About this guidance and contents
Published 21 April 2021
© Crown copyright 2021
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/housing-benefit-subsidy-guidance-manual-2020-to-2021/about-this-guidance-and-contents
Amendment 15
To:
All holders of the Housing Benefit (HB) Subsidy Guidance Manual.
Subject:
Amendment 15 to the HB Subsidy Guidance Manual.
Content:
This amendment gives details of the subsidy arrangements for the relevant year.
Action:
This is a full reprint of the HB Subsidy Guidance Manual. It is being published on the GOV.UK website.
The first year for which this manual should be used when claiming subsidy is 2020 to 2021 and is referred to in this manual as the ‘relevant year’.
Record of amendments
- Amendments are serially numbered so that holders can check they have received the full series.
- Incorporate amendments immediately and record that you have done so below.
| Serial number | Initials | Date | Serial number | Initials | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Incorporated | Dec 05 | 19 | ||
| 2 | Incorporated | Oct 06 | 20 | ||
| 3 | Incorporated | Feb 08 | 21 | ||
| 4 | Incorporated | Apr 09 | 22 | ||
| 5 | Incorporated | May 10 | 23 | ||
| 6 | Incorporated | Feb 11 | 24 | ||
| 7 | Incorporated | Mar 12 | 25 | ||
| 8 | Incorporated | Mar 13 | 26 | ||
| 9 | Incorporated | Mar 14 | 27 | ||
| 10 | Incorporated | Mar 15 | 28 | ||
| 11 | Incorporated | Apr 16 | 29 | ||
| 12 | Incorporated | Mar 17 | 30 | ||
| 13 | Incorporated | Mar 18 | 31 | ||
| 14 | Incorporated | Mar 19 | 32 | ||
| 15 | Incorporated | Mar 21 | 33 | ||
| 16 | 34 | ||||
| 17 | 35 | ||||
| 18 | 36 |
Abbreviations
| ADMIN | Administrative |
| ASHE | Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings |
| B+B | Board and Lodgings |
| BRMA | Broad Rental Market Area |
| CRR | Claim Related Rent |
| CTB | Council Tax Benefit |
| DCLG | Department for Communities and Local Government |
| DRI | Disproportionate Rent Increase |
| DWP | Department for Work and Pensions |
| EP | Extended Payments |
| ESA | Employment and Support Allowance |
| ESA(C) | Employment and Support Allowance Contributory Based |
| ESA(IB) | Employment and Support Allowance Income Based |
| HA | Housing Association |
| HAL | Housing Association Leasing |
| HAMA | Housing Association Managing Agents |
| HAT | Housing Action Trust |
| HB | Housing Benefit |
| HMRC | Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs |
| HRA | Housing Revenue Account |
| HRAS | Housing Revenue Account Subsidy |
| IB | Incapacity Benefit |
| IOW | In and Out of Work |
| IRL | Indicative Rent Level |
| IS | Income Support |
| JSA(IB) | Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance |
| LA | Local Authority |
| LAA | Local Authority Association |
| LCA | Labour Cost Adjustment |
| LHA | Local Housing Allowance |
| MHCLG | Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government |
| PoA | Payment on Account |
| RCA | Rates Cost Adjustment |
| RSL | Registered Social Landlord |
| SDA | Severe Disablement Allowance |
| SHBE | Single Housing Benefit Extract |
| VOA | Valuation Office Agency |
| WG | Welsh Government |
About this manual
Background
1. From 2010 to 2011 the Subsidy Guidance Manual changed to a different format to previous editions.
2. In the past each edition was written for a specific year. This edition is generic and can be used for any year from 2010 to 2011 until 31 March 2022. ‘The relevant year’ means the year for which subsidy is being claimed.
3. Some parts of the manual do refer to a specific year, for example, Appendix A, and this is noted.
4. In future the only parts of the manual that will be updated will be those where there has been a change in policy or there is a need to refer to a specific year.
5. The Subsidy Guidance Manual amendments will be available at GOV.UK.
What this manual contains
6. This manual details the subsidies the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will pay Local Authorities (LAs) for certain costs of Housing Benefit (HB).
7. This guidance covers subsidies for:
- benefit costs
- administration costs
8. This manual is also supported by:
- several appendices
- a key word index
Cross references
9. Whenever possible all main guidance for a particular issue is contained in the same section. Sometimes you will be referred to another part of the manual or another document for further related information, rather than repeating that same information.
