Shelter Publications Help with Housing Costs: Volume 2: Guide to Housing Benefit, 2022-23

This volume in the Help with Housing Costs series covers the rules for housing benefit for rent payments across the United Kingdom. It also covers help for people on pension credit who are homeowners or long leaseholders with ground rent, service charge and certain other payments. It is designed to complement volume 1 which covers universal credit, council tax and rate rebates and certain matters common to housing benefit and universal credit, including appeal tribunals and the rules about migrants and recent arrivals. Building on the strong reputation of its predecessor - Guide to Housing Benefit - for clear, impartial and accurate advice, it is designed for use by local councils, social landlords, advisers, tribunal members, housing professionals and tenants. The Guide to Housing Benefit is written in a refreshing plain English style that makes it easy to use, while retaining many of the features of its predecessor that readers will find reassuringly familiar. It contains many practical examples and over 80 useful tables for quick reference. This new edition has been fully revised and updated to incorporate all the changes over the past year, including the April 2022 uprating. It provides answers to some of the most frequent problems and issues and explains all the new rules starting from April including: - The basic conditions to qualify for housing benefit - How and when a person can make a claim for housing benefit following the national rollout of universal credit - How and when working age claims are transferred to universal credit - What rent and service charge payments housing benefit can cover for social rented housing and how the local housing allowance works for private renters - What rent and service charge payments housing benefit covers for people living in supported housing and temporary accommodation for the homeless - The detailed rules about letting to family members, 'contrived' tenancies, non-commercial agreements and other similar arrangements - The size criteria for all tenancy types including recent case law on the 'bedroom tax' - The rules about temporary absence and claims for housing benefit on two homes - What happens when your circumstances change and how to appeal - How income and capital are taken into account for pension age and working age claims - The rules about the benefit cap and exemptions - The rules about housing benefit subsidy including temporary accommodation - Other schemes for help with housing costs including discretionary housing payments and direct payment of DWP benefits to a landlord to cover rent arrears.