Can someone help me with LHA rates pls?!

[MinnieTruck]

This may sound like a silly question but I’m so bad at maths. I’ve come across a few formulas online but I keep on getting different answers!

If I have a LHA of £448.77 per week, how much would that be each month? My mind says £448.77 x 4 = 1795.08 but I know that’s wrong because there isn’t always 4 weeks in a month.

Can someone pls tell me the correct way to do the maths? I’m hoping to move in a few months time and it’d be helpful to understand the monthly UC amount that I would get each month and whether I’d need to top it up or not

I'm not sure how it's officially counted but there are 52 weeks in a year
488.77 x 52
Then divide this answer by 12 for the 12 months in the year.

@Do88byisfree I think that was one of the calculations that I came across but didn’t think it was right as that works out to be £1944.67 a month thanks for your help! It’s good to know how to work it out

Weekly LHA *52/12 is as good you need. Professional tools sometimes vary from that but only by a penny or two.

@Bromptotoo thank you. Maths always messes with my head so good to know the calculation is actually quite simple to remember!

One of the things that can affect the monthly figure is if you're in social housing and get some rent free weeks. The calculation would then be weekly rent x number of weeks rent due divided by 12.

@trickortrickier I’m sure LHA is only for those renting from private landlords. Social housing isn’t impacted unless I’ve got it wrong

@MinnieTruck I was about to make the same point. Rent free weeks are, or certainly used to be, pretty common in Social Housing. Never seen a private letting with them.

I seem to recall that either last year or this was odd becuase there was an extra rent week.

A couple of things to consider:

• LHA varies by postcode so be careful not to underestimate how much the rent would be or overestimate how much UC would pay towards it
• if the benefit cap would apply (especially with high rent)
• make sure the number of bedrooms is correct so you aren’t affected by the cap

@Bromptotoo yeah I always thought LHA rates is to do with private rental properties only.

@IDoLikeToBeByTheSea yep, got all of that thank you. I just needed help working out the monthly amount because I had no clue how to do it😅