Managing Housing Benefit Claims in Supported Housing | Introduction
This glossary explains the terms and abbreviations used in the manual. Where a term has a legal definition, the chapter given explains it in full.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| AAC | Administrative Appeals Chamber of the Upper Tribunal, which hears appeals on points of law from the First-tier Tribunal. |
| AACR | Administrative Appeals Chamber Reports: the official series of reported Upper Tribunal decisions, for example [2017] AACR 8 (Chapter 4). |
| Alternative regulations 12, 13 and 13ZA | The versions of regulations 12, 13 and 13ZA of the HB Regulations set out in Schedule 3, paragraph 5 of the Consequential Provisions Regulations. They decide the eligible rent in exempt accommodation (Chapter 2). |
| Care, support or supervision (CSS) | The care, support or supervision that must be provided by or on behalf of the landlord for accommodation to be exempt accommodation. Care and personal support are not eligible for Housing Benefit; housing-related support and supervision can be (Chapters 6 and 9). |
| Claimant or tenant | The person claiming Housing Benefit. “Tenant” includes a licensee. |
| Commissioner’s decision | A decision of a Social Security Commissioner, the predecessor of the Upper Tribunal, cited by file number (for example CH/3528/2006) or, if reported, by R(H) number (Chapter 4). |
| Consequential Provisions Regulations | The Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (Consequential Provisions) Regulations 2006, Schedule 3 of which preserves the rules for exempt accommodation (Chapter 2). |
| Contrivance | A liability for rent created to take advantage of the Housing Benefit scheme, which means no Housing Benefit is payable (HB Regulations, regulation 9(1)(l); Chapter 11). |
| Council | The local authority administering Housing Benefit. |
| CSPSSA 2000 | The Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000, Schedule 7 of which governs Housing Benefit decisions and appeals. |
| DWP guidance | The DWP’s Housing Benefit guidance for supported housing claims (Chapter 3 and Appendix 3). |
| Eligible rent | The amount of rent and eligible service charges that Housing Benefit can meet (Chapters 9 and 10). |
| Enhanced Housing Benefit | An informal term for Housing Benefit in exempt accommodation, where the eligible rent is not limited by Local Housing Allowance and can include eligible charges for intensive housing management and support. |
| Exempt accommodation | Accommodation provided by a non-metropolitan county council, a housing association, a registered charity or a voluntary organisation, where that body or someone acting on its behalf provides the claimant with care, support or supervision (Consequential Provisions Regulations, Schedule 3, paragraph 4(10); Chapters 2 and 5). |
| First-tier Tribunal (FtT) | The Social Entitlement Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal, which hears appeals against Housing Benefit decisions (Chapter 20). |
| HB | Housing Benefit. |
| HB Regulations | The Housing Benefit Regulations 2006. |
| HBRB | Housing Benefit Review Board: the body that reviewed Housing Benefit decisions before 2001. Its decisions were challenged by judicial review, which is why many older rent cases are court judgments. |
| Ineligible service charge | A service charge that Housing Benefit cannot meet, such as charges for personal care, most fuel and food (HB Regulations, Schedule 1; Chapter 9). |
| Intensive housing management (IHM) | Housing management that is more than an ordinary landlord would provide, because of the needs of the tenants. It is eligible for Housing Benefit and, in SHP’s view, can be support or supervision in its own right (Chapter 7). |
| Lease-based provider | A provider that leases its properties from investors or other owners instead of owning them (Chapters 5 and 11). |
| LHA | Local Housing Allowance: the flat-rate allowance used for most private rented claims. It does not apply to exempt accommodation. |
| Managed properties | Specified accommodation provided by the same kinds of landlord as exempt accommodation, where the claimant receives care, support or supervision from someone other than the landlord (Chapter 1). |
| MHCLG | The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. |
| More than minimal | The test that care, support or supervision must be more than minimal for accommodation to be exempt. There is no minimum number of hours (Chapter 8). |
| NSHS | National Supported Housing Standards, to be made under the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 (Chapter 17). |
| Person affected | A person with rights to ask for reasons, a revision or an appeal, including the claimant and, in some cases, the landlord (Decisions and Appeals Regulations, regulation 3; Chapter 20). |
| Provider | The landlord, and anyone acting on the landlord’s behalf, unless the text says otherwise. |
| Qualifying landlord | A landlord of a type that can provide exempt accommodation: a non-metropolitan county council, a housing association, a registered charity or a voluntary organisation (Chapter 5). |
| R(H) | The series of reported Commissioners’ decisions on Housing Benefit, for example R(H) 7/07. |
| Regulation 86 request | A request by the council for information and evidence it reasonably needs to decide a claim (HB Regulations, regulation 86; Chapter 12 and Appendix 9). |
| Rent Officer | An officer of the Valuation Office Agency who makes rent determinations. In exempt accommodation a determination can inform the council’s decision but does not set the eligible rent (Chapter 10). |
| Rent restriction | A decision under alternative regulation 13 to reduce the eligible rent because the accommodation is unreasonably large or the rent is unreasonably high, and suitable alternative accommodation is available (Chapter 10). |
| Revision and supersession | The two ways a Housing Benefit decision can be changed: a revision changes it from the original date; a supersession changes it from a later date (Chapters 19 and 20). |
| RP or registered provider | A provider of social housing registered with the Regulator of Social Housing. |
| RSH | The Regulator of Social Housing. |
| SHP | Supported Housing People. |
| SHROA | The Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 (Chapters 1 and 17). |
| Specified accommodation | The four categories of supported accommodation defined in regulation 75H of the HB Regulations: exempt accommodation, managed properties, refuges and local authority hostels. Housing costs are met by Housing Benefit instead of Universal Credit (Chapters 1 and 2). |
| SSAA 1992 | The Social Security Administration Act 1992, which covers overpayment recovery and the confidentiality of benefit information. |
| Subsidy | The payment from the DWP to the council towards the cost of Housing Benefit. Subsidy must not affect whether a rent is reasonable (Chapter 10). |
| Supported exempt accommodation | The term used in the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 for exempt accommodation in which care, support or supervision is provided (Chapter 17). |
| Suspension | Stopping payment of some or all of a claimant’s Housing Benefit while a question is resolved (Decisions and Appeals Regulations, regulations 11 to 13; Chapters 12 and 18). |
| TA | Temporary accommodation provided by a council under its homelessness duties. |
| Upper Tribunal (UT) | The Administrative Appeals Chamber of the Upper Tribunal, which hears appeals on points of law. Its decisions bind councils and the First-tier Tribunal (Chapter 4). |
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