Workshop Details

Understanding Housing Benefit & Applying Best Practice

Understanding The Housing Benefit

'Exempt Accommodation'

(Supported Living) Rules

A Workshop presented by John Zebedee which specifically looks as this important and often controversial area of the Housing Benefit Scheme.

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Over the last few years dealing with the different interpretations of the cost of exempt accommodation (supported living) to Government, Councils, RSLs and other housing providers, and residents themselves has become more striking, and Case Law has widely developed and expanded.

This Workshop looks at what exempt accommodation is, how the definition has been challenged (almost word by word!), what the current understanding is, and also considers how it might develop in the future. It looks at the way Councils have challenged exempt accommodation in terms of:

• Whether or not accommodation is exempt;
• Whether or not rent and service charges are accurate and eligible for HB purposes;
• Whether or not rents and service charges may be considered to be unreasonable.

This has become very important to many residents and their landlords, especially as Housing Benefit entitlement can be higher to cover the extra costs. The Workshop will therefore look at:

• The definition of exempt accommodation – and what it means to provide care, support or supervision;
• Who has to provide the care, support or supervision, and what arrangements landlords can enter into for this purpose;
• What is too trivial to count as care, support or supervision – and what is sufficient;
• Arrangements with care providers and others – and how a landlord may provide care, support or supervision even if the principal care is provided from elsewhere;
• How landlords set their rents to cover the costs of rent and services in exempt accommodation;
• Which services are and are not eligible for housing benefit – including the growing debate about certain communal services;
• Claimants who need live-in carers, and rotating carers, and housing benefit’s role in assisting with this;
• Whether exempt accommodation can be argued to ‘take advantage of’ the housing benefit scheme;
• The difference between residents in vulnerable groups, and other residents, and the various protections available to ensure housing benefit meets their rents in full;
• The impact of exempt accommodation on Councils’ subsidy position – and the costs to the Council Tax payer when exempt accommodation becomes a large concern locally;
• The DWP’s plans (so far as they are known) to consider reducing the costs of exempt accommodation, and regularising the position of service charges generally (including charges for rooms for carers);
• The forthcoming changes to allow rooms for carers.

The Workshop also covers the legal protections offered to residents and covers the issue of when people are unable to afford their rent unless there is somewhere else suitable for them to go. 

A comprehensive booklet of course notes and helpful examples will be provided for ongoing reference on this complex topic. To get full benefit from the course delegates should already have a good basic understanding of Housing Benefit issues, and will be suitable for benefit assessors and accommodation providers from all housing sectors. By means of presentations, discussions and exercises our presenter, John Zebedee, will provide a fact-filled day covering the most up-to-date information available.

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Booking Fee: £190 + V.A.T. Includes lunch, course notes and refreshments.

BOOK THREE PLACES AT THE SAME VENUE AND RECEIVE A FOURTH PLACE FREE! ___________________________________________________________________________________________

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