If my adult son moves in, will I lose my housing benefit? — Scope | Disability forum
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If my adult son moves in, will I lose my housing benefit?

missjdee
missjdee Community member Posts: 2 Listener
hi I'm claiming PIP and was wondering if my son who is 23 if I move him back in with me will it effect my housing benefit? as he works ? I was told that because I claim the lower rate of PIP he wouldn't habe to contribute to my rent ? will I loose my housing benefit ? 
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Comments

  • Sam_Alumni
    Sam_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,671 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi @missjdee welcome to the community, I have moved your post to the Ask a Benefits advisor category so I hope you can get some answers soon 
    Scope
    Senior online community officer
  • missjdee
    missjdee Community member Posts: 2 Listener
    oh thank you .. sorry I'm new and bit lost here 
  • BenefitsTrainingCo
    BenefitsTrainingCo Community member Posts: 2,621 Pioneering
    Hello missjdee

    If you are claiming PIP-daily living (at any rate) then your housing benefit will not be effected by your son moving back in with you.   It is however best to still tell your local authority that your son has moved in.  

    You have not mentioned any other benefit income e.g. ESA? I ask as other benefits maybe effected by your son moving in, especially if you claim an extra amount called a 'severe disability premium.' This premium is generally paid to people who live alone, receive PIP (daily living) and no-one claims carers allowance for looking after them. The best advice is to inform all the relevant benefit offices if your son moves in. 

    Maria
    The Benefits Training Co:

  • jancam12345
    jancam12345 Community member Posts: 1 Listener
    Hi I'm on Esa and high level pip. If my son who works moves back in with me. Will my benefits stop. I understand I would lose SDA but will anything else be affected 
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,368 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi I'm on Esa and high level pip. If my son who works moves back in with me. Will my benefits stop. I understand I would lose SDA but will anything else be affected 
    SDP will stop unless your son is either claiming a qualifying disability benefit himself such as PIP daily living, DLA mid/high rate care or ADP daily living or he’s registered blind. 

    You will lose the single person discount for council tax. You won’t lose housing benefit because you claim PIP. 

    Are you renting from social housing and have a spare bedroom? If so then you will no longer be affected by this. 
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • frost
    frost Community member Posts: 11 Listener
    Hi I have a similar situation to missjdee where I had to have my 18 year old son move in with me due to his circumstances changing unexpectedly but unlike missjdee my son is not working but he is on universal credit and has to go to the job centre when he arrived it was late so the following day I took him to do as much change of information as I could for him I was hoping to get proof of my son's health to include with my own change of circumstances as my son has mental health issues and lack of understanding day to day life he needs support and care now I am in receipt of ESA with the premium, Pip and housing and council tax as of yet I have not updated them of the change due to trying to get the documents to show this was not a planned choice but due to my son's health both of us had no other choice than this as I currently live in a one bedroom flat which is now over crowded I'm already looking for a bigger place but I'm doing the best I can in regards to privacy but my son doesn't understand it takes a long time to get a new place I've been trying to get all documents dated before his move but he doesn't look after me he isn't capable to nor would I want him to if anything I look after him as a mother should he does some chores that are life lessons with my help so my question is would I loose my premium or would I be able to receive a top for the fact my son is now living with me?
  • Biblioklept
    Biblioklept Community member Posts: 4,645 Disability Gamechanger
    edited March 3
    Hopefully someone will be able to confirm but I think because he's an adult and not claiming PIP or DLA you will unfortunately lose your premiums, even with it not being planned and him not caring for you. :( Sorry @frost
    They don't really make many allowances or take into account the different situations. 

    You said about your son having health issues, has he thought about claiming PIP for himself?? 
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,368 Disability Gamechanger
    @frost Biblioklept is correct and if your ESA includes the Severe disability Premium then you would lose that, unless your son is either registered blind or he's claiming either PIP/ADP daily living or DLA mid/high rate care. You will not lose the Enhanced disability premium that maybe included with your ESA.

