Pension credit and housing benefit

Here only one bedroom is considered ,

. It depends on whether she is on the savings credit or guarantee level of Pension Credit. If she is having her pension made up to the minimum income of £163 a week or is paid the extra going to those with incomes just over that amount.

She should get most of her rent paid, in some areas, all if she is on basic rate, in some areas.

Regardless of the rent, if she rents a 2 bedroomed property she will have to pay the bedroom tax.

She should visit her local Age Uk. They will have an information section that can do an income check and give her a good idea how much she is entitled to.

lemondrizzle As I understand it, it varies considerably from one council to the next. I am in an area where the cost of even a one bedroomed flat may exceed the limit. If it was two bedrooms an adjustment would be made for the 'extra bedroom' also. I think having two bedrooms would not enable FULL housing benefit no matter where you are... but could be wrong.... ask CAB? or just put in an application and see what they say?

Oh ok, thanks, i'll pass it on to her. I don't think she'd thought about bedroom tax.

I thought 'bedroom tax' didn't currently apply to pensioners.

Thank you MamaCaz i've just googled and you're right, it doesn't apply to pensioners.

Our Local council has rules about applying for what used to be termed as "Council houses" we are in Lancashire.

Just for example my dd has 2 boys one aged nearly 12 yrs the other aged 3 n half...she is not! allowed to apply for a 3 bedroom council property, even though she is classed as working full time and would be able to pay the bedroom tax. So the boys have to share.

The only way she could do is private renting.

So in our area a pensioner would not be able to apply for a 2 bed property. Not sure about the pension credit situation.

If she rents privately (ie not acouncil house) she will be limited to the local area housing allowance or LHA this is the figure which each LA (local authority) uses as “typical” rent for a property of each size, these vary according to the area. As a pensioner she is entitled to the maximum available HB (housing benefit) if she is on pension credit guarantee, this is because she will be living on the minimum income that the Govt believes a single pensioner should be on. However this does not mean that all her rent would be covered eg
Rent for flat is £100pw
LHA pays up to £90pw
Pensioner on guaranteed credit gets max HB of £90pw
Shortfall she must pay is £10pw
Either Citizens Advice or Age Concern will be able to help her apply and make sure she receives the correct amount.

Your friend could be advised to apply for LA housing and having a benefits check done at the same time by one of the housing officers they are very helpful and remind her to mention any social reasons she has such as medical problems it may help with her application and give her extra points.
Age UK will also do a benefits check for her and point her in the right direction for Social Housing,it is far better to try for Social Housing than private rental as private landlords can ask for their property to be vacated if they decided to sell the property,Social Housing is far more permanent for her.

Agreed that she should go to Housing needs department at her local council, and ask for housing. as a pensioner she is automatically priority need for housing allocation, and may find she gets a property much quicker than she expects.

Thanks everyone.