Changes affecting benefits

The following changes will take effect from April 2011:

• An end to the extra housing benefit (up to £15 per week) that some customers get where their rent is less than the local housing allowance rate for that size of property
• Limiting the local housing allowance to the four bedroom rate. This will be the most you can get, even if you live in a five bedroom property
• Reducing the local housing allowance rates by changing the way they are calculated, so that only three out of every ten rental properties will be affordable to people on housing benefit rather than five in ten properties as now. In Cambridge the area used to set these rates includes a large area outside of Cambridge including Littleport, Ely and Haverhill, so unfortunately we believe there will be significantly less than 3 in 10 properties available to rent in Cambridge at the new local housing allowance rate.
• Temporary protection for people who are already getting local housing allowance on 1 April 2011 so that existing customers can get transitional protection for a further nine months from the date that that the changes apply to them. This transitional protection means that many existing local housing allowance customers will not be affected until January 2012 and some will see no change until April 2012. But if your household changes (for example, if you move, or if someone moves in or moves out of your home) this protection may no longer apply.
• New rules to help disabled people who have a carer who stays overnight but who does not normally live with them. The change means that if you rent a property with an extra bedroom for your carer, your housing benefit will take into account that extra cost. Please contact us if this applies to you.
• Councils can now consider paying your local housing allowance directly to your landlord if that will help you get or keep a tenancy at the lower rent level.
• The introduction of upper limits ("caps") on local housing allowance so that local housing allowance cannot exceed the following levels:

£250 per week (or £1083.33 per month) for a one bedroom property

£290 per week (or £1256.67 per month) for a two bedroom property

£340 per week (or £1473.33 per month) for a three bedroom property

£400 per week (or £1733.33 per month) for a four bedroom property or larger

Note: most local rents are below these levels so we do not anticipate these caps affecting many customers directly in Cambridge. However all the other changes may affect local customers.

Changes that also apply from April 2011

• An increase to non-dependant deductions - see how much these deductions have increased by with the non-dependant deductions 2010-2011 table.

Non-dependant deductions are the amount we have to reduce your benefit by if a non-dependant lives with you - that is, someone other than a child or partner. The size of the deduction depends on how much the non-dependant earns, not the person claiming.

No deductions are made if the claimant or their partner are registered blind or get attendance allowance or the care component of disability living allowance.

These deductions were frozen in 2001. The government have said they will increase them so that by 2014, they will be at the level they would have reached if they had not been frozen.

• Income from special guardianship paymentswill be fully disregarded - that is, we will no longer count it as income when calculating your benefit.
• An increase in the money available nationally for discretionary housing payments, although we do not yet know how much extra Cambridge City Council will get.

Proposed changes from 2012 onwards

The government has also proposed making further changes including starting to replace council tax benefit and housing benefit from 2013 onwards with the universal credit. This will replace certain benefits and will include an element towards housing costs instead of a separate housing benefit payment.

In addition, social tenants (that is, council and housing association tenants) of working age will start being covered by rules limiting how much benefit we can pay if you occupy a property that is considered to be larger than you need.