Housing benefit lowered / change in circumstances

thanks for your reply yes I was told if anything my housing benefit would go up because off the child element I'm also disabled the only thing that's changed is getting dla and a child element in my tax credits although this shouldn't count as dla isnt means tested I'm confused why it's been reduced as my personal income hasn't changed apart from receiving this award I will contact them on Monday thanks

That was really bad advice you had there. A child receiving DLA will not increase your housing benefit.

May i ask do you live with a partner and how many children live with you? and are they male or female?

When you say child element in your tax credits do you mean the disabled child element?

Do you claim PIP daily living or DLA care? do you or/your partner work?

Have you put all your details into a benefits calculator? If you put all the details in correctly then it will give you the correct calculation of what you're entitled to.

well that's what he said lol, Im a single parent and work part time I receive standard pip and its just me and my son at home yes I mean the disabled element off tax credits I was getting nearly full housing benefit on my own pip award and it seems to have just dropped a lot since my sons been awarded dla I'm so confused although I know when you usually do a change in circumstances with housing benefit they suspend it then it works its self out when your money is sorted etc but they haven't suspended it they have reduced it completely l.

Have you used a benefit calculator like i suggested? This will give you some idea what you're entitled to.

yes already done that doesn't add up just need to call themoro thanks for your help

No problem. Even with the extra tax credits as the award was only recently made then surely you haven't received any extra tax credits yet because it can take 8-12 weeks to receive that.

Have they sent you a decision letter with a breakdown of what they've included in the calculation? If they haven't then they should have.

my extra tax credits are due on tuesday I've had my award letter from tax credits telling me what I'm getting etc.. so I'm already receiving the extra tax credits commencing this week,so I think that's how my housing benefit has changed because tax credits would have let them know also, I'm going to need to phone them I think as the amount off rent and council tax they are asking for I will never be able to afford it on my income.lol

I believe they have decreased your housing benefit because of the extra tax credits you're receiving. Because you are working generally tax credits is counted as income for housing benefit BUT because your tax credits have increased because of the disabled child element, this means that your housing benefit should not change.

Council tax reduction is different as i advised and all local councils have their own rules regarding this and i can't advise regarding that.

You'll need to ring your local council housing benefit department first thing tomorrow morning and tell them that your child was awarded DLA and you were also entitled to the disabled child element of tax credits, which should not affect your HB.

thanks denise appreciate your help it's really annoying me I've just went over the housing benefit letter there so many calculations on it and I've noticed on the part where it says how much the government says you can live on doesn't say that I have a child who is disabled? but because I receive SDP etc it's only saying because you are sick or disabled it does say also because I have a dependent child but next to this it doesn't mention him being disabled? could HB Possibly think my tax credits have just went up ? but dont know the reason why? as it doesn't state on the HB letter that I'm getting any premiums for him?.

You're welcome,

HMRC share information with a local council and vise versa. My guess is that they don't know that it's a disabled child element and yes i agree they most likely think that you've just had an increase in your tax credits, without taking into consideration what it actually is.

A simple phone call should sort it out but if needed then send them a copy of your son's DLA award or a copy of your recent tax credits award notice, if you've received it.

i think that's what's happened they just think I've had an increase but no explanation on why this is I will defo be calling them 2morro have both tax credits and DLA award notice here at the ready lol I will let you know how I get on thanks again x

hey denise just an update and to say thanks got stuff sorted the reason was as we thought was because TC never told HB why I had an increase all worked out and I got it all sorted thanks again for your help much appreciated.