20 year old who has lost her job

Am I reading the rules correctly? (Schedule 2 paragraph 4C according to the handbook).  We have a 20 year old client who was working and paying her rent. She has lost her job.  She is in a full digital area so the correct benefit is Universal Credit. Will she be able to claim Housing Costs in her UC for a period of 6 months?  Thanks Ruth

Yes, but if relyng solely on the ‘sufficient earned income’ ground, they also need to have met the earnings threshold for the 6 months prior to the UC claim starting. It’s Sch 4, not Sch 2 by the way.

We had some discussion about this at the time, it’s quite a risk for a young person to move somewhere for work, sign up to a 6+ month AST, and if the job falls through within the first 6 months they have no way to pay the rent commitment while looking for a new job.

This hasn’t happened yet has it?

Don’t think so?

April bulletin said “DWP will implement this change as soon as possible”, without indicating what might actually be possible…

According to the briefing on the CPAG website, it came into force (in full digital areas) in April 2017.  I’m not aware of anything since which says it isn’t being implemented but given that they have had to draw back from the UC plans on some issues (3 children, Severe Disability Premium etc)  it’s quite possible they have taken a step back on this as well.  Ruth

There have been no amending regs implementing the announced changes so as far as I can see the restriction still applies

new development - I’ve just done a calculation for my client on the QBC and what has popped up is information that the government has stated it intends to withdraw this restriction, but that as of June 2018 no details or timescale available!  Just shows what a dreadful muddle it all is!  Ruth