Housing Benefit for Vulnerable Groups, Excluded tenancies, Exempt Accommodation GLASGOW 17thFebruary 2012 Peter Meehan

Vulnerable groups Regulation 13 Claimant, or member of their family or relative living with them, has attained the qualifying age for pension credit is incapable of work (eg IB, ESA,SDA,SSP, certain pregnant women, treated as incapable of work) treated as temporarily capable of work only because of temporary disqualification from Incapacity Benefit/esa is responsible for a child or young person who lives in the same household

Vulnerable group restriction Regulation 13 (cont’d) Only restrict if suitable cheaper alternative accommodation is available Taking into account relevant factors, it is reasonable to expect the vulnerable claimant to move from their present accommodation

Excluded claims Non-registered housing associations, non- metropolitan county councils in England, registered charities and voluntary organisations are not excluded and must be referred to the rent officer.

Excluded claims Registered Housing Association are excluded unless the accommodation is larger than reasonably required by the claimant and any others who occupy the dwelling or the rent payable for the property is unreasonably high.

Accommodation which does not come under LHA Accommodation which does not come under LHA Tenancies in the Social Rented Sector Tenancies deemed to fall outside deregulated private sector:-certain RSLs and protected cases ( otherwise known as ‘exempt accommodation’) The RO may decide whether certain cases fall under LHA or not--- pre 1989 tenancies; exceptional cases such as caravans, houseboats ( including mooring charges), mobile homes and hostels; board and attendance cases.

Exempt Accommodation HB/CTB (Consequential Provisions) Regulations 2006 Schedule 3 Para 4(10) ‘Exempt Accommodation’ is an individual dwelling for which a person is liable to make payments, that they occupy as their home and which is - a resettlement place provided by persons to whom the Secretary of State has given assistance by way of grant pursuant to section 30 of the Jobseeker’s Act 1995 or provided by a non-metropolitan county council in England, a housing association, a registered charity or voluntary organisation where that body or a person acting on its behalf also provides the claimant with care, support or supervision

Exempt from LHA scheme a housing association ( in Scotland registered with Scottish Government under Housing (Scotland) Act 2001) A registered charity ( within meaning of charity in Part 1 of the Charities Act 2006) A voluntary organisation ( defined in Reg. 2(1) of the HB regulations 2006)

Exempt Accommodation ‘Accommodation provider’ should be the person or organisation to whom the tenant has the rent liability ‘Accommodation provider’ should not be a person or organisation that is only involved in arranging or facilitating the provision of accommodation along with the care, support or supervision

Care, Support or Supervision? must be more than minimal must be provided directly by the landlord or someone acting on their behalf normally funding would also be available from either Supporting People or Care in Community budgets or another separately identifiable funding stream details of which are ordinarily set out in the tenancy agreement ( although not a legal requirement)

Maximum rent? Subsidy? For exempt accommodation, the Rent Officer determination does not necessarily determine the maximum rent for HB The local authority may instead choose not to restrict in which case the rent officer determination will inform the level of HB subsidy : -that part up to the RO figure=100% -any excess above RO figure up to the full contractual rent=60%

To restrict or not restrict? Accommodation is not larger than reasonably required by claimant and others who also occupy the dwelling, having regard in particular to suitable alternative accommodation occupied by a household of the same size Rent payable for the property is not unreasonably high by comparison with the rent payable in respect of suitable alternative accommodation elsewhere