Once the council has received all of the right information and evidence, it should make a decision within 2 weeks. Unfortunately, it can take longer, especially if you have not provided all of the information the council needs. If this happens, you might be able to get a payment on account in the meantime (see below).
Why have I been sent a Housing Benefit review?
Complete your full case review online A full case review is required by Redbridge Council to ensure that the information we hold is accurate and up to date. The review covers all information relevant to your Housing Benefits and Council Tax Reduction claim.
- Your claim has been selected for review with the aim to ensure that you are being paid the correct amount of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction.
- We will need to identify any relevant changes in your circumstances and will ask you to provide evidence of these.
- Where we don’t already hold sufficient information about your circumstances, we may also ask you to provide up to date information.
If you have reported some changes on your review form; please ensure you notify the Department for Work and Pensions via your journal immediately. In order to complete your review, you will be asked to provide:
your last name – You must enter the surname exactly as it is shown on your email/letter. national insurance number date of birth postcode (you must use the postcode in the letter even if you have moved address) benefit claim number your access key – This key code must be entered as exactly as it is shown on your email/letter.
Some of this information can be found in the recent letter you received. You must complete your review within 30 days of the date of receiving your letter, otherwise your claim will be suspended.
: Complete your full case review online
What is the most Housing Benefit will pay?
If you rent from the council or a housing association – The maximum Housing Benefit you can get is the full amount of rent you have to pay. There are circumstances that might affect how much Housing Benefit you can get.
What is a benefit review?
19 The Benefits Review Plan Organisation Theme and Business Case Theme Tony Allan The purpose of a benefits review plan (BRP) is to determine if the expected benefits of the project have been achieved. In order to understand what and why a BRP should be developed let’s consider, when is an appropriate time to develop one.
- The following provides two examples of similar projects but there are some differences in what made each project feasible.
- The most appropriate time to develop a BRP is also different for each project.
- As you read through the following background information, it should become apparent when the most appropriate time to develop each BRP should be.
Imagine that there were two towns of similar size, population and economy. Both have a river running through the middle of the town with one bridge crossing the river. Both towns have a problem with, People are spending so much time travelling to and from work that the economic efficiency and standard of living in both towns has been deteriorating over the last 5 years.
Both towns have decided to build a second bridge. One town decided to build a second bridge because widening the existing bridge would not solve the problem because of the local area traffic congestion on either side of the bridge would still exist. The second town would not have the same problem because they have a network of freeways enabling people to get to and from the bridge and therefore if they widened the existing bridge they would not have just shifted the congestion problem.
The second town decided to build a second bridge because it would be less expensive than widening the first bridge. The reasons widening would be more expensive are related to engineering costs, such as the width of the river and the required depth of the pylons because of the riverbed in the area where the current bridge is built.
the length of the average daily peak traffic period 5 years after the completion of the bridge, which is to be compared with current traffic patterns. measures of local area traffic congestion on either side of the two bridges five years after the bridge is completed. Which would also be compared to existing patterns.
The second town is to be measured by:
was the bridge completed on or under budget? Was the bridge completed on time?
This is a simplified scenario where it should be apparent that the most appropriate time to develop a BPR is:
five years after the completion of the project for the first town immediately after the end of the project for the second town.
What a benefits review plan should contain
the scope of the benefits review plan who is accountable for the expected benefits how to measure the expected benefits when to measure the expected benefits what is the process and resources needed to review the benefits baseline measures from which improvements can be calculated who will be responsible for ensuring the benefits review plan is completed.
: 19 The Benefits Review Plan
How much savings can I have on universal credit?
You may be able to get Universal Credit if you’re on a low income or need help with your living costs. You could be:
out of work working (including self-employed or part time) unable to work, for example because of a health condition
To claim you must:
live in the UK be aged 18 or over (there are some exceptions if you’re 16 to 17) be under State Pension age have £16,000 or less in money, savings and investments
You can use a benefits calculator to check what benefits you could get.
How much is the one time top up housing benefit?
One-time top-up to the Canada Housing Benefit – Closed Status: Closed The one-time top-up to the Canada Housing Benefit helped low-income renters with the cost of renting. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) administered this one-time payment. If your income and the amount you paid on rent qualified, you may have been eligible to apply for a tax-free one-time payment of $500.
How many hours can you work without it affecting your benefits UK?
If you or your partner are employed, how much Universal Credit you get will depend on how much you earn. Your Universal Credit payment will reduce as you earn more. For every £1 you or your partner earns your payment goes down by 55p. There’s no limit to how many hours you can work.
What is the basic allowance for housing?
Basic Allowance for Housing, or BAH, provides uniformed service members equitable housing compensation based on housing costs in local civilian housing markets within the 50 U.S. states when government quarters are not provided. BAH is not intended to cover all of a service member’s housing costs.
