DHP: Childs DLA included in income?

[Wylderose]

I note that you state the additional room you have is used as your son’s sensory room, therefore as this room is used for his disability it is reasonable to expect you contribute towards this through his Disability Living Allowance.

The sentence about the room set aside specifically for your son - his sensory room - is out of order.

Whilst certain aspects of a person's care can be reasonably expected to be offset against the care component of DLA, there is caselaw that deems it unlawful for a Local Authority to expect that you pay for the rent shortfall from DLA

http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2015/890.html

I don't know if you have more than one child, but from the letter you posted, you certainly have a spare room.

If your son, by virtue of his age is expected to share with a sibling, you would be able to apply for an extra room within your LHA assessment for him if he receives the middle or higher rate of care, which I suspect he does from the amount of DLA you are quoting.

Your council will have the requisite forms for you to complete, supported by corroborative evidence from your Doctor.

You may also find this ruling useful

https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/judgmen...work-pensions/ (Courts and Tribunals decision on SSSC, DLA and Room allocations for the disabled)

[justmum80]

That's fantastic Wylderose, thank you. I am going to read through it for the relevant bits and include it in my email back to the council.

I am going to write the email and send the bank statements this evening when I have the time.

I have also received an email response from my Local MP's Senior Parliamentary Assistant who is very helpful and has said that she is happy to email as well to reinforce my points.

I will continue to keep this thread updated. I truly appreciate the help I am receiving here.

Edit: I just wanted to add that my Son is on middle rate care DLA and he is my only child, we have one spare room that is used as a sensory room for him.

[Wylderose]

I have checked through the Caselaw and cannot find any examples of a room being awarded within an HBen assessment for a child's equipment or in your case your son's sensory needs.

However because you have a spare room and only one child you would not fall under the new HB Ruling of April 2017 which allows a spare room due to inability to share because of disability.

Do you by any chance have a "Respite carer" who comes in to give you a break on any sort of regular basis? If so you could legitimately apply for a spare room for a Carer. Other than that you are back to obtaining medical evidence to support a DHP application.

[justmum80]

I have checked through the Caselaw and cannot find any examples of a room being awarded within an HBen assessment for a child's equipment or in your case your son's sensory needs.

However because you have a spare room and only one child you would not fall under the new HB Ruling of April 2017 which allows a spare room due to inability to share because of disability.

Do you by any chance have a "Respite carer" who comes in to give you a break on any sort of regular basis? If so you could legitimately apply for a spare room for a Carer. Other than that you are back to obtaining medical evidence to support a DHP application.

My Mum often has my Son over the weekends to give me a break, do you think that would count maybe?

[Wylderose]

To count as requiring overnight care your son needs to be regularly receiving ** "regular" overnight care ** from a carer who doesn’t live with you, and the carer needs to be provided with the use of an additional bedroom (over and above those in your Housing Benefit assessment). You have to have an additional bedroom that can be used.

Also, you would need to satisfy the local council that there is a reasonable requirement for overnight care exists and that because of his care needs, your son receives one of the following conditions:the person who needs the care, (in this case your son)

• the middle or the higher rate of the care component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
• you need to provide the local council with sufficient certificates, documents, information or evidence from your GP/hospital to satisfy it that overnight care is required

** There is no hard and fast ruling on what constitutes "regular" ** - this has not been defined and the test for whether someone requires "regular" overnight care is if the need for the care arises often and steadily enough to require that a bedroom be kept for this purpose.

So to answer your question, If your mum stops at your house to provide respite care most weekends, then you should qualify. If however your son goes to stay with your mum instead then it would be unlikely that you would get the room counted in your assessment.

[justmum80]

I received a response:

Dear Miss (Justmum80)

I can confirm receipt of your e-mail of 17/02/18.

Thank you for providing the bank statements for December 2017 and January 2018.

I note that you have not detailed any further expenditure in your e-mail.

Should we disregard the DLA you receive for your son, the expenditure you have declared does not illustrate any shortfall between your income and expenditure.

On checking the bank statements provided I note that you have not yet paid any utility bills- electric, gas and water. Please can you clarify if the expenditure stated was an estimate – as the actual bills may be higher.

I note that your payments of Housing Benefit are immediately transferred to your mother, please can you clarify if your mother is managing the rental payments for you and provide any documentary evidence of your rent being paid to your landlord.

Once I have a response to these issues I will be able to reconsider your DHP application.

Yours sincerely

Andrew Carney


I did not provide a detailed expenditure form, he's right, but I will do that today. I do transfer the money to my Mums bank account and she pays the rent to him via her account (This may be unusual but it's for the simple reason that my Mum helped me toward the deposit and she made the first payment to my Landlord, so his details are already attached to her bank, she pays the rent via her account each month using my name as a reference) I can prove that my Mum pays my landlord via her bank, but having to send my Mums bank statements as proof of this does seem a bit much, but my Mum is happy to do so if needed.

[justmum80]

I emailed back with a more detailed expenditure form and also confirmed that my Mum transfers my Landlord the rent via her bank account. I asked him if he was requesting my Mothers bank statements as proof of that.

This is the response I have received this morning:



Miss (Justmum80)

Would it be possible to come and visit you at home on either Monday or Thursday next week.

