Rent Sheet Completion & Communication with Housing Benefit

Summary of Process

1. Prepare Documents (e.g. License Agreement, Support Plans & Contact Logs)
2. Complete Rent Sheet inside Property Journey Plan (emailed to you at the point of offer accepted)
3. Email Communications with Housing Benefit (including Introduction Letter to HB)  
4. Residents make Housing Benefit Claim  
5. Responses to HB

Exempt Accommodation

The support you will provide for your residents means that your local authority will recognise your project as Specified Exempt Accommodation. This means the local authority, through the Housing Benefit system, will pay several eligible ‘property related’ costs. This includes the lease payable to Green Pastures which is set at the Market Level Rent payable by your local authority.  We help you to claim these property related costs through our ‘Rent Sheet’ that generates the costs you will submit to your housing benefit department  (See Step 3 which your Partnership Manager will assist you with completing).

Supported Housing is funded by central government and your Local Authority through Housing Benefit. However, this works in a different way to the more usual Housing Benefit or the Housing Element of Universal Credit, which is ‘capped’ at Local Housing Allowance Rates (LHA). These rates have been frozen for several years.  

Your residents will be claiming a special type of Housing Benefit. It is special because it recognises your Supported Housing Accommodation as being ‘exempt’ from the normal rules about Housing Benefit. The usual regulations do not apply, and several property related core costs and eligible costs can be included in the total amount paid for each resident. So your residents can claim this type of Housing Benefit, the property where you run your Supported Housing Project needs to be recognised by your Local Authority (LA), as:-

• Specified Exempt Accommodation (SEA) Usually shortened by Local Authorities to ‘Specified Accommodation’ or more commonly, ‘Exempt Accommodation’.

Once your Supported Housing Project, and therefore the address(es) where you run your project, have been recognised as Exempt Accommodation:

• HB can be paid at the higher ‘uncapped’ rate.
• HB, will be paid directly to you.

The Process

Step 1: Prepare Your Documents

Specified Exempt Accommodation (SEA), we shall call it ‘Exempt Accommodation’ or EA from now on, is accommodation which provides ‘Care, Support OR Supervision’ to residents, over and above that which a private landlord would provide.

You don’t need to provide all three of these elements – just one. That said, by definition of what you do you are providing all three. You will be providing ‘support’ to your residents. You need to have available the documentary evidence that your residents need support and will be receiving support.

We have a professionally approved list of 22 support items that our partners provide to their residents. These support items are all listed in the following documents provided by Green Pastures

1. Lease Agreement (this proves that you are contractually obliged to provide this support) ‍
2. License Agreements (this proves that resident has legally agreed to receive the support you provide)
3. Support Plans (Needs & Goals)  (agreed by resident and landlord together)
4. Contact Logs (evidencing the support provided on each contact with the resident)
5. Signed Lease Agreement
6. Role Profile for your Resident Support Team (Usually as an appendix)

Step 2: Complete Rent Sheet on Your Journey Plan

Please watch this video on how to complete the GP Rent Sheet within your property journey plan. This will generate the figures for the Rent Schedule.  

Your Partnership Manager will email you your Rent Sheet for you to complete on Google drive. This rent sheet template has three categories:

1. Core Property Charges  (eligible to be paid by Housing Benefit)
2. Eligible ‘Property Related’ Charges  (eligible to be paid by Housing Benefit)
3. Ineligible Charges (will not be paid by HB)

The Core Charges and the Eligible Charges are paid in the EA Housing Benefit claim. The Ineligible Charges are paid by the residents out of their own income as a weekly ‘Service Charge’.

Although you need to evidence the support you are providing, support costs are NOT paid for through Housing Benefit Claims. However, Housing Management tasks are eligible because they are property related costs. Please see the Green Pastures template documents.

Please note these costs must be 'reasonable' in the sense that they must not stand out when compared to other similar services in your locality. Please also ensure you have all the necessary documentary evidence in order to justify these costs.

Step 3: Email Communications with HB

Please see  pages 3 & 4 of this document in detail. Your PM will assist drafting responses to HB’s questions. Please don't send comms to HB without PM sign off.  

Step 4: Sign-Up Residents & Submit Housing Benefit Claim

Please see Resident Sign Up Process.

Step 5: Responses From & Communication with HB Regarding Rent Sheet

If at any stage you plan to arrange a meeting or are invited to a meeting to discuss your recognition as Exempt Accommodation or any aspect of the Rent Schedule, please speak to your Partnership manager as soon as possible.

Partner Communications with Housing Benefit

Only send these emails after they have been signed off by your PM. This is for your benefit. Many thanks.    

Email 1

First ever contact with HB.
Usually send straight after Offer Accepted but please confirm with your Partnership Manager.

