Can you claim housing benefit as sponser of spouse visa?

[Ali1221]

Hi everyone, looking for some clarification for my cousins situation; as we cant seem to find anything online regarding this matter.

He's on Universal credit and carers allowance as he takes care of a sick family member.

He's looking to bring his partner in from abroad on a spouse visa. We understand that with carers allowance he does not need to meet the financial requirements of £29,000 a year. He currently lives with family but will try and get his own place when his partner arrives.

Also know that his partner will be on no recourse to public funds until she gets indefinte leave to remain I believe.

The question is would he be able to claim housing benefit? I cant seem to find anywhere online that states yes or no. They are looking to live together when she arrives here.

From what we have seen online and on here him claiming carers allowance and Universal credit is totally fine and does not effect her application. We've read here that he just has to create an account for her on UC to get some kind of code so they know its a couple but she will still not receive any benefits.

So the question is would he be able to claim housing benefit (even if its just in his name?) and if so, how much would he be able to get percentage wise of the rent? As I believe we read that with housing benefit you likely only get 80% of the rental amount on average?

Or is he not allowed to get housing benefit at all as that would impact her application?

Please if someone can help because we have looked around everywhere and really cant find anything regarding housing benefit for sponsers of spouse visas.

**Finally if no one has any information on this. Who can we go to/ring for this kind of information please?

[Amber]

Only in very specific circumstances can a person make a new claim for housing benefit. It would be housing element under UC and yes it possible to claim. There is no special code when adding a person who is subject to immigration control to a UC claim, what would happen is that a Habitual Residence Test (HRT) would be undertaken and they’d fail it and be removed from the claim, although any income and/or capital would need to be reported to UC. In terms of what “adequate maintenance and accommodation” means for a spouse visa, see - https://assets.publishing.service.gov.u ... dation.pdf for further advice about UC, contact citizens advice, help to claim, see - https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about ... -to-claim/

The maximum housing element under UC, for private rented accommodation is subject to a local housing allowance (LHA), see - https://lha-direct.voa.gov.uk/