I'd like to give you one reason why landlords don't like tenants on Housing Benefit.
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My husband recently took two part time jobs. Together they add up to five-and-a-half hours work a week. Between them, they bring in a wage of just over forty pounds.
This is not enough to take us above the income threshold for receiving Housing Benefit. Nor does it affect any other benefits we receive. None the less, we are obliged to inform the people administering it of any change in our circumstances. And this counts as a change.
We phone and tell them about the five-and-a-half hours and the just-over-forty pounds. (About forty-three I think but he hasn't been paid yet for both so I can't be exact.)
Our Housing Benefit, which is paid directly to our landlord is stopped. Instantly stopped.
"What about," I suggest to the woman on the phone (who is very nice and polite and understands the situation - none of which can be guaranteed when you phone about benefits) "you continue paying the same amount less the forty pounds? Forty-five even? - till it's sorted?"
No. It all has to be stopped - and immediately. We haven't even got the forms to fill in yet.
"We don't have enough money to pay the whole rent - that's why we receive the benefit."
Nothing will shift the situation. Because my husband will be earning forty, possibly forty-three pounds a week, our rent is stopped.
Now. We are lucky. Really lucky. Our landlord is a Housing Association. They understand these things. They are big enough that their own finances won't be rocked by our non-payment for a few weeks. They might, they say, send us a letter to complain. It's standard. We mustn't worry. (We've hit this issue before. We were told if we had to go to court, the magistrate would throw out the case because it's clear we are waiting for the benefit to be paid - but I don't want to go to court. I don't even like the thought of it. It makes me go all shivery.)
We wait a few weeks.
We get a letter.
Our Housing Benefit will be paid just as before.
The arrears will be paid too.
We can keep the forty/forty three pounds each week. It won't affect anything.
What if we had had a private landlord? What if that landlord relied on our rent to cover his or her own expenses?
Would our landlord have said, 'Oh, that's ok, I don't mind you not paying rent till this gets sorted out?'.
Would an ordinary landlord understand the benefit system enough to trust the rent would, in the end, be paid?
No.
Would they have said 'This is what happens when you rent property to people on Housing Benefit! You can't trust those people to pay their rent!'
Yes.
So . . . would my husband have taken up this work?
No.
Because he has to be around me a lot in case I have a fit, these few hours he is away can be stressful. (For me.) (They are a break, a change in scene for him!) If I am unwell, he sets me up with a flask of tea so I don't have to use the kettle. If I'm ok - I'm ok. If I'm not, I sit in bed till he comes back. But that forty / forty-three pounds will mean (hopefully) that we won't need to claim Income Support. We are saving the government money. It should be pleased.
What if, instead of watching over me (and our children for that matter) he was unemployed and looking for work? It's said that, if you take a part time job you can build up your CV . . . after a while it may turn into full time work . . . it shows you are serious about employment . . . that you are 'willing' . . .
But you wouldn't be able to take a part time job, would you? Because if you took the job you wouldn't, for several weeks, be able to pay your rent. You'd have to wait for your money. You don't get paid the first day you turn up for work.
The same would apply to a full-time job.
No wonder landlords don't like tenants on Housing Benefit.
No wonder people on Housing Benefit are reluctant to look for work.
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P,S. Housing Benefit is means tested and given when combined family income is below the threshold considered necessary for renting somewhere appropriate to live - as long as savings are below £16,000. It can be claimed by people on low wages as well as others.
10 comments:
Aghhhh!!!! Such a ridiculous system. So stressful for people that, by definition, are almost guaranteed to already be very stressed. And why would a private landlord put up with this? You really wouldn't think it was beyond human ken to come up with a better system. I can think of a few improvements, just off the top of my head. We are really, really lucky, we don't have to rent, we just have to deal with ATOS and ESA rubbish. So glad you have housing association house, but no wonder so many people wind up being homeless, or castigated in the media as being scroungers because it is not worth trying to get part time work. I'm so cross now I think I'd better go and find some soothing music. Or possibly a punch bag...
Sorry to hear of your troubles. That kind of thing can be very nerve wracking. It's to bad that so many benefits that are meant to help people have to be so inflexible, and often don't have the personnel to be run properly.
Esther, the technical term for this is, I think, a shitty situation. Hope you don't have to go through it too often.
That makes me very angry! The benefits system so penalises people who get up off their backsides and DO something.
Sorry I have no answers but you have my sympathy...
Hello Janet/Plantelicious. Have you had to go through the ATOS thing yet? Did you read the article last week about a woman who was summoned to be re-assessed but was denied access to the building because it was not suitable for wheelchair users? Her benefit had been stopped while she was waiting for the re-assessment of her disability and, because the assessment then had to be re-scheduled, she's having to live without it for another two months. One has no way of knowing, at a distance, how she stands in relation to the claim but, once again, the system is wildly bizarre!
Hello Helen. One of the jobs my husband has taken is classed as 'casual'. This means, in theory, that he could be doing different amounts of work each week so the income from it would fluctuate. If it did, we would have to keep submitting wage slips and the level of benefit would be in a continual state of re-assessment. One can see the point of this but it would be a nightmare to navigate. If the maths of it could be worked out quickly that would help but there is always a delay. At present, in our area, it's about three weeks. This is much, much better than it used to be but is still a problem if people have no money for the rent. (In our case, he is being employed for something very precise which will take the same amount of time each week so we won't have to navigate that particular problem - at least in the immediate term.)