Dear Sirs,  

I am writing to you to introduce you to our new supported housing service at enter full address

I will email you full details once our first residents have moved in on enter date.  

Please send me any questionnaire or requests for relevant information that you might require with respect to our residents making applications for housing benefit under the regulations for exempt accommodation.

If you would like to meet with us to discuss our intentions, we would welcome this to make sure our residents can apply for housing benefit under the regulations for exempt accommodation’  (delete if not appropriate)

We appreciate your help in this matter.

Warmest regards,

Some Local Authorities will send you a Specified Exempt Accommodation form to complete. If they do please notify your Green Pastures Partnership Manager and they will help you complete this form. Please remember that for this purpose your organisation is the Landlord and the Service Provider (not Green Pastures).  

Email 2

Sent as soon as Rent Sheet is signed off.
As soon as possible after property completion, but please confirm with your PM.

Dear Sirs,  

Please find attached the completed Specified Accommodation Questionnaire / Exempt Accommodation Questionnaire / Answers to your questions about  our new supported housing service at enter full address

I have also attached a letter introducing our supported housing project with an indication of the total core rent, eligible costs and resident service charge (ineligible costs)

If you would like to meet with us to discuss our intentions, we would welcome this to make sure our residents can apply for housing benefit under the regulations for exempt accommodation’  (delete if not appropriate)

We appreciate your help in this matter.

Warmest regards,

In preparation to send this email your PM will need to check the following:  

1. Introduction Letter to your Supported Housing Project.

Email 3

Sent three days after all residents are placed.
Please ensure there are no large delays between placing of residents and email 3 being sent.  

Discuss this with your PM as if you get delayed placing your final resident more than expected the PM may decide that you are to send this communication before you have placed the final resident.    

Dear Sir/Madam,  

Further to my email on enter date of email 2 please note the following resident(s) are making claims for housing benefit under the regulations for exempt accommodation. Their reference numbers are:

• Resident AB: HB1234678  
• Resident CD: HB9101112  
• Resident EF: HB9876543

The following supporting evidence is attached:

1. Signed License Agreements
2. Resident Supported Accommodation Questionnaire (If Required)  
3. Support Plans (Needs & Goals) of Residents with Names on (if required)
4. Contact Logs for each resident (if required)

I look forward to hearing from you and any questions you may have.  

Kind regards,  

In preparation to send this email your PM will need to check the following:  

1. Signed license agreements
2. Resident Supported Housing Questionnaire (if required)
3. Support Plans (Needs & Goals) of all residents  

Responses From & Communication with HB regarding Rent Sheets

After these three emails above comms will now be flowing between you and HB.  

Whenever they reply please forward the response to your PM  who will advise how to reply. Please NEVER reply to HB without first showing your reply to your PM for sign off.  

If your residents have not been awarded the full rent, according to the rent schedule you submitted - please email your contact to ask why.  

1. HB will reply with questions regarding your rent sheet - especially if this is your first Supported Housing Project. They will need to establish that your residents are all in need of support and that you are providing this support.  
2. Do not reply to ANY questions straight away. Forward all comms to your PM.  
3. The PM will then instruct you how to respond. Once signed off by PM you can then reply to HB  
4. Continue this process until all questions from Housing Benefit  are resolved and they agree to pay the full rent schedule.  
5. Please do not respond to Housing Benefit without first getting the response from your Partnership Manager.  

Initially, your contact will be with Housing Benefit Department. However, depending on your Local Authority, there may be a technical team or landlord liaison team who will respond to your letter and issue guidance to the Housing Benefit Assessors.

The aim is for the guidance they give to HB Assessors to be that any Housing Benefit claim, citing the address of your accommodation, is to be treated as Exempt Accommodation and therefore the full Rent Schedule (see Step 6) is paid in Housing Benefit, not just the Local Housing Allowance rate.  

N.B. If you want to arrange a meeting or are invited to a meeting to discuss your recognition as Exempt Accommodation or any aspect of the rent schedule, please as your Partnership Manager before agreeing.

Other departments of the Council – not having Housing Benefit – may be helpful to connect with. For example, you could email the Head of Homelessness to gain a Referral Partner.

Dear Head of Homelessness,

We would very much appreciate the opportunity to have a meeting with the Council to discuss the different aspects of the service we intend to offer. We believe in partnership working across all aspects of our service and see our relationship with XYZ council as being fundamental to the success of the project.

There are many different divisions of the Council we would like to develop a close working relationship with and so perhaps that meeting may include the following;

a) Head of Homelessness strategy

b) Senior Housing Options manager

c) Environmental health manager

We will make contact with the housing benefit team in 2 weeks if we have not heard from you as a follow up.

We appreciate your help in this matter.