Benefits when moving to a different part of the country?

[alreadytaken]

I have no experience of the benefit system (other than tax credits) but for complicated reasons a friend who has just started to claim housing benefit and needs to claim other benefits is considering moving a long distance. How easy is it to claim housing benefit and council tax benefit when you move? I assume job seekers, or whatever it's called now, is not as much of a problem? Hopefully he will be able to find work again in future but it may take a while.

I'm willing to lend him money to tide him over any delays, if that is the only problem, but I'd like an idea of how long it might be.

Housing benefit rules & thresholds change according to the region and the authorities administering them. He'd have to decide which region he wants to work in, go there and spend some time with the local council housing department.

Do you know if they can actually refuse support to someone who has not lived in the area for years? He doesn't have close family and is thinking of moving near us as his closest friends.

I don't think so they can refuse to support - there are costs to moving of course - especially assumeing he would be in private rented - eg deposit etc, and not all landlords take benifits claiments- and benifit payments would be interupted -
with Job seekers - you have to make a new claim - at least I did - it was fairly quick -but I wasn't claiming any other benifits

spoke to the local council and they were surprisingly helpful. Yes it would have to be privately rented. I'd hoped they would have a list of private landlords who would consider him but they don't. No pets to consider and hopefully he'd get at least some of his current deposit back, I don't think he's been a difficult tenant.

A friend of mine who was on benefits contacted the local lettings agencies to ask in advance about if they would be willing to rent to her.

I'm considering letting my property out at present, the rent guarantee offered by the agencies I looked at wouldn't cover tenants in receipt of housing benefit unless they had a guarantor who earned 3 times the rent (eg if letting property for £500pcm would need a guarantor earning £1500pcm) as the rent guarantee would only come into effect if both the tenant and the guarantor didn't pay (and the guarantor would be the one being chased for the money) so this may be something to consider if he struggles to find somewhere to rent :)

There is going to be variation in how local authorities handle the government's withdrawal of 10% from the overall council tax budget. It is anticipated that in many areas the hardest hit will be low paid workers and those without children. Pensioners and disabled people should be protected.

Are you going to be ok about lending your friend money? I would imagine some of his costs will be hard to recoup, eg new deposit on a flat, rent upfront, moving /moving in costs etc. Bit of a bummer, really.

thank you that's very helpful. He doesn't have lot of possessions and he could probably borrow a van so moving costs would be low. We've identified a possible source of help with part of the deposit (discovered there are some schemes that help people) so I think we could help with the remaining costs. I'd trust him to repay me eventually, it might be quite slow if he doesn't find work but we can cope with that. We could write it off if necessary, I wouldn't offer otherwise.

OP, you sound like a lovely friend. When he gets where he's going don't forget about Freecycle, and crisis loans/grants (the responsibility for which the DWP is soon passing to local councils).