Changes to housing benefit from April 2011
The changes affect those tenants already receiving housing benefit or making a new claim on or after 1 April 2011 under the local housing allowance (LHA) scheme. Most of the changes may mean that the amount of housing benefit tenants receive may go down.
The main changes
From 1 April 2011 the government made the following changes:
- end the maximum £15 weekly housing benefit excess that some customers can receive under the local housing allowance arrangements
- remove the 5 bedroom local housing allowance rate so that the maximum level is a 4 bedroom property
- reduce all local housing allowance rates so that about 3 in 10 properties for rent in the area should be affordable to people on housing benefit rather than every 5 in 10 properties as now.
Follow the link below for questions and answers aimed to explain in more detail how the changes are likely to affect housing benefit entitlement.
Our newsletter for landlords gives details on the many changes to housing benefit from April 2011 (follow the link below for details).
Date Updated: 12/05/11
Downloads:
File name | Summary | File size / Download time | File Format |
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Questions and answers to changes to housing benefit from 1 April 2011 | This gives detailed answers to questions about changes to housing benefit from 1 April 2011. | 23KB
56Kbps Modem: Less than 1 Minute
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Landlord Newsletter | Newsletter for landlords which includes changes to housing benefit from April 2011. | 67KB
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Broadband : Less than 1 Minute |
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