Language of the manual
10. Some ordinary words and phrases have been used within the manual with a specific meaning to aid ease of reading and understanding. These words and phrases are:
- ‘you’ is used to mean the person within the local authority making the decision
- ‘home’ or ‘accommodation’ is used rather than ‘dwelling they occupy as their home’
- ‘authority’ or ‘authorities’ is used to denote authorities’ responsibilities especially if talking about the administration arrangements within an authority
Queries
11. If you have any queries concerning the content of this manual, contact details are given at the end of each subject
12-99
Contents
Section 1: Introduction
Section 2: Benefit costs
Benefit costs
Qualifying expenditure
Queries
Section 3: Backdating
Backdated claims
Completion of the subsidy claim form
Claims from persons of Pension Credit age
Queries
Section 4: Overpayments
Overpaid benefit
The treatment of overpayments on the subsidy claim form
Current year overpayments
Prior year overpayments
LA error/Admin delay thresholds
Backdated payments and overpayments
Underlying entitlement
Calculating change of address overpayments
Netting spanning two financial years
HB paid to Crown tenants
Duplicate payments
Universal Credit
Queries
Section 5: Disproportionate rent increase rule (Scottish and Welsh authorities only)
Disproportionate increases in rents rebated through HB
Exemption categories
Category (A) – open and transparent rent-setting policies
Category (B) – rents increased by a common percentage
The DRI calculation
Definitions
Queries
Section 6: Temporary accommodation
Subsidy rules from April 2017
Subsidy changes applicable from 1 April 2017
Subsidy under the scheme
Upper subsidy caps
Self-contained accommodation
The LHA rate for the size of the property
Number of bedrooms
Subsidy for board and lodging (B&B) and non self-contained (licensed) accommodation
Subsidy for leased and other self-contained (licensed) accommodation
Claiming subsidy
Audit requirements
Queries
Section 7: Rent allowances
Introduction
Rent allowance cases
Regulated tenancies
Subsidy and regulated tenancies
The eligible rent – the pre-1996 rules (old scheme cases)
Continuously entitled to benefit
Exempt accommodation
Calculation of subsidy in pre-1996 cases
Rates of subsidy for pre-1996 cases
Maximum rent cases (new scheme cases)
Subsidy in maximum rent cases
Registered Social Landlord cases
Rent officer referrals in respect of RSL tenancies
Subsidy in RSL cases
Local Housing Allowance cases
Cases exempt from the LHA rules
Subsidy in LHA cases
Referral to the rent officer
Referral to the officer in certain Housing Association schemes
Further applications for rent officer determinations
Re-determinations
Supply of rent officer information to claimants
Failure to refer relevant cases to the rent officer
Transfer of housing authority stock to the private sector
Representative cases in hostels
Hostel cases – tenancies entered into before 2/15 January 1989
Joint tenancies
Sub-tenancies
Payments on account and indicative rent levels (IRL)
Overpayment recovery action
Subsidy in payment on account and IRL cases
Queries
Section 8: Expenditure not to be included as qualifying expenditure because it does not attract subsidy
Introduction
Differential rent schemes (The modular improvement rule)
Rent-free weeks and credits
Awards to tenants
Prior year overpayments
Recovered overpayments resulting from payments on account
Uncashed payments of HB
Queries
Modified schemes
Benefit awards to war pensioners or war widows/widowers
Additional subsidies to LAs operating a discretionary local scheme
Queries
Section 9: Rent rebate subsidy limitation
Introduction
Data collection
Action where properties fall under the new rent standards In England
Average weekly rent (Q)
Rent rebate subsidy limitation calculations for LAs in Wales
Subsidy limitation rent calculation
Calculation of Q
Amount of deduction from subsidy
Legislation
Derogations
Queries
Section 10: Administration costs
Introduction
Details of the DWP Administration subsidy distribution in the relevant year
Universal Credit roll out
Distribution methodology
Details of the DWP additional administration subsidy distribution in the relevant year
Payment of subsidy
Queries
Section 11: In-year instalments of subsidy and payments of subsidy
In-year instalments of subsidy
Payments of subsidy
Queries
Section 12: Extended payments of HB
Extended payments
Subsidy for extended payments
Subsidy for overpayments of extended payments
Queries
Section 13: Expenditure attracting full rate subsidy not separately identified elsewhere on the claim form
Introduction
Cell 023 – England and Wales
Cell 023 – Scotland
Cell 061 – England and Wales only
Cell 110
Queries
Appendices
Appendix A: Summary of 2021 to 2022 benefit subsidy arrangements
Appendix B: Effective dates of rent officers’ determination
Appendix C: Subsidy arrangements for hostel accommodation
Appendix D: Administration Subsidy distribution for 2021 to 2022
Appendix E: Weekly limit rents for LAs in England 2021 to 2022
Appendix F: Amounts for rent rebate subsidy deduction calculation for LAs in Wales 2021 to 2022
Appendix G: Subsidy arrangements for Temporary Accommodation