What changes were made to Local Housing Allowance in April 2008?
Local Housing Allowance was rolled out nationally on the 7th April 2008.
The national scheme will differ slightly to that currently being used by the Pathfinder sites. The main changes are as follows:
- Excess benefit will be capped at £15 per week i.e. if your rent is less than your LHA rate you will only ever be able to receive a maximum of £15 excess benefit.
- The size criteria will now only consider the number of bedrooms required by your household. Living rooms are excluded from the calculation.
- The way The Rent Service set the Local Housing Allowance rates is changing. The rates will be based on a wider range of local rents than is used at the moment. This will ensure the rates accurately reflect the local rental market.
- A rent increase is no longer a change of circumstance that will trigger a review of the LHA rate in payment.
- If you are a care leaver aged under 22 years old or you are eligible for the severe disability premium in your Housing Benefit calculation you will be exempt from the shared room rate with effect from 7th April 2008 no matter what size property you choose to live in. For those of you who fall into this category the amount of Housing Benefit you receive may increase with effect from April 2008.
If you are already in receipt of Local Housing Allowance these changes may affect your benefit. We will write to you shortly and tell you if the amount of benefit you receive is going to change.
For more information regarding how these changes will affect you
please use this link to view our leaflet 'Local Housing Allowance is Changing'
To view the new Local Housing Allowance rates for 7th April 2008 onwards please use this link.