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Original poster

How do housing benefits work in the UK?

103 replies

Espressoroast · 26/09/2021 07:31

Trying again - genuinely not trying to be goady. I’m not from the UK and my home country has a very different system.

I am a nurse (band 5, NHS) and have a colleague who lives with her mum, both also Band 5, full time employment. They’ve been in a council flat for ages (10+ years) and been both employed that whole time. I would imagine there are others who need the housing more urgently or are less able to pay on the privat market?

In my country, housing benefit must be reassessed periodically so that if you make more than a certain amount you will pay market rate and be asked to leave funded housing. Is that not how it works here? What are the benefits of the system this way?

OP posts:
Waxonwaxoff0 · 26/09/2021 07:36

There's no reassessment here. Once you have a council property it's yours for life, even if you become a millionaire.

nyktipolos · 26/09/2021 07:38

So you think people who already live in a council/ HA house should be turfed out once they earn too much?

What if they can't afford to stay the area?

What sort of incentive is that for people to pursue better paid work?

Just because they live in a council or HA jouse, doesn't mean they are getting housing benefit.

They pay for the home they live in. It's not really your business.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 26/09/2021 07:38

Which personally I think is wrong, but others disagree and say why should they have to leave their home.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Benefits
JustLyra · 26/09/2021 07:40

Living in a council house and claiming housing benefits are two totally separate things.

People aren’t expected to give up council houses when they’re working. Depending on the area and when they got the house they could have been working when they got it.

ChardonnaysPetDragon · 26/09/2021 07:40

How come you are a band 5 nurse in the NHS if you are no in the UK?

To answer your question though, housing benefit is now part of UC, but I think you are confusing housing benefit and social housing. You receive payments according to you local areal cap and the rent that you paying.

Council housing need is not reassessed. It's yours for as much as you like and often you can buy it cheaply as well.

SandysMam · 26/09/2021 07:41

I don’t think people should be turfed out if earning more but I do think there should be a higher rate of rent depending on earnings. I know a couple on 80k a year in a council house paying £400 a month. They joke about how cheap it is.

TheQueef · 26/09/2021 07:42

You are conflating two completely different things.
Social housing and housing benefit.
Don't be embarrassed though plenty of UK residents like to muddle them up so they can froth.

ChardonnaysPetDragon · 26/09/2021 07:43

So you think people who already live in a council/ HA house should be turfed out once they earn too much?

You are framing this wrong. They are not turfed out, they are asked to leave if they no longer meet the requirements, just as people who buy a property move when they need to. There is nothing wrong with that, because it frees up the property for someone who needs it more at the moment.

WeAreTheHeroes · 26/09/2021 07:43

Those who live in social housing pay rent or have part or all of their rent paid by housing benefit.

tabulahrasa · 26/09/2021 07:47

Housing benefit and social housing are separate...

Social housing isn’t funded, the rent is set at a rate that’s usually lower than the local market, but high enough to cover repairs, upgrades and some new housing stock.

Housing benefit is money paid to people on low incomes or whose income is purely benefits towards their rent.

SomewhereInBrooklyn · 26/09/2021 07:48

Don't be embarrassed though plenty of UK residents like to muddle them up so they can froth.

😬🤣

romdowa · 26/09/2021 07:50

It's weird that social housing rents aren't means tested. Here in the republic of Ireland, the council do rent assessments every few years and if your income goes up , so does your rent. There is a maximum that the council can charge though which is always well under market rents.

westcountryboy · 26/09/2021 07:50

@Espressoroast

Trying again - genuinely not trying to be goady. I’m not from the UK and my home country has a very different system.

I am a nurse (band 5, NHS) and have a colleague who lives with her mum, both also Band 5, full time employment. They’ve been in a council flat for ages (10+ years) and been both employed that whole time. I would imagine there are others who need the housing more urgently or are less able to pay on the privat market?

In my country, housing benefit must be reassessed periodically so that if you make more than a certain amount you will pay market rate and be asked to leave funded housing. Is that not how it works here? What are the benefits of the system this way?

For clarification. Housing Benefit: help towards your rent based on income.

Social Housing: council or housing association properties rented to people.

I don't feel that people should have to leave their home because their circumstances have changed. Private renting is generally expensive, insecure and in my view, unethical.

The issue is a shortage of affordable social housing and we should be addressing that, not asking people to relinquish secure tenancies.

