Temporary Accomodation Subsidy 2010-11
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November 17, 2009 at 2:27 pm #33796
fionacowan
ParticipantHi – having seen the subsidy guidance notes this year which referred to the changing from cap and threshhold to LHA rates for temporary accomodation, i thought i had my head round it and the only impact would be on subsidy claimed and in our case this is positive…. but… a query from the housing side has made me doubt!!
Can anybody confirm, or not, that the change will have no impact on the benefit paid which will still be based on eligible rent and only affect the subsidy claim.
cheers, fiona
November 17, 2009 at 4:18 pm #93970simonh
ParticipantMy understanding is that the changes purely affect the subsidy.
November 18, 2009 at 3:51 pm #93971Anonymous
GuestWell it’s not positive for us (your B&B rates must be very low) and I have made my Homelessness Section aware, in no uncertain terms, that [i:6d42edf562]their [/i:6d42edf562]policy for placing their clients is costing [i:6d42edf562]my [/i:6d42edf562]budget money
November 24, 2009 at 2:16 pm #93972Anonymous
GuestOurs don’t use B&B if they can help it.
When they do, the B&B is 20 miles away, it is one of several used as a dumping ground for “disadvantaged” LA homeless placements from all over the South-east, and last time I did jury service I got a case which shed plenty of unflattering light on the lifestyle of care-leavers exiled there by various LAs.
And for this Crime 101 course, we are paying £150 a week!
December 2, 2009 at 12:57 pm #93973Anonymous
GuestI obviously cannot see for looking….. where can the subsidy guidance notes be found on the subject of changes to subsidy rules for temp accommodation from 2010/2011.
December 9, 2009 at 11:06 am #93974bod
ParticipantLiz
I got first info on this in the DWP’s HB Direct newsletter (page 4 – issue 90 – June 2009).
There’s probably been more info since, but I’ve not stumbled across any circulars etc. yet.
December 9, 2009 at 11:16 am #93975Anonymous
GuestA thought has occurred to me. It’s an unusual occurrence so it’s a pretty lonely thought and I reckoned I would share it with you all.
The new subsidy arrangements for self contained Temporary Accommodation (TA) are tied to LHA rates for the size of the property, not the size of the household. All well and good so far; I understand it, even if I’m not happy with it. In my authority, that is going to mean the TA guys in Housing are somehow going to have to tell us how big the property is. Okay, the “somehow” we will sort out with our housing colleagues.
But, therein lies my thought. Housing pop along to Mr Landlord and say, “Hello, Mr Landlord. We would love to lease your 2 bed property for our scheme.”
Mr Landlord replies, “Okay, but see that reception room? That’s a bedroom too. And so is that storage room. So that’s a 4 bed property now.”
“Fair enough,” say Housing, “We’ll put a homeless Lone Parent and her child in there and they can claim HB to pay the rent we are going to charge.”
Our TA rates historically match the subsidy rates and I can foresee instances where the number of bedrooms will be inflated and we will be paying large amounts of benefit for small households. What I can’t foresee is anyway around this. It’s an issue because when official errors occur (and they will…) we will lose much more subsidy than we would if the subsidy rate (and therefore the rent) was tied to the size of the household.
To be fair, we made this point as part of the consultation. However, my lonely thought is thinking, “It’s not just the Landlord that can inflate the number of bedrooms…”. Gift wrapped story for the Daily Mail.
Nasty, suspicious little thought!
December 9, 2009 at 11:50 am #93976fionacowan
Participantwe got the information with the draft advance copy of the 10-11 claim form and took it from there.
December 9, 2009 at 5:28 pm #93977Anonymous
GuestDarren, you’ll notice they require a certain number of living rooms. I suppose you could make the boxroom one of those!
December 10, 2009 at 8:27 am #93978Anonymous
GuestHi Darkside,
Where is the bit about living rooms? We thought that there was something saying that there had to be a certain number of living rooms for a certain number of bedrooms but can I find it now? No, I cannot. I’m having a Homer Simpson moment; everytime something new comes into my head it pushes something else out.
December 11, 2009 at 1:48 pm #93979Anonymous
GuestIt’s on page 4 of the guidance notes that came with your 2010-11 claim form. If it went to somone else, message me and I’ll mail you a copy.
It raises as many questions as it answers – see below for better info.
December 11, 2009 at 1:52 pm #93980Anonymous
GuestCheers Darkside, thought it existed but couldn’t prove it. I will see my mates on the subsidy team. I still don’t like it though…
December 11, 2009 at 4:19 pm #93981Anonymous
GuestThe Subsidy Order and an Explanatory Note are SI 2580 in this list:
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si200925
If the award is less than the cap we get 100% of the award.
December 23, 2009 at 9:09 am #93982bod
ParticipantAlso circular S7/2009 is now available.
January 29, 2010 at 9:13 am #93983coling
ParticipantI’m probably going to regret this, but I’ll ask anyway.
Obviously the new set up will have much greater implications when it comes to ensuring tenure types are applied correctly than the old caps and threshholds, and as I’m reasonably new to the world of subsidy, I wanted to get my head round the definitions of HBB (B&B) and STL (short term leased) accommodation, to ensure the correct codes are applied etc. And yet I cannot find any straight forward definition any where.
I’ve been through the guidance, I’ve been through the SI, I’ve been through the circular and the subsidy guidance notes, and can find nothing.
Can anyone point me in the right direction?
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