welfare reform

[pear003]

had a letter from my coucil,informing me that this will affect me from april 2013,anybody know what this means ,i work partime and on a low income
thanks

If it's from a council, do you receive housing benefit at the moment? There are some changes happening to the maximum amounts that can be claimed so (mostly) families in large expensive properties are being notified... don't know if that applies to you. If the letter came with contact details probably the best thing to do is to call them back and ask if there is something specific you should be aware of.

Depending on your circumstances this could have a big impact on you - for example if you have a spare bedroom then you'll loose £11 per week in housing benefit. There's some good info summarising the changes on some housing associations websites - this one gives you the key facts and how it will affect tenants
www.haltonhousing.org/Events/Pages/WelfareReforms-changesthatcouldaffectyou.aspx
I work in housing and can only advise you to find out in advance how it will affect you so you're prepared - unfortunately some tenants are in for a big shock.

We have just had to fill out a form stating how many bedrooms in our HA house and how many children we have with their ages and sex.

We dont get any housing or council tax benefit but our council is definitely trying to work out which houses are under occupied.

Each empty room will incur a reduction in benefit which i think most people are aware of but it also says that opposite sex children can share up until the age of 10 which i wasnt expecting. That will hit a lot of families hard

Our council will also no longer pay 100% of a council tax bill so certain groups will be announced when they sort out who will be hit hardest. This will start in April 2013.

Does anyone know how this would affect people with children away at university? I know you don't get benefits for them but would the bedroom tax come into it as the child would only be staying at home in the holidays, are they still classed as needing a bedroom?