I earn a reasonable wage and so does my partner but we'll never be able to save the money to buy so we're stuck with private renting. I'd do anything to be in a home that we could settle for life in and not worry about getting notice to leave.

nyktipolos · 26/09/2021 07:53

@ChardonnaysPetDragon

So you think people who already live in a council/ HA house should be turfed out once they earn too much?

You are framing this wrong. They are not turfed out, they are asked to leave if they no longer meet the requirements, just as people who buy a property move when they need to. There is nothing wrong with that, because it frees up the property for someone who needs it more at the moment.

It doesn't do anything because it doesn't happen.

And no, I disagree with it. My best friend is currently training to be a midwife. She has a HA property. She has worked so hard to get to university, I think it would be awful fro her and her children to be 'asked to leave' especially, when she is getting to a point where she will be paying full rent for the property.

Her kids would need to move school and she would need to move out if ye are completely, because she could not afford to privately rent here. Move her and her kids away from her support network, all their friends and family.

All the upheaval, because she decided to try and get herself a better career. A career that we desperately need people to take up, not out people off it.

No, I can't see the benefit in that. I don't think it's peoples responsibility to uproot their whole lives, because the governments for far too long have stocked housing properly

ChardonnaysPetDragon · 26/09/2021 07:57

People move all the time, with or without children, I'm sure your friend will manage just as everybody else does.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 26/09/2021 07:58

@SandysMam

I don’t think people should be turfed out if earning more but I do think there should be a higher rate of rent depending on earnings. I know a couple on 80k a year in a council house paying £400 a month. They joke about how cheap it is.
Yes, something like that could be a better solution.
CornishTiger · 26/09/2021 07:58

Actually some social housing is reassessed if they are fixed term tenancies. However they will normally be renewed if tenant still qualifies eg no capital/assets over £50k/household income under £60k.

ChardonnaysPetDragon · 26/09/2021 08:02

Actually, I agree with the solution above.

If someone whose earning are above a threshold then they can stay if they pay market rent.

nyktipolos · 26/09/2021 08:03

@ChardonnaysPetDragon

People move all the time, with or without children, I'm sure your friend will manage just as everybody else does.
Yes, and sometimes it negatively impacts their lives. People very rarely choose to move to a place where they wouldn't be able to do their job anymore. And if she can't do the job, she wouldn't be able to privately rent. So will end up staying where she is, receiving UC.

And she wouldn't be able to be a midwife and do the shifts. It's really not that difficult to grasp.

She may well have not started. Which I suppose isn't an issue not like we need more midwives Hmm

nyktipolos · 26/09/2021 08:04

Yes, I wouldnt mind if rent was set on on household income. I think thats the better idea

MargotMoon · 26/09/2021 08:05

@WeAreTheHeroes

Those who live in social housing pay rent or have part or all of their rent paid by housing benefit.

Not necessarily. If you live in social housing you are a secure tenant (after 1 year) and can't be forced to leave if you pay your rent, aren't anti social etc.

You can be ineligible for housing benefit because you earn too much and still be a social tenant.

Whiskyinajar · 26/09/2021 08:06

Social housing varies depending upon who owns it.

My niece lives in a housing association flat, her tenancy isnuo for review in two years time . If she's deemed to be earning too much (if she could afford to privately rent) then she would be asked to move on.

However we live in the south east where property prices and rental prices are very high. It's unlikely she will be asked to move even though her salary is very good.

She's saving hard and hopes to part buy a property in the next few years.

ChardonnaysPetDragon · 26/09/2021 08:09

No, they don't close to do so easily, but many have to. Many are no doubt midwifes and nurses and other "worthy" professions, so why should your friend specifically be insulated against that?

If she no longer fits the criteria someone whose needs are greater can have it, is that difficult to grasp? As for shifts, as you say midwifes are in demand, she should be able to find employment everywhere.

WeAreTheHeroes · 26/09/2021 08:13

@MargotMoon - think you've misread my post.

Etonmessisyum · 26/09/2021 08:13

I’m a nurse band 5, don’t work full time however. Been in homeless temporary accommodation with my kids for nearly 4 years. So when I eventually get a flat/house if I earn too much you want me turfed out? It’s unlikely as I have a sen son and I can’t work more as he’s not suitable for out of school childcare. I’m a single parent and this is the second temporary home I’ve had. None of my own furniture or decor, can’t hang anything up. No shower etc
It’s not a home it’s limbo. Yes it’s a roof. And I pay all of the rent here. Every penny as will

I elsewhere. There are no houses. No rentals either,