The opportunity for Service members to choose their off-base housing is important to DoD. Each member has the freedom to decide how to allocate his or her income (including the housing allowance) without a penalty for deciding to conserve some dollars on rent to pay other expenses. Therefore, actual out-of-pocket expense for an individual may be higher or lower than the prescribed rate based on choice of housing.
Allowances reflect the costs associated with household rental. Generally, rental prices change between 2%-5% from year to year. Housing allowances typically change accordingly. To lookup rates, use the BAH calculator,
How much savings can you have and still claim Housing Benefit UK?
When you may not be able to claim – Usually, you will not get Housing Benefit if:
your savings are over £16,000 – unless you get Guarantee Credit of Pension Credit you’re paying a mortgage on your own home – you may be able to get Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) you live in the home of a close relative you’re already claiming Universal Credit (unless you’re in temporary or supported housing) you live with your partner and they are already claiming Housing Benefit you’re a full-time student you’re residing in the UK as a European Economic Area (EEA) jobseeker you’re an asylum seeker or sponsored to be in the UK you’re subject to immigration control and your granted leave states that you cannot claim public funds you’re a Crown Tenant you’ve reached State Pension age but your live-in partner has not – unless you had an existing claim as a couple before 15 May 2019
You may be able to get other help with housing costs, If not, you’ll need to claim Universal Credit instead. Use a benefits calculator to check if you can get Housing Benefit before you apply.
How much do single mother’s get in benefits UK?
2. Child Benefit – Every parent with responsibility for a child under 16 (or under 20 and in full-time education or training) can claim child benefit, The government increased many benefits by 10.1% from 10 April in a bid to keep up with inflation, resulting in millions of families getting a boost to monthly payments. The Child Benefit rates you’ll get from 10 April 2023:
For your eldest child, or if you only have one child: £24.00 per week For additional children: £15.90 per child per week
This is usually paid every 4 weeks, though as a single parent, you can ask for it to be paid weekly if you prefer. You may be taxed on the benefit if you earn more than £50,000. You can apply for Child Benefit even if you’re already receiving legacy benefits.
What are the benefits of paid review?
Advantages of pay reviews – If you regularly review your pay systems, you can check whether or not you are achieving objectives such as cost control, team working, and increased productivity. Other benefits of regular reviews are that you can:
address the effect of factors such as regional changes, industry developments or skills shortages incorporate the impact of new machinery or technology on your business, such as new skills requirements and new roles review hiring and training policies – see advertising a job and interviewing candidates prepare for changes required by legislation such as revisions to national minimum wage rates review feedback from your workers on whether your pay rates and systems are fair and act as incentives incorporate changes in employment contracts act on decisions from collective bargaining – see how to work effectively with trade unions ensure you keep in contact with people on a break, eg maternity or adoption leave find and close any loopholes that might otherwise have led to claims of pay discrimination on the grounds of eg gender, race, status as a part-time worker
Does benefit mean good or bad?
When used as a noun, benefit means ‘something that is advantageous or good.’ When used as a verb with an object it means ‘to do good to,’ as in The park benefits the whole neighborhood. Benefit can also be used as a verb without an object to mean ‘to profit,’ as in The broker benefited from the deal.
Can I claim benefits for depression UK?
A mental health condition is considered a disability if it has a long-term effect on your normal day-to-day activity. This is defined under the Equality Act 2010. Your condition is ‘long term’ if it lasts, or is likely to last, 12 months. ‘Normal day-to-day activity’ is defined as something you do regularly in a normal day.
dementia depression bipolar disorder obsessive compulsive disorder schizophrenia
The Mind website has more help and guidance.
What is the disadvantage of Universal Credit?
Universal Credit is in danger of going down in flames because of a decision that is not absolutely intrinsic to its design, argues Nicholas Timmins. Universal Credit is essentially a good – if highly ambitious – idea that has proved vastly harder to implement than its proponents ever imagined.
It has been hit by problem after problem since its launch by Iain Duncan Smith in the very early days of the Coalition. Universal Credit rolls six benefits into one in an attempt to simplify an over-complicated benefit system. The original aim was to ease the transition in and out of work and back again while ensuring, transparently, that it always paid to be in a job.
It is an honourable ambition. On the original timetable, all eight million in and out of work households in the UK – most of them in work – that currently receive working tax credits, child tax credits, housing benefits, income support, means-tested versions of the jobseeker’s allowance and employment and support allowance were meant to be on the new ‘universal’ benefit by October 2017 i.e.
next month. As of June this year, just 540,000 claimants were receiving it and the implementation timetable now stretches to 2022. The unintended and unfortunate consequences Under the old system, the goal was to pay benefits within two weeks of a claim. Under Universal Credit, there is a formal waiting period of one week with no money, with the benefit then being paid monthly in arrears – the intention being that this more closely mirrors what it is like to be in a job.