Hello Gardeninacity. It seems silly that so much effort is being put into checking for who is 'working the system' and how before making sure the system itself works! Carts and horses . . .
Hello Pat at Squirrel Basket - Thanks - though I wrote this post in a spirit of anger rather than looking for sympathy (though your kind thoughts are certainly welcome and encouraging!). I'd turned the television on randomly and found it in the middle of a programme about benefit fraud. Over and over, they said things like 'Now, we know these benefits are a much needed life-line to many people . . .' then there was the 'BUT' . . . and descriptions of people who were claiming them dishonestly. I got so cross with the nudge-nudge, wink-wink atmosphere, the constant thought that honest people are in a minority (perhaps don't even exist) I grabbed my laptop and wrote the post. Although the examples they were giving were extreme (one man had earned £90,000 over three years while claiming he was unemployed) on the lesser level (financially lesser) I can see exactly why people don't always tell the Benefits Agency when they earn small amounts. We are fortunate - very fortunate - that we are able to receive benefits because of my epilepsy. If we were simply unemployed and unable to find work our situation could be wildly, wildly dire. Whatever the impression suggested by the Government - for people relying on Income Support and Housing Benefit alone, life can be very, very tough indeed.
Hi Esther, unfortunately, yes, I have had The ATOS Experience. It always takes me around 2 months to fill the form in anyway, but the physical assessment was even worse than I had expected. Well over an hour, confusing questions asked by confusing woman, I fell apart. It took me 3 months and a higher does of anti depressants to recover. Which if you think about it, makes no sense whatsoever as I could have been using that time to try to improve my health enough to be able to work instead! Of course now I can't get an appointment to discuss permitted work for love nor money... Have you had an ATOS experience yet? The whole set-up seems designed to make us all feel as if we are fraudsters taking the good tax payers of the country for a ride while er reside in the lap of luxury laughing at the system that allows us to do so. Rather than spending over half of every year worrying about whether we will be able to prove that we are ill enough not to be able to work so as to be able to get enough money to eat. It was better with the old assessment that at least could handle fluctuating conditions. Sorry, end rant...
Hi,Janet. I haven't been summoned by ATOS. I'm not sure of the ifs and whens - or even if I will be. There have been some confusing stops and starts. I remember when this all began and a woman had the money which was used for her night care taken away on the grounds she didn't need help going to the loo at night. (The reason being she was terribly ill and had a catheter.) After such cases being publicised, they had a re-think.
I do worry about it though. If I am well on the day I'm called up - it may not be clear what's wrong. If I go along when I'm not well I might have a fit which would embarrass me - not because I am embarrassed about the fits but because I'd worry it would look as if I were making a point! But if I weren't able to go because I wasn't well enough - I've heard that counts as a non-appearance and your benefit gets stopped - even if you've let them know why you won't be arriving. It's so very hit and miss! A bridge to cross if ever we get there and one nothing can be done about . . except feel apprehensive . . . bother!
Fortunately, I haven't had to cope with depression. That must be a terrible extra burden. However, the idea of some of these benefits was that those of us who cannot work because of illness or disability should be in a position to make the most of life. The worry, the fear of stigma (of being thought of as a fraud) even the fear of 'not looking ill enough' (!) prevents that. It gnaws away. It prevents the emotional freedom that leads to happiness. There's a funny feeling of guilt (guilt! extraordinary) when I feel well. There's a continual self questioning - 'Do I deserve the money I'm given?'. It's almost as if one has to earn it by being unwell! It's back to front. I can imagine if I were in different circumstances - if I didn't have my family, if my husband were not able to give me the attention and support that he does . . . I can imagine all this could make life truly terrible. For people who have mental health problems, maybe they feel guilty every time they smile just as I can never truly enjoy the days I can run.
That we have enough money to pay for broadband . . . having the internet makes a HUGE, a HUGE difference to my life - I mean, without it, I wouldn't have this blog and I wouldn't be able either to entertain or let off steam as I am able with you lot!
For which - thanks!
Life without broadband would be pretty awful, wouldn't it, it is a life line. I know exactly what you mean about feeling guilty about the days you feel better, I am the same, and anyone reading my blog could be forgiven for thinking I am actually fine, as I don't write about the inbetween times, the recovery times, or the state I get in after an hour's buddleja hacking. The guilt and fear seem so far from what was originally intended, and what makes me really cross is that I bet the small percentage of actual fraudsters don't feel guilt! Thank you for writing so honestly about it all, and making it easy to swap stories with someone who gets it - that helps, a lot. As to getting called to an ATOS appointment, as I understand it if you would not be considered well enough to work that day you can let them know you are not well enough to attend and that is fine, though you might need a Doctor's note. I think they tend to try and bully people into going anyway, like the try to get people to let go of the right to have their assessment recorded. They don't like publicising that one and make it as hard as possible, but it is an actual legal right. Have you come across the Benefits and Work website? really helpful, we've found well worth the membership fee in advice and guidance through this maze.
It seems that the people working the system never seem to get caught and the innocent who are helped are at risk! Sorry to hear all this Esther....we have similar crazy systems here.
Can I hope that your husband will enjoy the work? The change of scenery?
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