Under Occupancy Tax

[Jacqui]

OK so I just heard something that has rocked my foundations.
My council is bringing in the new under occupancy tax which means that anyone in receipt of housing benefit will have their benefit reduced if they have spare bedrooms. I live in a three bedroomed house and I have spent thousands on the house and garden. I also have 2 spare bedrooms which means I will be taxed and this money is to come out of my dss benefit. From what I have discovered this will be 14% of my rent for one bedroom spare and 25% for 2 spare rooms.
I either pay the tax or move to a smaller property, which will probably be a flat. I have 2 dogs that I love more than life itself and I wont be able to keep dogs in a flat. I think I can get away with saying one room is for my carer to stay overnight if I need her ( I get a support worker from direct payments via the county council to visit me 3 times a week and help me out)
My self harm has been pretty much under control for 2 yrs but, since I heard the above, I have sh twice and the urge is lurking there. If I am made to give up my dogs it will be so devastating to me. On top of all that the council is thinking of also charging people towards their council tax if you get 100% benefit as well. I just thank God that I have disability benefit because if I was on the basic rate it would leave me with hardly anything to live on.
OK so my choices are limited, I either pay or I move from a house that I am secure in and have lived in for 10 yrs. My next door neighbour is a big support for me as well so Im felling pretty insecure at the moment and thats bad for me.
Sorry about the rant but I dont know what else to do

[nosda]

Could you discuss this with your support worker when you next see her?
I would also recommend going to your local housing office and asking for a housing support worker, they really seem to help you deal with all of these things.
I wish I could give you more advice, but I am dealing with similar things too right now, it seems that the Government/local councils have a lot to answer for with all of these benefit changes right now.

[Tania]

From April 2013, if you live in council accommodation or other social housing and are assessed as having at least one extra bedroom in your house, your Housing Benefit could be reduced by:
•14% if you have 1 extra bedroom
•25% if you have 2 or more extra bedrooms

Ask your local council for details of how the changes will affect you.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/On_a_low_income/DG_10018926

This refers to council and housing association homes. This may be different for private owned or rented. Though I am fairly sure there are some similar rules coming in to effect. I think to an extent the effect depends on the local council so this could also vary from area to area. Therefore contacting your local council to discuss it is the best option. There have in the past been certain exemptions from housing benefit rules on the grounds of ill health (such as being able to get around them only wanting to pay money to pay for shared accommodation instead of single occupancy rented rates). It may be that exemptions or smaller cuts could be made for people with a form of disability. As Nosda says, if you do have or have access to a housing support worker then speak to them about it ASAP so that your anxieties can be put to ease.

x

[danceforabeat]

The changes you're talking about - both the under-occupancy rules and changes to council tax benefit are both due to proposals by central government to come into affect next April (2013).

Nosda - local authorities have nothing to answer for on this issue - it's all on central government. I'm a housing benefit officer for a local authority and I (and many of my colleagues) are frustrated about rules that have been brought in and are due to be brought in by the coalition government (in fact I've gone back to SH because of the stress the budget cuts have put me under at work). The under-occupancy rules apply to all local authorities and to me they make no sense unless they can re-house people into appropriate alternative accommodation (and with a shortage of social housing I don't see how that's possible).

As for the changes to council tax, council tax benefit is being localised from next April (i.e. local authorities have to come up with and administer their own scheme). However, pensioners have to be protected (meaning if they can't have less benefit because of the changes) but central government are cutting funding by 10% (at least with the authority I work for, not sure if the budget cut is the same across the board). In our authority, 49% of the population of ctb claimants are pensioners - meaning the other 51% will have to have ctb cut to protect the pensioners. The scheme in our authority hasn't been finalised but I can't see anything other than making people pay more towards their council tax.

In practical terms, you need to speak to your housing office. However, I would strongly suggest seeing your local MP and asking how exactly s/he expects you to cope with the changes. It's central government forcing this so they should be made to answer. I also strongly recommend others doing this as well. I've written to my local MP regarding upcoming changes but I think they need to be made to answer to the people actually claiming HB/CTB as well.

[Jacqui]

I have had a housing officer out to see me and she has pretty much said that my options are move or pay up. I cant even claim a spare room for my carer to stay in if I need help over night.
One suggestion I put to the housing officer was to consider taking in lodgers  to occupy the empty bedrooms. She said as long as it didnt interfere with my income support I would be able to. As far as I can remember from when I had someone living with me years ago is as long as my income doesnt exceed £20 a week I can afford to take a lodger in. £20 would cover the extra gas or electricity a lodger would use but I would effectivly be giving the room up for free. I have written to the dss to make sure this is still the case. This would still mean me paying for one spare room though. It would be about 14% of my total rent rather than 25%.
Oh this is so hard to deal with. Its playing on my mind constantly. I did email a local mp but he just directed me to a guy at the council who sent out the housing officer. My european MP is a conservative so I doubt he would be any use complaining to.

[danceforabeat]

Jacqui - I'm sorry there's no easy answer for you on this. I know there are a lot of people affected (I've had a few people on the phone lately annoyed that I really can't help them). I get shouted at a lot by customers because of recent changes to the benefit system and I feel really powerless as I don't agree with a lot of them.

I know it always feels like it's not making a difference but can I suggest e-mailing your MP again and making it clear your grievance is with the policy itself - you don't need signposted to ways of dealing with the implications of the policy. I'm trying to get my customers to do this - the more people complaining the better! Also, it might be worth contacting you local CAB office - in addition to advising people they also collect information on social policy issues from the public. They local CABx collect information from real life people dealing with issues such as this and send it to the central social policy unit which uses the evidence to lobby government - it might be that your local office is collecting info on this issue.

Sorry I can't be of more help!

[Jacqui]

You have been a help... thanks.
I emailed my local conservative MP who is also the european mp for my area. I doubt I would get anything more than platitudes in return. I wish I could find other people in the same boat. I would be keen enough to protest outside the council gates if I thought it would help. I did it with the poll tax but maybe theres not as many people affected with this to try.

[Tigger]

Oh i hope you don't have to give up your dogs! could you make some arrangement with a lodger i.e they buy food for house so id helps you out but doesn't push you over as you haven't earnt money? good luckit sounds awful i couldn't live without my dog either 

[Jacqui]

Well I heard back from the houses of parliament and Lord Freud's answer was long winded and pointless basically saying its a policy that is for the best so hard cheese.
I have decided to go down the lodger route and I have a guy coming to stay for only 4 to 6 weeks.. I thought I would take someone for a short term to see how I like the idea of sharing my house with strangers.
I have to be careful in who I pick as a lodger because a) it could look as if I am cohabiting with someone b) I don't want someone who is not gonna pull their own weight and c) I like my home comforts so a football mad selfish person isn't going to make me feel confident in my own house.
I'm going to vet applicants before I give out my address... I think as I am only charging £20 a week for lodger I should be able to pick and choose but some of the replies have been a bit aggressive in that they are short and demanding. The guy that is coming on Sunday wrote me a shore resume about himself and was very polite and I felt put at ease about letting him come to stay.

[danceforabeat]

I got a similar-sounding response from Lord Freud to my letter about Universal Credit.

It sounds like you're being very sensible in taking a short-term lodger in to see how it goes. I've been a lodger myself and I think as long as you are both considerate and aware that someone else is living there, it should be fine. I hope it goes ok.