Does this count as income for benefit purposes?

[MrsHuxtableReturns]

I'll probably soon be a LP to 2 pre-schoolers working part-time. I'll have to move and privately rent. I'll get HB but with the area we live in that'll only cover a part of the housing cost with a substantial amount to be paid by me.

So my question is if a family member was to subsidize my rent significantly, would that count as income and therefore reduce any benefits payments I'd qualify for?

Thanks

If your dad signs to be a guarantor for your rent, that may help you find a wider choice of places. Then he could pay a proportion of the rent direct as well.

I stand corrected. It seems very wrong to me, but I can't dispute that it's right. It seems very unfair that one person could have £1000 rent, £400 HB to find, but another person has £1000 rent, £400 HB and £600 paid for by a parent, when if the first person had that £600 by working, £390 of it would be deducted from their HB.

Of course it's unfair. But a lot of the benefits system is unfair. I must say I did think it would be counted if you declared it. But it seems not. I thought any regular payment from another person had to be declared. Other than maintenance. And I think that's unfair too. I read ages ago that somebody getting £4K a month maintenance still got tax credits. Madness!

Yes, the HB is calculated on the average for the local authority area but the town (and the surrounding ones) we live and work in, and DC has a nursery space in is a lot more expensive. £400 would not even get us a 1 bed flat in the shittiest part of town. And moving is not an option at this point. I need to stay where my support network is.

I have two years of uni left so can't work more hours at the moment without giving that up which doesn't help us in the long term. I will increase my hours to full time once DC is in nursery so the whole HB thing is hopefully only temporary.

H will, I assume, pay some maintenance but it won't be much and at this point I can't rely on it at all. He has told me he will make my life as difficult as possible and fight me every step of the way.