Your benefits
are changing
Find out how you
may be affected
Are you affected?
The government is making changes to the welfare benefit system
as part of the 2012 Welfare Reform Act.
These changes may affect how much benefit, including housing
benefit, you receive.
This leaflet is designed to help you find out if you are affected and
where you can go to get help and advice.
Benefit cap
The government have decided that
households where people are out
of work should not receive more
money in benefits than the average
salary. As a result of this, from April
2013, all out of work households
of working age will see their total
household benefit entitlement
capped.
Even though the caps do not come
into effect until April 2013, it is
important to be aware of them now.
If the cap affects you, your total
household income may go down in
April 2013, so you may need to plan
for this change.
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The level of the cap will be:
•£500 a week for a couple, with
or without dependent children,
or a lone parent
•£350 a week if you are a single
person, or if you have children
who don’t live with you the
majority of the time
The new cap does not make any
allowances for the number of
children within a household.
How will the cap work?
If you currently receive any of the
following benefits and you are not
in work, the cap may affect your
household, and your total income
may go down.
• Bereavement allowance
• Carer’s allowance
• Child benefit
• Child tax credit
•Employment and support
allowance (unless you get the
support component)
• Guardian’s allowance
• Housing benefit
• Incapacity benefit
• Income support
• Jobseeker’s allowance
• Maternity allowance
• Severe disablement allowance
•Widowed parent’s allowance (or
widowed mother’s allowance or
widow’s pension if you started
receiving it before 9 April 2001).
How will it affect you?
If you are already receiving any of
the above benefits the Department
for Work and Pensions (DWP) may
contact you as your household may
might be affected. They will let you
know what may happen to your
benefits. They have created a useful
online calculator which looks at your
personal circumstances and lets you
know how the new rules will affect
the amount of benefit you receive:
www.gov.uk/benefit-cap
Who is exempt?
Any household where the claimant,
claimant’s partner, or dependant
receives:
•Working tax credit
•Disability living allowance
(personal independence payment
from April 2013)
• Attendance allowance
• Constant attendance allowance
• War widows allowance
•Industrial injuries benefit (and
equivalent payments as part of
a war disablement pension, or
the armed forces compensation
scheme)
•The support component of
employment support allowance.
If you have been working for 12
months or more and lose your job
through no fault of your own, the
cap will not apply for the first nine
months that you are unemployed.
What you can do
By starting work or working more
hours, you may qualify for working
tax credit, which will exempt you
from the benefits cap. You can claim
working tax credit if:
•You are a lone parent and work at
least 16 hours a week
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•You have a disability and work at
least 16 hours a week
•You have children, and you
and/or your partner work a total
of 24 hours per week
•You are over 25 and work 30
hours per week or more.
If you are seeing a Jobcentre Plus
adviser, Work Programme or Work
Choice provider, they will continue
to help you look for work and get
skills you may need for a job.
How many bedrooms do you have?
The government is introducing new
rules from April 2013 to calculate if
you are under occupying your home.
These rules may affect the level of
housing benefit your household will
receive. If you don’t meet these new
criteria you may lose some of your
housing benefit.
The new rules mean that your
housing benefit will be worked out
on one bedroom for each of the
following:
•Each adult couple or single parent
•Any other person aged 16 and
over
•Two children of the same sex
under the age of 16
•Two children who are under the
age of 10 whatever the sex
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•A person needing a separate room
because they have a disability
•A carer (or carers) providing
overnight care.
The new rules do not make
allowances for couples who
sleep apart because of a medical
condition, or for people who keep
a spare bedroom for their child’s
occasional visits.
If in your household you have one
spare bedroom under the new
rules, your benefit will be cut by
14%. If you have two or more spare
bedrooms under the new rules your
housing benefit will be cut by 25%.
If you are receiving housing benefit
your local authority will check the
number of bedrooms in your home
against the number of rooms your
household needs. The new rules do
not take into consideration the size
of the bedrooms in your home.