I think it would be easier to discuss these issues face to face to reach a resolution.

Please email me or call me to arrange a convenient time.

Regards

Andrew Carney


Any thoughts on this? I must admit that I am not comfortable with him coming to my home.

[justmum80]

Another quick update.

Last night I emailed back my Mothers bank statements, my tenancy agreement and a detailed expenditure of my Sons DLA.

I am just waiting to hear the outcome now as he has had everything that he had requested.

Also, I heard back from my local Councillor this morning who says that he is more than happy to help me if it is needed.

I will update here again with what happens next.

[justmum80]

I have good news.

I have been awarded £50 per week in DHP, this will be backdated until December 2nd, and paid until June the 1st. I am over the moon as this is an enormous weight off of my mind and I would like to thank you all here for your advice with this.

I wanted to ask a bit more advice too. I have also been told in the award letter than if I should choose to renew my tenancy agreement in June, then this would be my choice and that I would no longer be able to ask for assistance from DHP. Would being in this position help me in my case for Council Housing?

Thank you again everybody.

[enaid]

Oh a massive well done for sticking with it and getting a very good result.
As for social housing I would try and go for medical rather than financial reasons for an application that may or should put you further up the bidding order

[Wylderose]

I have good news.

I wanted to ask a bit more advice too. I have also been told in the award letter than if I should choose to renew my tenancy agreement in June, then this would be my choice and that I would no longer be able to ask for assistance from DHP. Would being in this position help me in my case for Council Housing?

Thank you again everybody.

Congratulations on getting a result from your council, but unless you can prove that you require a room for an overnight carer, you will likely find yourself having to foot the cost in future.

As to no longer being able to receive a future DHP, no this would not help you to get council housing.

You would still be subject to the Social Sector Size Criteria and as such being a single parent with a single child could only reasonably expect to be allowed a 2 bed property. But with the right backing from your doctors you would be more likely to obtain council housing due to disability needs than a parent without a disabled child.

[justmum80]

Thank you both :-)

I don't think it will be too difficult proving that I need my Mum to stay sometimes as an overnight carer.

My Mum will usually sleep in my bed (I go to her house for rest bite whilst she is staying here) so the spare room is currently used as a sensory room, but there is no reason that is can't be both, as it would be nice for my mum to have her own bed here anyway, it being a sensory room won't prevent us from putting a bed/chest of drawers in it for my Mum. The trouble is, will the council agree that it can be both and how do I even get the ball rolling on this?

[justmum80]

Another quick update:

I contacted the welfare reform officers at ABC. A very helpful Lady got back to me this morning and informed me that if I write to the council and explain that the 3rd bedroom is used by my Mum to provide me respite care for my Son, then they should automatically update my housing benefit claim to the 3 bedroom rate.

I am going to get that letter sorted this evening,posted off tomorrow and will update again with what happens next.

Justmum80 x

[justmum80]

Another update, ABC have said that I need a Doctor to confirm that my Son has complex overnight needs and that respite care is necessary, I have requested that from the Doctor and I am waiting for his response, when the council have seen that, they want to visit my home and check to see if the bedroom qualifies (confusing, but that's what they say).

After these 2 things are done they say they will be happy to recalculate and backdate the claim, however I will have to payback the DHP. I am a bit worried that this will end up with me owing them money, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

[Wylderose]

Another update, ABC have said that I need a Doctor to confirm that my Son has complex overnight needs and that respite care is necessary, I have requested that from the Doctor and I am waiting for his response, when the council have seen that, they want to visit my home and check to see if the bedroom qualifies (confusing, but that's what they say).

If you can get this then this is a good thing for you because it will mean that the extra room is automatically awarded within your room assessment meaning that you will be entitled to the 3 bedroom rate of LHA. This may come under review from time to time but would remove the need to jump through hoops for DHP's

As for seeing that the bedroom qualifies, what they are looking for is "A bed in the bedroom that would enable the room to be used for an overnight carer". What they don't want to see is a room packed full of junk that is being used for storage or an office. They want to satisfy themselves that someone outside of the family could spend the night there

After these 2 things are done they say they will be happy to recalculate and backdate the claim, however I will have to payback the DHP. I am a bit worried that this will end up with me owing them money, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

This is a standard thing. Discretionary housing payments come out of other funding that is available to the council and is not awarded from the money allocated specifically to paying Housing Benefit. For this reason, if you are awarded an extra room in your assessment and it is backdated then two things happen.

1. Your housing benefit award is automatically updated to the 3 bedroom rate which means that you receive the 3 bed rate from the date of the backdate. This will mean that there will be an underpayment of benefit on your claim which will be released on calculation to your bank account, assuming you are the person paid on the claim.
2. The amount of the DHP that was paid plus your increased entitlement will take your housing benefit payment over the amount of the housing benefit that you are allowed to receive under the LHA regulations. This is why the DHP has to be cancelled

Local authorities are not allowed to offset DHP Overpayments against Underpayments on claims, so if you have for example £200 DHP overpayment and -£200 underpayment because of the extra room being awarded they cannot just offset one against the other even though it makes sense to do so. They have to invoice the overpaid DHP

So..... If you do get an extra room awarded, don't spend the money. Wait until the invoice arrives and pay it in full. Job done, no overpayment.