In practice, many of those earning less than £10,000 a year are in fact paid weekly. The effect of this ‘discipline’ in practice has led to an in-built wait of six weeks before people get their cash – three times as long as the old system – and the Department for Work and Pensions admits that in around a fifth of cases it is failing to meet even that target, partly because of the information demands it places on the claimants.
- Waits of ten or twelve weeks are not uncommon.
- The overall effect has been to plunge people already on low incomes into rent arrears and debt and in some cases homelessness.
- In others cases, it has caused job losses – the very opposite of what Universal Credit is intended to achieve.
- The Commons Work and Pensions Committee has been hearing in detail evidence about these effects and bodies as diverse as Citizens Advice and the councils in areas where Universal Credit has been rolled out so far have been telling the Government about this for many, many months.
Compounding the problems Despite these problems, the next big roll out of Universal Credit is set to go ahead, and what are already major problems look set to be compounded, as The Times among others have recently highlighted. Apart from the ideological step of making the benefits mirror a monthly salaried job – when growing numbers at the lower end of the labour market are on ‘zero hours’ contracts or other forms of the ‘gig economy’ – the six week wait was incorporated, to put it crudely, to save money.
It is just one of the many cuts to the level of support offered by Universal Credit that have been introduced since its inception, to the point where even some of its proponents fear it has become too mean to work for those it sought to help. Universal Credit would still be Universal Credit without the six week wait.
Imposing it was a policy choice, not a necessity, and a choice that can be undone. The answer has to be a shorter wait and not just the loans that claimants can theoretically claim, but which many don’t know about which in any case just bring new problems.
Can Universal Credit See my savings account?
As part of your Universal Credit claim, you (and your partner) must report the amount of savings and capital that you have. More information is available on what counts as savings in Universal Credit, If you jointly own capital with another person, only the amount that you and/or your partner own is taken into account.
What is the Universal Credit Risk Review Team?
The role of the Risk Review Team is to review and take action on cases identified by IRIS as being a high fraud risk.
What is a commitment review universal credit?
Your claimant commitment – When you claim Universal Credit you will need to accept your claimant commitment. Your claimant commitment will set out what you have agreed to do to prepare for and look for work, or to increase your earnings if you are already working.
- It will be based on your personal circumstances and will be reviewed and updated on an ongoing basis.
- Each time it is updated, you will need to accept a new claimant commitment to keep receiving Universal Credit.
- The claimant commitment is your record of the responsibilities that you have accepted in return for receiving Universal Credit, and the consequences of not meeting them.
Your Universal Credit payments may be cut if you don’t meet your responsibilities. This is called a sanction. You can view your latest claimant commitment online. You will also be able to update your progress on your goals using that account. If a medical professional has said you might have less than 12 months to live, you will not need a claimant commitment.
Is universal credit means tested?
If you’re on a low income or you’re out of work, you might be able to claim Universal Credit to help you cover your living costs. Universal Credit is a means-tested benefit that’s paid monthly. It’s designed to help you if you’re on a low income or out of work. Universal Credit had been rolled out to all areas of the UK by December 2018 and is gradually replacing the following ‘legacy’ benefits:
Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance Income-related Employment and Support Allowance Housing Benefit Income Support Working Tax Credit Child Tax Credit.
If you currently receive any of these benefits, you’ll continue to get them as normal for the time being. Your local Jobcentre Plus or Tax Credit Office will let you know when your benefit is due to be replaced by Universal Credit. If you’re making a new claim, you’ll usually need to claim Universal Credit instead of any of the above legacy benefits.
The amount of Universal Credit you might get depends on a few different things, such as how much you earn or how much you have in savings. It may also vary depending on how much you earned in the month before, and whether your circumstances have changed. The basic standard Universal Credit allowances depend on your age and whether you’re single or a couple.
In 2023-24, the basic standard allowances are as follows:
How do I contact Tower Hamlet benefits?
Housing Benefit – Full Case Reviews – The council must review claims where Housing Benefit is being paid. This review helps us to ensure that we pay you the correct entitlement of benefit. When we need to review your claim, we will send you a letter or email inviting you, to complete our on-line form.
- The form will ask you to confirm the details we hold on your claim and you will need to provide with evidence of this.
- The form will also allow you to inform us of any changes.
- The online form is the best way for you to provide the information we need.
- You will have 30 days from the date of the invite to complete the form.
We will need details of the rent you pay, the people who live in your household, and the income of everyone in your household. It may be best to have this information ready before you start to fill the form. When you complete the on-line form, we will update your claim and then let you know of the new amount of benefit.
Your surname or last name National Insurance Number (NINO) Date of birth Postcode Your Benefit Claim Number Your Access Key – this is a security number sent in the invite and is only for you to use.
If you need help with this review please contact 020 7364 5000. When you have the above information please complete the Full Case Review Form