There are however some
exemptions. The bedroom rules will
not apply if:
•You live in supported
accommodation, where Genesis
provides or commissions care
•You are a shared ownership
resident, and rent a share of your
home from Genesis
•You live in temporary homeless
accommodation
•You are a sole tenant or a joint
tenant and you are age 61 or over.
Universal credit
The government is also introducing
universal credit, a way of simplifying
the benefits system into one single
direct payment for working age
claimants. This will happen for
all new claimants from October
2013. It is expected that all existing
claimants will be migrated over to
universal credit by October 2017. It
is important to note that universal
credit will be paid to one member
of the household. Universal credit
will be made up of the following
components:
• Working tax credit
• Child tax credit
• Housing benefit
• Income support
•Income-based jobseeker’s
allowance
•Income-related employment and
support allowance.
It will not include:
•Disability living allowance (DLA)
or
• Carer’s allowance.
Universal credit will be paid into your
bank account monthly in arrears.
Under this new system it will be
your responsibility to manage your
finances and prioritise your bills –
including your rent to Genesis every
month.
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What you can do
Get banking
In order to receive your universal
credit payment, you will need to
have a bank account before October
2013. If you are struggling to get
a bank account, you may want to
consider applying for a credit union
account. For more information on
credit unions in your area visit
www.findyourcreditunion.co.uk.
Get budgeting
There are a number of organisations
you can contact who can give
you free, confidential advice. The
Citizens Advice Bureau are a good
one stop shop for general debt and
housing related advice;
www.adviceguide.org.uk
StepChange Debt Charity (formerly
Consumer Credit Council Service)
offers free and confidential advice.
They can be contacted on 0800 138
1111.
Get online
Applications for universal credit
will need to be made online. If you
are unfamiliar with computers or
accessing the internet, it is a good
idea to learn more about this now.
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Many local libraries, community
centres and Jobcentres offer
internet or computer access if you
don’t have this at home.
Learn some extra budgeting skills
so you can manage your rent and
household bills
By managing your finances more
closely, the changes in rent may
affect you less than you think.
The Money Advice Service can
help you develop a personal
spending plan and give you advice
on bank accounts and other financial
products. Contact them at
www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk
or call 0300 500 5000.
Rent out a spare room to a lodger
A lodger could also help towards
the cost of your household bills. If
you want to consider renting out
a spare room, you will first need to
speak with your Property Manager at
Genesis.
Moving to a smaller property
Downsizing to a smaller property
can help you avoid the housing
benefit reduction. There are
often other financial benefits of
downsizing, such as cheaper
council tax and lower energy
bills. If you are interested in
downsizing, please contact us on
033 3000 3000 or email us at
[email protected]
Increasing your income
Additional or new employment can
be a great way to offset the possible
impact of the changes on your
household income. There are a
range of exemptions depending on
your personal circumstances, which
you may qualify for if you are able to
get a job, or increase your hours at
your current job.
For specific information on how you
might qualify for tax credits, you can
contact Genesis Community on
033 3000 9000 or by email at
[email protected]
for advice on employment,
enterprise and training.
Apply for a discretionary housing
payment from your local authority
A very limited amount of funds are
available for discretionary payments
from March 2013 from your local
authority. Speak to your housing
benefit department to discuss your
individual requirements.
Frequently asked questions
How can I find out if I am
affected?
How can I get advice from
Genesis?
You can find out how you
might be affected by using the
welfare reform calculator www.
welfarereformcalculator.co.uk
Contact us on 033 3000 3000
or email us at
[email protected] for
help and advice on your personal
circumstances. Visit our website
www.genesisha.org.uk for
information and web chat with
an advisor.
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If you need any part of this information in large print,
Braille, on audio tape or explained in your own
language please contact us on the number below.
Albanian
Arabic
Bengali
Farsi
French
Somali
033 3000 3000
Turkish
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Dec 2012
[email protected]
www.genesisha.org.uk
Welfare Reform