Universal Credit Housing Element Increase Confusion

[balloons4ever]

Hi everyone.

I claim Universal Credit and receive my housing cost payments myself, so I'm responsible for passing these on to my HA landlord. The rent is just under £100 per week, so is well within the allowed limit.

Like with most people in social housing, my rent increased in April - by about £30 per month (still less than £100 p/w). UC have adjusted my overall monthly payment to include the revised rent amount, but have reduced other elements of my claim to make up for it - in other words, I'm now effectively paying the extra £30 p/m myself because my overall payment hasn't changed at all.

I've queried this through my UC Journal but the replies have been contradictory and unhelpful. This was the last response I got a few days ago:

"This is due to that your Transitional Protection element has decreased due to the increase of your housing element.

As per your latest statment;

Your transitional protection payments have been decreased.
This is because you are now being paid more Universal Credit.

This is per policy of Universal Credit. Your payments have been calculated correctly."

To me, this is just gobbledegook, and I wonder if anyone else is in my position of having reported a rent increase, only to find that other elements of their claim have been reduced to allow for this?

Any replies would be gratefully received.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

I assume you loved to UC from a legacy benefit? You received a transitional protection element so you weren't worse off, that has now decreased or been removed.

Moved not loved, Mumsnet needs an edit post function

Hi.

Thanks for the fast reply.

Yes, I receive Transitional Protection, although since being forced to move over to UC, I am £100 per month worse off, compared to before. But maybe that's another story.

My main issue is that I don't see what Transitional Protection has to do with my rent going up. Surely, the Housing Element of my claim is separate from the other elements? I mean, if you're receiving Housing Benefit, as well as Jobseekers' Allowance, it wouldn't be the case that your JA would go down if your HB went up.

As waiting for summer says it sounds as if you've migrated to UC from a legacy benefit like ESA or Income Support and were receiving a premium or premiums within that award that are not replicated in UC. Could be the Severe Disability Premium if you moved voluntarily or one or more of others if your move was dictated by DWP under managed migration.

When that happens a 'Transitional Element' (TE) is added to your UC so that, initially, you're no worse off. However, as the other parts of your award go up either for changes or annual increases, the TE decreases by the same amount. You are, long term, worse off on UC than on legacy but the pain is spread out over time.

UC is an all in one benefit, there are no separate elements. You have a personal allowance, a child element (if appropriate) and a housing element. I'm not certain how the transitional protection works but I imagine you received an additional element that has now been reduced in line with other UC claimants. I think the personal element is around £350, then there will be your rent element. If you work then the amount you receive will be reduced in line with your salary.

Thanks, but I can't get my head around how this can be right. If my rent were being paid by UC directly to my landlord (instead of coming to me first), this would mean that I would now be receiving less money than before.

Yes, of course, if working and your salary goes up, then your rent element would go down. This is common sense.

I'm really trying to find out if other people here have experienced this themselves since April. I can't find the specific, relevant UC rules about this online.

Universal Credit is a single award based on a Standard Allowance for living expenses with further elements added for Ill Health/Disability, Children, liability to pay rent etc.

Any reductions, whether for advances, debt or erosion of a TA come off the whole monthly sum however it's made up.

Advisers are deluged with queries over TAs right now. Given (a) the large inflation increase in April and (b) increasing numbers of people on managed migration it's really hitting people, and in number too, from now on.

Thanks. I do get the TE, but since being forced into changing to UC, I have been £100 per month worse off than before. Currently, that's over £1000 and counting. That's another story.

I hope someone will be able to explain to me why a rent increase must be deducted from other elements of your claim.

As I quoted in my first post, UC's last message to me was contradictory and confusing.

Saying that UC isn't made up of elements and then going on to list the elements it's comprised of, isn't particularly helpful. And then you go on to say you don't know about the transition payments and just take a guess anyway.

Why do people bother posting like this?

Because you LHA won't have changed whether your rent has increased or not. I don't think they've gone up for a while. Your UC claim will only include the LHA, it is all in one pot and UC has gone up as a whole, so the amount that was being protected will be less to accommodate that. I hope that makes sense!?

That makes sense, sadly.

I was reading similar in a work bulletin.

It's a very cynical and flimsy policy, isn't it? Not much real protection in it.

I apologise if my wording was confusing, however UC is an all in one benefit made up of elements, they are not 'seoarate' elements like housing benefit, JSA etc were.
I know how transitional protection worked in my case but it may be different depending on individual circumstances.
Personally I think the messages OP has received from UC are clear but I can see why it seems unfair that rent goes up but UC doesn't. My rent also increased but UC didn't, I understood why.

I apologise if my wording was confusing, however UC is an all in one benefit made up of elements, they are not 'seoarate' elements like housing benefit, JSA etc were.

I think OP knows that. She's looking at her online calculation.

Thanks.
SummerBreeze75 says there are no separate elements, while you are saying there are. I agree with you that there are.

But this not a reduction, it's a rent increase, although I think I know what you mean. Could you please possibly post a link to the UC rules surrounding rent increases adversely impacting your entitlements?

I used the JSA/Housing Benefit analogy, above. I don't see why UC should be deliberately and oppositely unfair in effectively saying that my rent increase is now down to me to pay.

Page 6 of this OP.

One thing I will give this log credit for is making more and more technical and legal stuff available online.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2022/752/pdfs/uksiem202207522_en.pdf

OP literally says 'surely the Housing element of my claim is separate from the other elements' in the second post 😀

OP literally says 'surely the Housing element of my claim is separate from the other elements' in the second post

I think she meant "considered or calculated discretely". She knows it's not paid separately.

The way the system is treating you @balloons4ever is grossly unfair. However, I think the system is working as intended. Without getting political it does seem like systemic cruelty to let additional allowances be eroded in this way but that's how the system works.

Just to cover one other point, who is your landlord? A council/HA or private?

Hi. I don't receive LHA. I didn't think Transitional Protection had anything to do with Housing Costs?

Sorry, @balloons4ever you're clear in the OP that you're in HA property.

That means LHA, which sets a ceiling for private renters, is not in play.

As long as you've only as many bedrooms as the rules say you need your full rent is eligible. However the fact you're on a 'mark time' monthly amount until the TA is totally eroded the outcome is that you're worse off.

Yes, that's what I meant, more or less!

Thank you for your other supportive posts, as well as that DWP link. I shall read it shortly.

Transitional protection is something the government were forced to introduce (wasn't part of their original plan)
They made it so initially you aren't worse off but then, due to inflation and rent increases, you will be back to where you would have started had transitional protection not existed. It's a fucking scandal imo.

But individual claimants with elements changing at different times/some people not picking up on it like you have means the government don't get the bad press it otherwise would have done.

Thank you, ThreeFeetTall.

I'm much worse off than before, mainly because I was receiving certain disability benefits which don't exist under UC, so they disappeared overnight.

The government has lost (badly), several High Court cases over the fact that hundreds of thousands of people are worse off under UC. And the judgements handed down were damning. Unfortunately however, no court can order a government to do anything. The DWP have been saying for years that they will eventually address the problem, but so far, there's no sign of anything happening.

Thank you, especially for your last paragraph.

Also, my apologies for calling you SummerBreeze75 earlier!