Supported Living – Notes about exempt status

Why might it be of interest?
Understanding these terms is essential when you are considering supported living for your young person as they are very specific and have legal standing. And the status of the home and housing provider you are considering will affect whether the more generous Housing Benefit (HB) pays the rent and additional eligible charges or whether your young person would have to claim under the housing rules of Universal Credit – which is not so generous.

If you have a house or are considering buying a house for your young person it is again important that you understand how it needs to be managed to ensure you are able to cover all the associated costs of owning the home.

Supported Living

Exempt Accommodation, Specified Accommodation

Below are extracts from various websites explaining what exempt/specified accommodation is.  I have included these extracts as well as my understanding as these are specific definitions.

My understanding of what exempt/specified accommodation is – relative to the likely needs of Bright Futures clients

Exempt accommodation can only be provided by specific categories of housing provider:

• a non-metropolitan county council in England within the meaning of section 1 of the Local Government Act 1972
• a housing association
• a registered charity or voluntary organisation where that body or a person acting on its behalf also provides the claimant with care, support or supervision

Specified accommodation includes exempt accommodation.  It is a term used by Housing Benefit and Universal Credit to describe supported accommodation where some of the rules that normally limit the amount of rent covered by a housing benefit award do not apply.  Each local authority, and areas within the local authority, have housing allowances for various size of home and personal situations.  This is the maximum amount the LA will usually allow for your rent.  When you have additional care and support needs this allowance is not sufficient for you to be able to live in a suitable rented property.

Supported accommodation is where housing, care and care services are provided as an integrated package.  There is likely to be a team of staff and possibly adaptations to the property.

Supported living:  a person is a tenant in their own home and will be paying rent and housing costs to their housing provider.  In addition, they will be receiving a care package that is more than minimal (this is not defined).  The housing provider and care provider are independent of each other (even where they appear to be from the same organisation).  This is important as it means a person could change their care provider without losing their home, or move to another home and continue with the same care provider.

Buying a property for your young person to live in: this is entirely possible but you have to lease the property to an organisation who is able to provide exempt accommodation to benefit from the more advantageous rents and eligible charges available through Housing Benefit.  If you manage the property directly yourself or through a management organisation who is not in a category able to provide exempt  accommodation you will not be able to benefit from Housing Benefit rates and eligible charges.  These costs still exist so would either have to be borne by you or passed onto the tenants.

From entitledto.co.uk

https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/exempt-accommodation-and-benefits

If you live in supported accommodation you receive care, support and supervision from your landlord. In the benefits calculator you should only select this option if the care, support and supervision you receive is more than ‘minimal’. This is because we assume that people selecting supported accommodation are exempt from the benefits cap and under occupation rules, and this is only true if you receive more than ‘minimal’ support.

Exempt Accommodation is an individual dwelling for which a person is liable to make payments, that they occupy as their home and which is a resettlement place provided by persons to whom the Secretary of State has given assistance by way of a grant pursuant to section 30 of the Jobseeker’s Act 1995 (grants for resettlement places), or provided by a non-metropolitan County Council, in England, a housing association, a registered charity or voluntary organisation where that body or person acting on its behalf also provides the claimant with care, support or supervision.”

Why is this accommodation treated differently?

This has been removed from the benefit cap and under occupation regulations as this accommodation is usually more expensive to rent due to the care and/or support being provided to the tenant.

If you are claiming Universal Credit

If you are claiming Universal Credit and living in supported exempt accommodation any help with housing costs will be covered by Housing Benefit, not Universal Credit. The calculator will identify this and show your Universal Credit and Housing Benefit results.

From mrassociates.org

https://www.mrassociates.org/knowledge-base/glossary/supported-accommodation

“Supported accommodation” traditionally means a rented dwelling in which the tenant or licensee receives care, support or supervision that is linked in some way to their accommodation: as a general rule, the tenant or licensee would not be living in the dwelling in the first place unless they needed the associated care, support or supervision. Common examples of supported accommodation include:

• A self-contained dwelling which has been adapted or specially chosen for occupation by one or more severely disabled tenants who will receive care in the home. This might also be described as “supported living”.
• Because there is a tenancy or licence for the dwelling, people who live in supported accommodation are usually able to claim Housing Benefit or Universal Credit to help to pay their rent or licence charge.
• And if the dwelling counts as “Exempt Accommodation” or “Specified Accommodation” the Housing Benefit and Universal Credit rules are more advantageous.

What are the advantages of exempt accommodation?

Basic info

The amount of Housing Benefit paid for exempt accommodation is normally higher than the amount paid for any other accommodation of comparable size outside the regulated social rented sector. The advantages of this are:

• Vulnerable people who need support are able to find accommodation that meets their needs and enables them to live as independently as possible.
• Organisations providing supported accommodation are able to cover the higher costs associated with the supported sector.
• Private landlords who lease property to organisations providing supported accommodation are able to obtain a fair market rent for good quality accommodation that is genuinely worth more than the low-to-average rents that Housing Benefit normally covers.

What is specified accommodation?

Basic info

“Specified accommodation” is a term used in Housing Benefit and Universal Credit to describe supported accommodation where some of the rules that normally limit the amount of rent covered by a housing benefit award do not apply.

Specified accommodation includes:

• Exempt accommodation, which is exempt from most benefit restrictions. On this site exempt accommodation is referred to as “Category 1” specified accommodation
• Other supported accommodation which is exempt from fewer benefit restrictions than exempt accommodation but is still treated more favourably than general needs accommodation. “Other supported accommodation” means:
• Accommodation provided by a social or voluntary sector landlord where the benefit claimant is provided with care, support or supervision but that care, support or supervision is provided neither by the landlord nor by someone who is acting on the landlord’s behalf. We have called this “Category 2” specified accommodation

Exempt Accommodation

LEGAL WORDS

Exempt accommodation is defined in subparagraph (10) of paragraph 4 of Schedule 3 to the Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (Consequential Provisions) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/217) as follows:

“exempt accommodation” means accommodation which is –

provided by a non-metropolitan county council in England within the meaning of section 1 of the Local Government Act 1972, a housing association, a registered charity or voluntary organisation where that body or a person acting on its behalf also provides the claimant with care, support or supervision;

From cheshireeast.gov.uk

https://www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/benefits_housing_council_tax/understanding-benefit-claims/specified-accommodation.aspx

Supported Exempt Accommodation

Supported Exempt Accommodation is the first category of Specified Accommodation.

To count as Supported Exempt Accommodation, all of the following must apply:

• the accommodation is provided by an English non-metropolitan council (such as Cheshire East Council), a housing association, a not-for-profit voluntary organisation, or a registered charity
• the care, support and supervision is provided by the accommodation provider or by someone acting on behalf of the accommodation provider
• the level of care, support and supervision is more than minimal

Applications made by the landlord or property owner for supported exempt or other specified accommodation status.

Managed properties (Specified Accommodation category 2)

Managed properties are where care, support and supervision is provided by an organisation or individual other than the accommodation provider. For tenants in managed properties, we give exemptions on a short term basis. The claimant must have entered the accommodation in order to get care, support and supervision.