Housing Benefit is changing from 1 April 2013 for people who rent from a social sector landlord.

 The Welfare Reform Act 2012 announced that the current rules for the size of accommodation that Housing Benefit will cover in the private rented sector will be applied to working age tenants renting in the social sector.
From April 2013 all current and future working age tenants renting from a local authority, housing association or other registered social landlord will receive Housing Benefit based on the need of their household.
The size criteria allows one bedroom for each person or couple living as part of the household with the following exceptions:

• Children under 16 of the same gender are expected to share
• Children under 10 are expected to share regardless of gender
• A disabled tenant or partner who needs a non-resident overnight carer will be allowed an extra room.

This means those tenants whose accommodation is larger than they need may lose part of their Housing Benefit. Those with one spare bedroom will lose 14 per cent of their Housing Benefit and those with two or more spare bedrooms will lose 25 per cent. For further information please click here.

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