Learn the fundamentals of the Housing Benefit assessment process

Training covers the main areas of Housing Benefit legislation and administrative best practice, including local housing allowance, rent allowance and overpayments. It also provides a basic overview of Council Tax law and the Council Tax Support (Default) Scheme. The course is supported by group discussion, practical exercises at the end of each module and a desk aid.

What will I learn?

By the end of the course, delegates will be able to:

• Describe how and where customers can claim Housing Benefit
• Explain when HB can be paid on two homes and where the claimant is temporarily absent from their home.
• Clarify how to work out the ‘date of claim’ and the date that entitlement should start
• Explain how to work out the eligible rent and the maximum rent for HB purposes
• State how to work out if a household is ‘under-occupying’ the dwelling and how to reduce their HB entitlement
• Describe how to calculate the claimant’s capital and income that should be used in the assessment
• Explain how and when to apply a non-dependant deduction
• Explain how to work out a claimant’s applicable amount
• Manually calculate Rent Rebate, Rent Allowance, Local Housing Allowance and Council Tax Support (Default Scheme) entitlement.
• State the difference between a ‘revision’ and a ‘supersession’
• Explain the significance of correctly classifying HB overpayments
• List at least 2 indicators of possible fraudulent activity in a claim

Who should take this course?

There are no formal pre-requisites for this course; the course is equally suited to new staff as an induction and to more experienced staff who need to update their skills

• New benefit assessors
• Experienced benefit assessors
• Benefit assistants
• Team Leaders and Managers