Universal Credit and Housing Benefit Update Tina Frampton

The Claim Gateway Universal Credit (UC) Full Service went live in our area in December 2017. This closed the claim gateway for the following “legacy” benefits: Housing Benefits Job Seekers Allowance – income based Employment Support Allowance – income related Tax Credits Income Support This means that in most cases customers can no longer make a NEW CLAIM for these benefits and must claim UC instead. Once they make an application for UC all other “legacy” benefits will stop.

We can still accept new Housing Benefit claims in some circumstances. Pension Age customers – can not claim UC Customers lives in Specified (supported) Accommodation – can not claim Housing Costs under UC Customers is placed in Temporary Accommodation - can not claim Housing Costs under UC Customer receives a Severe Disability Premium within any legacy benefit in the last month. We triage all new claims received daily to ensure they are eligible to claim HB. We still accept claims for Council Tax Support.

Changes of circumstances Customers currently receiving HB will remain on HB unless they have a change in circumstances which means they have to make a NEW CLAIM for any of the legacy benefits. If they have a change in circumstances that does not require a new claim for one of the legacy benefits then we can re-assess their HB claim based on their new circumstances. The most common example is when someone on HB changes address within the Dorset Council area – we can review their HB for the new address as this is not deemed to be a new claim.

Local Council Tax Support We now have an aligned Council Tax Support scheme for the new Dorset Council We have also changed our scheme to reduce the number of changes we apply from monthly revised UC awards. We now calculate LCTS using an average of Universal Credit awards and applying for a 6 month period. This will hopefully provide the customer with more assurance on the amount of Council tax they need to pay.

Discretionary Housing Payments Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) is a annual fund administered by the LA Housing Benefit Team to assist those struggling to meet housing costs due to Governments Welfare Reform. For customers in receipt of UC this must include the Housing Costs element in order for DHP to be considered. We have a new application form which has been designed to be more relevant to customers receiving UC so the application process is more streamlined.

Latest announcements The mixed age couple rules came in May 2019 This affects couples where one is working age and one is pension age. Previously if one member of the couple was Pension age they could claim Pension Credit and Housing Benefit. Now if one member of the couple is working age they must claim UC instead.

Managed Migration Currently customers only move onto UC when they have a change in their circumstances that means they have to make a new application for a legacy benefit. Managed Migration is the process whereby customers are moved onto UC without having a change in their circumstances Government always intended to start the managed migration process at some point but this has been pushed back a number of times now A pilot started in June 2019 in Harrogate – so far 2 cases have been migrated.

Housing Queries Routeway DWP have now set up Housing Queries Routeway which is specifically designed around housing issues and support for Landlords. The routeway provides information to help landlords resolve queries about Universal Credit It also provides links to online information and phone numbers for specialist support.

Any Questions?