What is local housing allowance
Your Housing Benefit will normally be calculated under the Local Housing Allowance Scheme. Your rent will not be calculated on this scheme if your landlord is a Housing Association, or a registered social landlord.
Under this scheme, you will receive a standard allowance based on the size and needs of your household, and the area in which you live. This will be based on the number of bedrooms you need.
One bedroom is allowed for:
- Every adult couple
- Any other adult aged 16 or over
- Any two children of the same sex
- Any two children regardless of sex under the age of 10
- Any other child
As Housing Benefit is ‘means-tested’ you will need to provide details of your income and savings when you apply.
In most cases, you will not be able to choose to have payment made to your landlord – your LHA entitlement will be paid direct to you, straight into your bank account.
If there is any reason why you cannot manage to pay your rent to your landlord, you should contact us straight away with evidence to support your reason.
If you are having difficulty opening a bank account please contact our Benefits Advice Team, you can call them on 01522 873382 or email them benefits.advice@lincoln.gov.uk.
Current local housing allowance rates
The following are the current maximum weekly rent allowance rates:
| Type of accommodation | Rate |
|---|---|
| Shared/single room | £81.50 |
| Single claimant under 35 (with exceptions, please ask for details) | £81.50 |
| One bedroom (self contained) | £113.92 |
| Two bedroom | £138.08 |
| Three bedroom | £155.34 |
| Four bedroom (more than four bedrooms are capped at this rate) | £212.88 |
The above rates apply to the amount of bedrooms your household is entitled to.
For example, a single parent with one girl (four years old) and one boy (six years old) would be entitled to one bedroom for the parent and one bedroom for the children, would be entitled to a two bedroom rate.