Housing benefit when student daughter reaches 20.

My ex gives me 1,000 a month for the living costs of myself and my daughter who is now in her 2nd year at Uni''...This is a private arrangement which has been in place for 5 years, broadly made up of 500 each.
My only other source of income is Housing Benefit/ Council Tax Benefit.
I have been told that when my daughter turns 20 in February next year, my Housing Benefit will reduce... They say this is because she can no longer be classed as a child at that point and that her portion of our joint support will be re-allocated to me, bringing my assessed monthly income up from 500 to 1,000 which will slash my housing benefit!
I think I can challenge their right to do this in a number of ways, but would appreciate any advice from anyone who has been in this position, or anyone who knows where I stand legally? Thank you. Helen.

Helen,
There was a time when I used to know quite a bit about this subject, but I have not done CAB for about five years now.
Firstly, would you share with me whose name the tenancy is in ? Your sole name ? or something different ?
The second question is, is the maintenance paid under a Court order or Separation Agreement or is purely voluntary ?
You see, it would strike me that, if someone is paying £500 p.m. to you and an equivalent sum to your daughter, then both of you are getting £500 a month and this does not change when she reaches a certain age - unless of course the agreement or order provides otherwise. Unless I have misinterpreted you, you are still getting the £500 p.m. and the daughter is getting the same. The fact that she may no longer be a child does not alter this. Your income remains £500 a month. It would be wrong to re-allocate the income.
There are, however, two possibilities, which are as follows :
1. If you are responsible for a dependent child, you will normally get a plusage on your housing benefit to take account of your extra responsibility, known as a child premium. If your current rate of benefit is calculated on the assumption that you have a responsibility for a child , and that responsibility has now ended, your child premium will drop off and your benefit will reduce.
2. There is another possible factor called a non-dependent deduction. What this means is that, if you have someone in your household who is not dependent on you ( eg an adult child ) then there is a policy assumption that the non=dependent will make a contribution towards his/her accommodation, the actual deduction being calculated by reference to the non-dependent''s income. Not all non-dependents will give rise to the deduction, but where it is actually occurs, the law assumes that the non-dependent will make good the deduction out of his or her own pocket.
I don''t know if your daughter lives with you, perhaps you had better tell me.
Unfortunately right now I am in the United States, and will not be back for two weeks and am separated from my textbooks. So I''m not 100% sure that this is right, but I would advise an early consultation with a CAB or other benefits agency.
LMM

Thank you so much for your most helpful response Mr Mike!
...The tenancy agreement is in my sole name.
The maintenance is purely voluntary.
As a tertiary student, my daughter is classed as a non-dependant for whom no non-dependant deduction is made.
During term - time she lives in a student house, but returns to our home for the remaining weeks and on that basis, I have recently successfully challenged a decision to take away my 2nd bedroom entitlement!Helen.

From what I understand the housing benefit portion of any benefits relies on needs.
Currently it would appear that your daughter is a dependent and therefore you are entitled to a 2 bed house. When she finishes training/uni/education she will be classed as an independent adult. At this point she will then be classed as a lodger and if your current arrangement continues your benefit will be cut to a one bed property and if you keep 2 beds then you will have to make up the difference. ie charge your daughter or find it yourself.
I surprised however that HB is allowed for your daughter as my daughter got zero help at uni with housing which is why the student loan exists and as she already has accommodation elsewhere should be classed as independent. HB is changing (together with other benefits and council tax) dramatically and I would advise you to keep up with the changes as in my previous post.
As a slight side issue I would think the £1000 you receive relates to the fact that you may be considering getting £1000 to support yourself and daughter and in simple terms instead of receiving one £1000 cheque two £500 cheques should be issued...one each.

Thank you for your response polar!
Housing Benefit isn''t allowed for my daughter since CHB stopped, but her student status does qualify me for the 2nd bedroom entitlement. She is indeed in receipt of a student loan and does not claim HB .
The problem relates to my HB reducing when my daughter reaches 20 next month as our ''joint'' maintenance from her father is then classed totally as my unearned income... We have resolved the problem (I hope) and as you suggest, her father is going to pay us 500 each separately at that point so hopefully my HB should be ok!
Happy New Year.

Helen.

Hi Helen.
As I posted earlier its worth everyone who might be /is in receipt of benefits to do some research. As has been pointed out housing benefit is going to be replaced by universal credit. Many are going to be affected by reductions and new rules. Much of this floats in the air at the moment any of course my interest is how tenants are affected but I do understand that there are proposals to limit things like the amount of time you can claim job seekers, only being paid some benefits if you are on a training course etc.
As a landlord I do know that some landlords are already issuing section 21 notices to reclaim property as they are uncertain that tenants will pass the benefit on to them. (yep I have had a lot of experience of people giving boyfriends the benefits instead of paying the rent and currently have 4 cases outstanding on that subject)
Obviously I don''t know your situation so can only advise anyone on any sort of benefit to keep up to date with the changes (which keep changing) and see how it will affect them.
Take care Polar