Working Out the Local
Housing Allowance
Important information
The government is making a change to the way Housing Benefit is
calculated for single people aged 25 to 34, living alone and
renting private accommodation.
Please
read about this important change to Housing Benefit, which
could affect you from 1 January 2012.
The information on this page is based on the current Housing
Benefit rules.
Which LHA rate will apply?
The one-bedroom LHA rate applies to people living
alone or living with just their partner. We explain below how to
tell whether the one-bedroom rate for shared or self-contained
accommodation applies.
The rate for two or more bedrooms depends on who lives with you. We
allow one bedroom for each of the following:
- A couple
- A single adult or young person aged 16 or over
- Two children of the same sex aged 10 to 15
- Two children of either sex aged under 10
- Any other child
For example, a couple with a son aged 6 and daughter aged 4
needs a 2-bedroom property (1 for the couple and 1 for the
children).
LHA for a bedroom in shared accommodation
This rate applies if:
- you are under 25 and live alone; or
- you are over 25, or part of a couple, and no-one else lives
with you and you only have exclusive use of one room.
There are exceptions to this. Check under the rules about the
LHA for one-bedroom self-contained accommodation in case anything
applies to you.
LHA for one-bedroom self-contained accommodation
If you are 25 or over and live alone, or if you just have
your partner living with you, we will base your benefit on the LHA
for one-bedroom self-contained accommodation if:
- you currently have exclusive use of 2 or more rooms; or
- you currently have exclusive use of 1 room, a bathroom and
toilet and a kitchen or facilities for cooking.
By 'room' we mean a bedroom or room suitable for living
in.
Exceptions to the rules about shared
accommodation
In some cases, people who would normally get the LHA rate for
shared accommodation may get the self-contained rate instead. This
affects:
- people under 25 and living alone;
- couples, or people over 25, with no-one living with them who
have exclusive use of only one room.
People in these groups will attract the LHA rate for one-bedroom
self-contained accommodation if:
- the claimant, and their partner if they have one, counts as
severely disabled under the Housing Benefit rules;
- the claimant or a partner is under 22 and had, at some time,
been subject to a care order since age 16; or
- the claimant or their partner had previously been accommodated
by Social Services.