    You will need to report the changes to ESA. 

    You also need to report the changes to your local Authority for council tax and housing benefit, assuming you're claiming both of those. You will lose the 25% single person discount for your council tax. 

    Are you renting your home? If so is it privately rented or social housing? 

    Has your son reported his health condition to UC and provided fit notes? This will start the work capability assessment process off.
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • frost
    frost Community member Posts: 11 Listener
    @poppy123456 Thank you for your reply that was the first thing I done was sort out my son and all his stuff we done the changes with his benefits the very next morning got him registered with the doctor and the police as he got in trouble as a minor so I made sure that all his information was updated immediately I am willing to receive the cut and it is permanent and yes I'm private rent as it's the fastest way to get a place where I am council or housing can take around about 10yrs for priority people I've been told I need to move asap so I'm already looking at estate agents and I'm getting help to fill in all documents that I struggle with which unfortunately has also lead to the dely of informing as I could only get help this coming week so I am fully prepared to be docked due to the delay.
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,368 Disability Gamechanger
    As you are privately renting then you will now be entitled to the 2 bedroom rate of LHA, even though you only have 1 bedroom. Unless your housing benefit already covers your full rent, then you will still receive the full amount and there will be no changes. 

    Does he claim a disability benefit himself? If not then he can look at starting a claim for PIP, if he hasn't already. 
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • frost
    frost Community member Posts: 11 Listener
    @poppy123456 Thanks unfortunately my son doesn't understand his universal credit page and since he has been here I've only only seen the universal credit page once when I was trying to find my sons national insurance number and even I'm confused by it I must admit I prefer how ESA is done my son doesn't even know what he gets just that he has universal credit and has to go to the job centre when they send for him I'm taking him to the bank tomorrow as we need to change the address and set up online banking for him so I've said about getting a bank statement to get his national insurance number and see what benefits he actually is in receipt of but I had a feeling that he should be on pip so thank you for that.
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,368 Disability Gamechanger
    If he's unable to manage his own UC claim then you can be his appointee. You will be responsible for receiving his money into your bank and also reporting any potential changes that may happen in the future. 

    To apply to be his appointee you can put a message onto his journal to ask and then someone will contact you.https://www.gov.uk/become-appointee-for-someone-claiming-benefits

    Please also make sure that he's reported his health condition to UC. For this he will need to Log into his journal and "report a change of circumstances" then click health conditions. Once that is done he will need to make sure he provides a fit note within 7 days and continues to send them without any gaps until a decision is made on the work capability assessment. Please see link. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-if-you-have-a-disability-or-health-condition-quick-guide/universal-credit-if-you-have-a-disability-or-health-condition

    The work capability assessment is exactly the same for ESA. Once he's referred for the assessment he will receive a letter on his journal telling him they are referring him. A few days later he will receive the UC50 form in the post. He will need to fill that in and return it with any supporting evidence. 
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • frost
    frost Community member Posts: 11 Listener
    @poppy123456 my son is able to work his appointments and I have now due to being new to the universal credit I'm asking him for all his appointments so I can also keep a note in my diary and keep that day free before my son moved here he was a looked after person who had a worker who done everything for him so I do not wish to remove any independence no matter how small from him so as long as I'm fully informed of dates and places my son can keep his money and with my help hopefully learn to improve with managing his own income 
  • Albus_Scope
    Albus_Scope Posts: 3,603 Scope online community team
    Heya @frost.  I can see you're already getting some top support, but I just wanted to pop in and give you a warm welcome to the community. :) 
    Albus (he/him)

