Additional bedroom for non resident overnight carers

You may be entitled to more Housing Benefit from April 2011

• Do you or your partner have a carer who stays overnight in your home?
• Do you rent your home from a private landlord?
• Is the overnight care provided by a carer who doesn't live in your home?
• Do you have a room that your carer uses to sleep in overnight?

If the answer to all these questions is yes, then from April 2011 the help you get with your rent can take account of this.

From April 2011, a bedroom that is used by a carer (or team of carers) who doesn't actually live in your home can be taken into account when working out how much Housing Benefit to pay.

In some cases, this could result in an increase in Housing Benefit. But there will also be other changes to the Housing Benefit rules coming in at the same time that may affect any extra that could have been paid. This means that all of your circumstances will need to be considered to take account of all the new rules to decide whether you can get more money.

Even if your Housing Benefit doesn't increase as a result, it is still in your interest to tell the Housing Benefit Department if you or your partner has this type of care arrangement.

This page was last updated on 21 March 2011