Lewes District Council

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Lewes District Council
32 High Street
Lewes
East Sussex
BN7 2LX

Tel: 01273 484141
press@lewes.gov.uk
Fax: 01273 484146
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Changes To Benefit Payments

Benefit Advisor on the phone The Government has announced a number of changes to the way Housing and Council Tax Benefit is calculated, as well as other state benefits.

Some of the changes won’t apply for some time. However the following changes will apply next year.

Babies under the age of one

From April 2011 the extra allowance for families where there is a baby under one year old will be removed.  This will mean less benefit for those families who have children under one year old.  If you are affected by this change your claim will automatically be re-calculated.

Non Dependents living in the household

From April 2011 to April 2014 there will be annual staged increases in the rates of non-dependant deductions, as these have not been increased since 2001. This will mean less benefit for those households that have a non-dependant, e.g. adult sons or daughters, other relatives or friends who live in the household on a non-commercial basis.

The following changes only apply to private tenants in receipt of Local Housing Allowance (LHA)

Changes to the way the Local Housing Allowance is calculated

From October 2011 all Local Housing Allowance rates will be reduced by between 5% and 10% as the government have announced that the way they are calculated is to be changed. This means that most people’s Housing Benefit awards assessed under the Local Housing Allowance scheme will be reduced as the maximum benefit that can be paid will reduce.

Removal of excess payments

We can currently pay up to £15 per week more than the rent if the rent is below the LHA rate for a property and family size.  This additional money will be removed from April 2011.  This will affect about 60 people in our district.  If you are affected by this change your claim will automatically be re-calculated.

Limits to the amount of LHA that can be paid.

From April 2011 the maximum amount of LHA that can be paid will be restricted to the four-bedroom rate. 

A maximum Housing benefit amount will be introduced for each property size

The size criteria will be adjusted to provide for an additional bedroom for a non-resident carer where a disabled customer has an established need for overnight care.  This means that some people’s benefit may be increased.   If you think you could be affected by this change please contact the Benefits team.