Housing benefit help

[jigsaw8]

I claim housing benefit as I am currently a stay at home mum and pregnant, whilst my partner works full time but is on a low wage.

We are privately renting a 1 bed flat and so obviously with a 2nd child on the way we need to move somewhere bigger.

My question is.. If we move from where we are now, paying £550 a month rent, to somewhere bigger, paying £700-£750 a month rent, will my housing benefit go up? Only I am unsure if we would be able to afford that kind of rent without a little more help. (I do plan to go back to work but until then we will need the housing benefit)

Thanks in advance!

Depends on your local housing authority and the levels they allow you to claim. If you go on turn2us you should be able to find out what your maximum amount would be, although obviously you may only be eligible for a percentage of that depending on your partner's salary.

Apologies, just re-read your post. If this is your second child then you will still only be eligible for assistance on a 2 bed property which is the same as you are currently eligible for (although you're choosing to rent a 1 bed instead).

Yes but rock chick they may be entitled to more hb than the cost if the rent in their current property as the Lha may be £650 for example.

Each council sets the amount it pays as hb depending on rental prices in that area. It will usually tell you somewhere on the website what these maximum allowances are. You would still only be able to claim the rate for a two bed property though.

Thank you, I understand it would still be the rate for a 2 bed, it is just because anywhere we move the rent is going to be a fair bit higher then what we're paying now, I was just wondering if the amount of HB we get would possibly increase to help with that.
Thanks for your help!

turn2us is good. I just put us through it if I didn't work ( do work, I work full time) and we would get £24,753.04 a year (for me and the two teenagers) which seems an awful lot!! We would be almost up to the benefits cap of £26k.

Benefit Weekly Monthly Annually Notes

Child Tax Credit

How to claim
£116.36 £504.23 £6,050.72

Income-based Job Seekers Allowance

How to claim
£72.40 £313.73 £3,764.80

Housing Benefit

How to claim
£233.01 £1,009.71 £12,116.52

Council Tax Support

How to claim
£20.20 £87.53 £1,050.40
This result is based on your local authority’s scheme, however, as there are special rules within this scheme for some particular groups of people, please contact your Local Authority to confirm your entitlement as it may differ from this estimate.
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Child Benefit

How to claim
£34.05 £147.55 £1,770.60
Total means-tested benefits £476.02 £2,062.75 £24,753.04

Total benefits
Weekly Monthly Annually
Total Benefits £476.02 £2,062.75 £24,753.04