    Online Community Coordinator @ Scope

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  • frost
    frost Community member Posts: 11 Listener
    @Albus_Scope Hi thank you so much for the warm welcome and yes I have been getting some really great advice already I am now better informed to where I stand given the complex situation pushed on both myself and my son and sorting his side out was my first priority and I knew I might incur some penalties with benefits but I have also mentioned to the jobcentre when registering my son about my own benefit so I have not hidden anything just trying to get further proof of the situation and circumstances for there records the sooner I get this done the better.
  • frost
    frost Community member Posts: 11 Listener
    @poppy123456 Hi in regards to your message above about the ESA premium you said I would not lose the premium if my son was in recipe of pip would that include putting the call in and waiting on the forms to be sent out ( the start of a pip application) due to a huge delay and issues in getting the requested documents like my sons national insurance number I have not long completed the council and housing benefit and just today because of new evidence suggesting my son is not fit for employment in accordance with the Dr I've phoned pip for a claim from during the call thay already took some details and my sons bank account information so if approved he will be paid asap once the form is delt with so my question is does this count in regards to the premium as a claim is in the process?
  • frost
    frost Community member Posts: 11 Listener
    Hi all thanks for your help so far I thought I'd give you all a update on everything to date it's still ongoing unfortunately but I've managed to get my sons universal credit sorted with a fit note and now we are getting better help then before two weeks ago we received my sons national insurance number so we could get on with all documents and I've now got him registered for internet banking so he can check his payments. I managed to get hold of my landlord and informed them about the situation and they are helping me find a new property I've also finally done the notification to housing and council benefit I was asked to give more information which I did and have not heard anything since the delay was my sons national insurance number too so long to come.
    Today we have made a phone call to pip for the claim form some of the details were taken and my son gave consent for dr's and myself to speak to pip and I was told the more I told them both on the phone and the form helps the claim unfortunately it's going to take about 2-3 weeks for the form and we need to get it back within a month.
    Due to these delays I'm still waiting to inform ESA but now I have the national insurance number and proof that my son isn't fit for work and have been given a little breathing room I wish to inform ESA now but as we made the application today will this affect my premium still or does it count as a claim for pip? I've still got to finish filling in the universal credit assessment form but it caused my son a huge trigger so I gave him a few days off from this but we are at the end of the form so over the worst part.
    I also have to have some medical tests done and possibly have to be referred back to the pain clinic at my local hospital 
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Community member Posts: 53,368 Disability Gamechanger
    @frost Unfortunately, you will still lose the Severe disability Premium in with your ESA because your son doesn't currently have a daily living PIP award and he isn't registered blind. 

    You really do need to contact ESA and report the changes ASAP because the longer you leave it the more overpayment you will have. 

    A decision on his PIP claim could take about 6 months, sometimes longer and there's no guarantee he will be awarded. The only ones that are automatically entitled to PIP are those that are claiming through end of life with 12 months left to live. 

    Please also note, although you gave contact details of his GP they very rarely contact anyone for any evidence so you need to make sure you send any additional supporting evidence when you return the form. 

    Are you his official appointee? If you are then you will be responsible for his claim, including making sure the form is returned on time, as well as answering any questions on his behalf if an assessment is needed. 
    I would appreciate it if members wouldn't tag me please. I have all notifcations turned off and wouldn't want a member thinking i'm being rude by not replying.
    If i see a question that i know the answer to i will try my best to help.
  • frost
    frost Community member Posts: 11 Listener
    @poppy123456 Thanks that's all I wanted to be sure about and yes I'm his appointee official and I'm trying to get any and all documents done within the week we received them including sending them back in regards to supporting documents that's a problem as my son was in both foster and supported living accommodation and nobody gave him anything in regards to important documents to provide as evidence for anything all I really have is one item when he went on his medication dated last year which I showed to our Dr ( his new Dr) and the Dr asked me why he hasn't had a face to face which I said I tried to get that very day the Dr then said thay would call him to sort out his fit note which we got for the maximum so I really do need the dr's to provide additional information towards my sons pip claim 
  • frost
    frost Community member Posts: 11 Listener
    @poppy123456 just a quick follow up question if/when my son gets pip would that then mean that I can reapply to have my premium reinstated as the demotion was only due to the fact that he was in the process of being accepted for the approval to receive pip?

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