Hi. I have been trying to advise a colleague on arguing against proposed reductions in HB for charges for a caretaker/cleaner service. The is currently under scrutiny by the LA but my colleague has emailed me to say he has heard of a recent case with a Housing Association in Southampton which allowed support charges to be paid by HB, through reference to Scottish law. I do not have any details and it all seems a bit unlikely given schedule 1 to the HB regs but I wondered if you had heard of this?? I can't find anything. Thanks

Irrespective of whether or not another LA has allowed such charges, Schedule 1 is the only legal basis of allowing such charges - there is no difference to the HB regs (in this regard) for Scotland.

I suspect someone has cleverly referred to some Care legislation and the LA has lost sight of the limits imposed by Schedule 1.

But, I don't know the full facts so a bit more info may help...

1) What are the services that arebeing provided by the caretaker / cleaner?

2) Where are those service being provided (i.e. within the clmt's individual dwelling? Communal areas?)

As an aside, the onus is on the clmt to satisfy the LA of details of the services.

Regards

Thanks for your reply. I must say I was pretty sceptical too but I have been told something will be faxed through so if its any use I will let you know.
Re your questions_ we have done a detailed analysis of the eligibility of the services, whether they are communal, which are likely to be "support" and which "housing" so i think we're ok on that score. The LA have verbally accepted that our breakdown looks ok and have taken the info away to think about but its likely we'll need to do a bit of a time and motion analysis too as some of the "housing benefit eligible" services definitely take up more time than some of the "SP eligible" ones. I am arned with the CD's that talk about what degree od analysis is considered reasonable and have read a number of CD's and articles ( and postings on a number of fora!)on the HB?SP split so am hoping we'll be OK.
Also fortunately SP and HB are talking to each other and are committed to helping the service (a hostel for homeless singles and families)to remain viable. But these things take time.
I'll keep you informed and if I find out more about this mysterious case I'll let you know.