Secretary of State for Work and Pensions CH 62 2015
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Judge | Judge E. Jacobs |
| Judgment Date | 23 June 2015 |
| Neutral Citation | 2015 UKUT 360 AAC |
| Subject Matter | Housing and council tax benefits |
| Respondent | AM and Northumberland County Council (HB) |
| Court | Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber) |
| Docket Number | CH 62 2015 |
| Appellant | Secretary of State for Work and Pensions |
Decision of the Upper Tribunal
(Administrative Appeals Chamber)
As the decision of the First-tier Tribunal (made under reference SC231/14/00181) involved the making of an error in point of law, it is SET ASIDE under section 12(2)(a) and (b)(ii) of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 and the decision is RE-MADE.
The decision is: the claimant’s entitlement to housing benefit is subject to a 25% reduction under regulation B13 of the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1987 with effect from 7 April 2014.
Reasons for Decision
A. History and background- This case concerns a reduction in the claimant’s entitlement to housing benefit by 25% under regulation B13 on the basis that his home contained three bedrooms but he only required one. There is more detail is paragraph 3 below. The claimant exercised his right to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal and the First-tier Tribunal allowed his appeal, deciding at first that his entitlement was not subject to any reduction and then that it was to be reduced by only 14%
- These are the relevant provisions of the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006 (SI No 213)
2 Interpretation
(1) In these Regulations-
…
‘child’ means a person under the age of 16;
…
‘person who requires overnight care’ means a person (“P”)-
(a) who-
(i) is in receipt of attendance allowance;
(ii) is in receipt of the care component of disability living allowance at the highest or middle rate prescribed in accordance with section 72(3) of the Act;
(iia) is in receipt of the daily living component of personal independence payment in accordance with section 78 of the 2012 Act;
(iib) is in receipt of armed forces independence payment; or
(iii) although not satisfying either paragraph (i), (ii), (iia) or (iib) above has provided the relevant authority with such certificates, documents, information or evidence as are sufficient to satisfy the authority that P requires overnight care; and
(b) whom the relevant authority is satisfied reasonably requires, and has in fact arranged, that one or more people who do not occupy as their home the dwelling to which the claim or award for housing benefit relates should—
(i) be engaged in providing overnight care for P;
(ii) regularly stay overnight at the dwelling for that purpose; and
(iii) be provided with the use of a bedroom in that dwelling additional to those used by the persons who occupy the dwelling as their home,
but, in a case where P is treated as occupying a dwelling which P does not actually occupy, paragraph (b)(ii) and (iii) are to be treated as satisfied where the relevant authority is satisfied that the dwelling contains such an additional bedroom and that P did or will reasonably so require and so arrange at such time as P actually occupied or occupies the dwelling; …
B13 Determination of a maximum rent (social sector)
(1) The maximum rent (social sector) is determined in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (4).
(2) The relevant authority must determine a limited rent by-
(a) determining the amount that the claimant's eligible rent would be in accordance with regulation 12B(2) without applying regulation 12B(4) and (6);
(b) where the number of bedrooms in the dwelling exceeds the number of bedrooms to which the claimant is entitled in accordance with paragraphs (5) to (7) , reducing that amount by the appropriate percentage set out in paragraph (3); and
(c) where more than one person is liable to make payments in respect of the dwelling, apportioning the amount determined in accordance with sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) between each such person having regard to all the circumstances, in particular, the number of such persons and the proportion of rent paid by each person.
(3) The appropriate percentage is-
(a) 14% where the number of bedrooms in the dwelling exceeds by one the number of bedrooms to which the claimant is entitled; and
(b) 25% where the number of bedrooms in the dwelling exceeds by two or more the number of bedrooms to which the claimant is entitled.
(4) Where it appears to the relevant authority that in the particular circumstances of any case the limited rent is greater than it is reasonable to meet by way of housing benefit, the maximum rent (social sector) shall be such lesser sum as appears to that authority to be an appropriate rent in that particular case.
(5) The claimant is entitled to one bedroom for each of the following categories of person whom the relevant authority is satisfied occupies the claimant's dwelling as their home (and each person shall come within the first category only which is applicable)-
(a) a couple (within the meaning of Part 7 of the Act);
(b) a person who is not a child;
(ba) a child who cannot share a bedroom;
(c) two children of the same sex;
(d) two children who are less than 10 years old;
(e) a child.
(6) The claimant is entitled to one additional bedroom in any case where—
(a) a relevant person is a person who requires overnight care; or
(b) a relevant person is a qualifying parent or carer.
(7) Where-
(a) more than one sub-paragraph of paragraph (6) applies the claimant is entitled to an additional bedroom for each sub-paragraph that applies;
(b) more than one person falls within a sub-paragraph of paragraph (6) the claimant is entitled to an additional bedroom for each person falling within that sub-paragraph, except that where a person and that person's partner both fall within the same sub-paragraph the claimant is entitled to only one additional bedroom in respect of that person and that person's partner.
(8) For the purposes of determining the number of occupiers of the dwelling under paragraph (5), the relevant authority must include any member of the armed forces away on operations who-
(a) is the son, daughter, step-son or step-daughter of the claimant or the claimant's partner;
(b) was the claimant's non-dependant before they became a member of the armed forces away on operations; and
(c) intends to resume occupying the dwelling as their home when they cease to be a member of the armed forces away on operations.
(9) In this regulation ‘relevant person’ means-
(a) the claimant;
(b) the claimant's partner;
(c) a person (“P”) other than the claimant or the claimant's partner who is jointly liable with the claimant or the claimant's partner (or both) to make payments in respect of the dwelling occupied as the claimant's home;
(d) P's partner.
20 Circumstances in which a person is to be treated as responsible or not responsible for another
(1) Subject to the following provisions of this regulation a person shall be treated as responsible for a child or young person who is normally living with him and this includes a child or young person to whom paragraph (3) of regulation 19 applies.
(2) Where a child or young person spends equal amounts of time in different households, or where there is a question as to which household he is living in, the child or young person shall be treated for the purposes of paragraph (1) as normally living with—
(a) the person who is receiving child benefit in respect of him; or
(b) if there is no such person—
(i) where only one claim for child benefit has been made in respect of him, the person who made that claim, or
(ii) in any other case the person who has the primary responsibility for him.
(3) For the purposes of these Regulations a child or young person shall be the responsibility of only one person in any benefit week and any person other than the one treated as responsible for the child or young person under this regulation shall be treated as not so responsible.
C. The appeal to the First-tier TribunalTo continue reading
Request your trial