housing benefit

[guitarlady]

i am on disability benefit and esa ,but now my tunisian husband is here in the uk on spouse visa and he got a job within 1 week of coming here will i still be entitled to housing benefit as his wage is only 6.44 an hour and only 38 hours week .i phoned the jobcentre the day after he arrived and still had nothing from them as needing to change my name and to put on my claim can any one help what i am supposed to do or who do i contact ,

[goodcheer]

Congratulations on your marriage and arranging for your husband to join you! Having a spouse move in with you is a change of circumstances that you need to report right away, so you're doing the right thing. Housing Benefit is administered by the local authority (the council), not the jobcentre, so you should go to the council or look on their website to find out how they want you to report change of circumstances. They will recalculate your Housing Benefit. Yes, having a full-time worker in the household will mean that your household benefit is less than the benefit for a person living alone and claiming benefits. I can't say off the top of my head whether it will go to zero, but you and your husband will almost certainly be better off with him working even after you've paid your rent.

If you don't report the change in circumstances the Local Authority, when they find out, will make you pay back any Housing Benefit they paid out that you were not entitled to. They call that overpayment. In extreme cases they can also prosecute for benefits fraud, though that seems very unlikely in your situation.

I don't know how to do name changes, so I'm no help there.

If you need detailed information about your particular circumstances you might ask at your local Citizens Advice Bureau.

[Casa]

You should be able to claim working tax credit and strange as this may seem, it must be claimed in joint names. Just one point, if your husband is over 18 the minimum hourly wage is now £6.50

[Wanderer]

You should be able to claim working tax credit and strange as this may seem, it must be claimed in joint names. Just one point, if your husband is over 18 the minimum hourly wage is now £6.50

Wouldn't he have to be over 18 to get a spouse visa in the first place?

[Casa]

Duh! Of course you're right Well spotted Wanderer!