. We will write to you again before your rate changes to advise you of the new amount.

If you currently receive more Housing Benefit than you pay in rent this excess payment will stop. This means that you will not receive more in Housing Benefit than you have to pay to your landlord in rent.

From April 2011 the maximum Local Housing Allowance rate will be the four bedroom rate which is expected to be about £150 per week. If you currently receive the five bedroom rate of LHA you will continue to receive this amount for nine months from your claim anniversary date unless you have a change of circumstances in that time.

If you require a carer to stay in your property overnight and they occupy a bedroom, an extra room may be included in the Local Housing Allowance calculation. Please let us know if this applies to you.

 

If, as a result of any of these changes, your benefit no longer covers your rent you will need to speak to your landlord to see whether you can reduce the amount of rent you have to pay. If your landlord agrees to lower your rent we may be able to pay your housing benefit directly to your landlord.

If your landlord will not reduce your rent you will need to pay the difference between your rent and your Housing Benefit. If you can't afford to pay the difference you may need to find cheaper accommodation.

You must notify us straight away if your landlord changes the amount of rent you have to pay.

The table below shows the Local Housing Allowance weekly room rates from November 2010 and the estimated new room rate figures from April 2011.

Local Housing Allowance weekly room rates

Room rate	November 2010	Projected rate	Difference
Shared room rate	£62.00	£60.00	£2.00
1 bedroom room rate	£97.81	£87.45	£10.36
2 bedroom room rate	£113.92	£103.56	£10.36
3 bedroom room rate	£126.58	£120.82	£5.76
4 bedroom room rate	£172.60	£149.59	£23.01
5 bedroom room rate	£218.63	No longer exists from April 2011	No longer exists from April 2011

Note: The figures above are only estimated so are subject to change.

Please note that the Local Housing Allowance rates are set by the government therefore you cannot appeal to the local authority regarding these figures.

For more information download our leaflet.