ah livelife...I am really reluctant to be giving advice, just cos my knowlege is about a year out of date...am happy to tell you what I think but please double check, ok?
ok, the figure they have given you is almost certainly a guide. Part of their job is to be monitoring the housing market locally. And then deciding from this how much one could reasonably expect to pay for a flat (and then knocking a whack off, I reckon) Note that you have some scope to argue that you need to live in a particular area, and proximety to schools is a particularly good argument round here.
But also, as I said, landlords do sometimes drop the price after the council does a pre-tenancy determination, especially those catering to dss.
re dp, there are no hard and fast rules, the issue is whether he is seen to be "cohabiting" with you and thus his income ought to be taken into account/ have his own hb (and ctb!) stopped. Its a tricky one. The odd overnight stay is fine, 3/7 nights every week and I'd say you are pushing it...but there's other things as well...Its actually possible, technically, to get hb for a couple living together who maintain seperate households (eg seperate kitchen/living/bedroom arrangements-sharing a kitchen but not meals, that sort of thing. Very very tricky to argue though, mainly used ime in domestic violence situations).
Does that help? There is a CAB adviceguide somewhere...it doesn't have as much information as a CAB volunteer but I recall good feedback from clients on it. Hang on...
ps fillyjonk is after the moomintrol character, who like me secretly likes chaos, and banana eater is because I have been eating too many banana of late...I am a complusive name adjuster...