Housing benefit

My wife and I are considering seperation. As I had kidney failure I applied for housing benefit as my wife was stillworking which I was given. If we seperate what do I do about the housing benefit situation. Do I need to tell the council and reaply and can my wife apply for help in her name

Yes I believe that she would If you are now not living in the same house.

Hi, thanks for the post. However do you know wether I will have to reaply bearing in mind the change of circumstances, or will they just adjust my current payment. Presume this is the case as receiving 50% at the moment as rent is very high and bearing in mind wife is working

Hi

You don''t need to reapply, just let them know about a change in circumstances. They should recalculate your entitlement without taking your wife''s earnings into consideration.

You can do this even if you are still living in the same house, but you need to live separate lives. That means no sharing rooms, food or household chores like doing each other''s washing etc. They might reject the fact that you''re separated but you can appeal, and that''s what I had to do.

Your wife can apply in her own right. Chances are that you will each be classed as liable for half the rent so the maximum you will get is 50% of the rent each. You can look up the maximum that your council will pay by googling "LHA rates [your council]."

Thanks a lot, your reply is very interesting. Will take it further now