Help with Housing Costs Volume 1: Guide to Universal Credit and Council Tax Rebates 2019-2020

Volume 1 sets out the basic qualifying conditions for entitlement to universal credit and provides a more detailed explanation of the rules that relate to the housing costs element for renters, as well as the rules for homeowners to quality for a mortgage interest loan.

This sixth edition of Volume 1 (which accompanies the long-established bestselling Guide to Housing Benefit) includes chapters on:

• the basic qualifying conditions for universal credit (UC) and how to make a claim for it
• how and when claimants on legacy benefits (including housing benefit) can be transferred onto UC, and if they are whether they qualify for transitional protection
• eligible rent and service charges in UC for private and social renters
• the benefit cap and size criteria rules, including exemptions
• how UC is calculated, including the detailed rules about the housing costs element, housing cost contributions for non-dependants, and how the two child limit works for the child element
• how and when UC payments are made - including when the housing costs element can be paid directly to the landlord with variations in Scotland and Northern Ireland
• how council tax and rate rebates are calculated, including how local councils in England and Wales can vary these rules
• how to appeal a decision about universal credit, council tax rebate or rate rebate
• the detailed rules for migrants and recent arrivals for universal credit, council tax rebate and housing benefit (including any changes arising as a result of Brexit).