Housing benefit

[Willowmartha1]

Does a child's saving account count towards your capital when applying for housing benefit? I can't see any clear guidance on line.

I'm pretty sure it doesn't. But I could be wrong

No it doesn't.
Most people cannot make a new claim for housing benefit. It would need to be Universal credit.

i think in some instances it does, and some it doesn't. For example, if it's in an account that you can't touch (such as children's ISA they can't access until 16) it's not counted, but if it's in a kids account you can easily access then it could affect it and be counted as your capital. In any case I don't think they count if under £6k (I could be wrong here). I've always been a bit unclear about this because for my son I send statements of a non-ISA (easy access) kids account but they have never counted it towards it despite it being easy access. All a bit confusing and probably depends on the local authority.

ps babyroobs is correct in that HB is only for old claimants so for purposes of Universal Credit the type of account it is in will be important, e.g. easy access = counted, non-easy access = not counted I think! Money saving expert forum is helpful on this front.

Yes I think it does. I read a while ago it does count for UC which most new applicants apply for and that includes housing benefit.

There are some reasons you can still make a new claim for housing benefit but most would be UC yeh

It does count for Uc I believe if you have access to it. If it's a childrens ISA which they cannot touch until 18 then it would not be counted. If the parents are just savings for a child and it's accessible to them and their name on the account then it would most likely be counted as savings. On UC you are allowed to have 6k savings before savings start to reduce your monthly amount. After 16k , Uc would stop altogether.

You could only make a new claim for HB if you get severe disability premium currently or you are in emergency accommodation which is paid for by HB. Otherwise needing to claim help with rent will trigger a switch to UC.