Housing Benefit Carer Premium?

Martynh

Hi, a friend that used to work in council benefits has told me that they think we should be receiving a carer premium on our housing benefit, but I can't find anything about it.

I receive middle rate care DLA and higher rate mobility, and my wife claims Income Support and Carers Allowance. Our rent is £90pw (private rented) and we receive £82pw Housing Benefit, so pay an £8 top up (have been doing for 9 years), and pay £18pm Council Tax.

Nobody has ever mentioned any premium on the Housing benefit before, so any advice or information would be very helpful.

Thanks

BenefitsTrainingCo

Hi Martin,
 
Because your wife gets Income Support, you are 'passported' to the maximum possible amount of Housing Benefit you can get. Housing Benefit premiums aren't used in your circumstances. Housing Benefit should just be based on the rent you pay, there's no calculation of your income. The Income Support your wife receives should include a carer premium and a disability premium. 

It's harder to comment on Council Tax Reduction (Council Tax Support), as each local authority is different, and some do have a calculation which ends up with people on Income Support paying something.

If you are paying a bit of your rent on top of your Housing Benefit, there must be a reason why not all your rent is eligible to be met by Housing Benefit. That could be because you have more bedrooms than the benefit allows - if it is just you and your wife, you can't get more than the Local Housing Allowance for a one bedroom property. It's possible in some circumstances that the Local Housing Allowance for an additional bedroom could apply. That would be if you needed an additional bedroom for a carer who stayed overnight, or a bedroom to store equipment you need for disability reasons, or if you and your wife can't share a bedroom for disability reasons.

The Local Housing Allowance is the way Housing Benefit is capped in the private rental sector. You'd have to check what that is for a one bedroom property in your area - you should be able to do this via your local authority website. 

You could use this benefit check tool - it asks for your postcode, so it will apply the Local Housing Allowance for you when it calculates Housing Benefit, and should be able to check your Council Tax Support too. 

Feel free to post again if you have more questions after reading this.

Will