The Regulations were introduced to restrict the housing costs element of Universal Credit for new claimants aged between 18 and 21 years old, in an attempt to reduce the amount of taxpayers’ money paid towards housing costs. Unless an exemption applied then an 18 to 21 year old Universal Credit claimant would be unable to claim assistance with their rent. This led to many landlords refusing lets to 18 to 21 year olds and also resulted in young Universal Credit eligible claimants having to consider if they truly could afford to live independently without any welfare state assistance with their rent costs.
The U-turn by the Government means that 18 to 21 year olds will no longer need to satisfy any of the additional requirements to be eligible to make a claim to assist them with their housing costs. Landlords will also be relieved to know that they can let to tenants aged 18 to 21 years old who will be eligible and will be able to afford to rent as a result of receiving assistance with the housing costs element of Universal Credit.
Do note that welfare benefit claimants must still satisfy the general eligibility benefit to claim Universal Credit and the benefit cap still applies so any claimant who does not satisfy the requirements or is already receiving the limit, may not be entitled to assistance with the housing costs element.
If you have any queries regarding the above then please contact Zishaan Saleem or Jonathan Cox.
September marks the end of summer, the start of a new school year and the release of this quarter’s company secretary update.
On 17 September 2018 HMRC produced their updated guidance on approaching the self-review under the Social Care Compliance Scheme. Here are the headlines.
Researchers at University College London have identified new technology that will assist doctors to assess brain damage in newborn babies.
The GDPR and DPA 2018 have already been in force for nearly four months. Here we talk through some of the key learnings since May.
On Friday 17 August 2018 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) issued a further update to social care providers in the Social Care Compliance Scheme (SCCS).
We finally have the Social Housing Green Paper ‘A new deal for social housing’. It’s been a long time coming, so was it worth the wait?
The Government has published its’ response to two consultations on the funding of supported housing, stating that for now, there will be no change to the current systems in place.
In a landmark case, the High Court gave the first reported ruling on parental responsibility to supervise a child who is involved in a road traffic accident caused by another person.
Join Olwen Dutton, Matthew Gregson and Alex Lawrence in our latest webinar to discuss the decision in R (Harvey) v Ledbury Town Council.
A significant Court of Appeal ruling on the Equality Act 2010 and proportionality defences in relation to warrant suspension applications.
To receive invitations to our events, as well as information and articles on legal issues and sector developments that are of interest to you, please sign up to Newsroom.