From April 2013 there will be a cap on the amount of benefit that working age people can receive. The benefit cap is one of the welfare reform measures the government is introducing to promote fairness between those in work and those getting benefits.

The Government is also introducing size limit rules into Housing Benefit for working age people renting from a local authority, a registered housing association or other registered social landlord.

In April 2013 Council Tax Benefit will be abolished as part of the government’s changes to the welfare system. All councils must set up their own local scheme for people on low incomes to replace it, called council tax support.


Benefit Cap

The cap will restrict the level of benefits that people aged 16 to 64 receive. The cap will make sure that households getting benefits will not normally get more in benefit than the average working household receives in pay.

A household means you, your partner if you have one and any children you are responsible for and who live with you.

How might the benefit cap affect you?
If you are currently receiving housing benefit and you could be affected by the benefit cap you will be contacted by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).

The actual amount of the cap will not be set until later this year, but is currently expected to be set as follows.

What is included in the benefit cap?
The cap will apply to the combined income from the main out of work benefits.

If your combined income from benefits is above the capping thresholds this means that your housing benefit payment will be reduced from April 2013

When added together the benefit cap will limit the total income you can get from the following benefits:

The cap will not apply if you qualify for Working Tax Credit or get any of the following benefits:

Benefit Cap Calculator
An online benefit calculator is available to use on the Gov.uk website at https://www.gov.uk/benefit-cap. You can use this to get an estimate of how much your housing benefit could be reduced by if the amount of benefit you receive is more than the cap limits, and your circumstances remain the same until the cap is applied in April 2013.

To answer the questions in the calculator you will need to know the weekly amount of award for each benefit or allowance you or someone in your household receives. These can be found on your award letters.

If you do not have your award letters you can call the benefit cap helpline number 0845 0657064 or textphone 0845 6088551 for people with hearing or speech impairments.

Housing Benefit size criteria restrictions for working age claimants living in social housing from 1 April 2013

This change will come into force for all existing and new claimants to Housing Benefit from 1 April 2013 and will apply to the majority of social housing provided accommodation where an exemption does not apply.

The new rules will restrict the size of accommodation you can receive Housing Benefit for based on the number of people in your household.

The new rules will restrict the amount of Housing Benefit you can receive based on the number of people in your household.

How could you be effected

It is possible that the amount of Housing Benefit you get to pay your rent and any service charges could go down.

If you are assessed under these rules as having more bedrooms than are necessary for your household you will be considered to be under-occupying that property.
If you are under-occupying there will be a reduction in your Housing Benefit. The amount allowed for rent and any allowable charges will be reduced by:

If you feel you may be affected by this change then please contact the following for more advice:

• Your Housing Association direct

• The Citizens Advice service provides a wide range of advice. To find your local Citizens Advice Bureau, look in the phone book or Yellow Pages, or visit their website at http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/

• Shelter offers confidential housing, welfare benefits and debt advice through a network of advice services; freephone Housing Advice Helpline on 0808 800 4444 8am-8pm Monday-Friday and 8am-5pm Saturday-Sunday and online at
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice
http://www.shelter.org.uk/


If you are thinking of moving you need to consider these changes before renewing or making a new tenancy agreement.
You may be able to get a Discretionary Housing Payment to make up all or some of the reduction – ask the Housing Benefit office about this.


Council Tax Benefit to be replaced with a local Council Tax Support scheme from 1 April 2013

As part of the Governments welfare reforms it is proposing that from 1 April 2013 the current national Council Tax Benefit Scheme will be replaced with Local Council Tax Support which will be determined by each local authority area.

The government has given indications that the new local scheme will be provided by the government, but it will only cover 90% of the current cost of council tax benefit. This means we will need to decide how to find the remaining 10%. The shortage in funding means that Isle of Wight Council will have to make some difficult decisions about who gets financial help and how much they get.