ONLINE WORKSHOP
Thursday, 20th June, 2024.
Full-Day Workshop: (9:40 - 4:30)
Workshop Fee: £240 + VAT. 4th Place Free.
Also available for In-House Bookings for individual organisations, either On-Site or Online.
HOUSING BENEFIT & SUPPORTED ACCOMMODATION
The Difficult Questions!
The Workshop is aimed at local authority HB officers making decisions about supported accommodation cases. It is assumed that delegates are conversant with the basic principles (what is “exempt” and “managed” accommodation, etc.). The Workshop provides an opportunity for more in-depth discussion of the issues that can only be covered superficially in our more wide-ranging “Supported Housing - The Complete Guide For Local Authority Staff” Workshop.
Some recurring themes keep cropping up in discussion of ‘supported housing’. These involve complex questions which it can be difficult to answer adequately in an all-encompassing A-Z of supported accommodation course. We have therefore decided to devote a Workshop specifically to these tricky problems. It will be assumed that delegates are familiar with the basics: The difference between “exempt” and “managed” accommodation, the rules governing the calculation of eligible rent for each, the different rules affecting registered housing associations and other landlords, etc.
The first topic for detailed discussion will be what it takes for a landlord to provide more than minimal support. This question has generated a dozen or so lengthy Upper Tribunal / Commissioners’ decisions about the niche, complementary support role that a landlord might or might not perform in a “supported living” scheme where tenants with learning disabilities have care and support packages provided by a separately commissioned care provider. We will consider what kind of support the landlord might provide, including circumstances in which normal landlord functions such as repairs can be a form of support. While many of the landlords providing supported living are registered housing associations, for whom obtaining exempt accommodation status as opposed to “managed” is less critical to the HB outcome than it is for other landlords, it can still be important to make the correct decision: Where the bedroom tax might apply, where the Council has applied for, or is contemplating applying for a Rent officer’s determination, and in the significant number of cases where the provider is not a registered HA.
The next topic will be analysis of the lease-based model where an investor leases accommodation to a non-profit body. Local Authorities are often concerned about the amount of rent payable under these leases. We will look at how the lease rent is set, how the investor calculates the purchase price, and variable features such as repairing v non-repairing leases, and responsibility for voids. We will discuss possible methods for judging whether the lease rent is excessive, including the pros and cons of commissioning a RICS valuation.
And what if the rent is considered excessive? That leads us to our final topic: When might the Council decide that the claimant’s liability has been created to take advantage of the scheme? We will analyse the Baragroveline of case law, including the three cases in which Reg 9 has been relied on by a local authority to refuse HB for leased supported accommodation. Issues covered include:
Throughout the day we will refer to real-life case studies. Delegates are invited to submit cases in advance of the Workshop for inclusion in discussions. We cannot guarantee to select them all, but we will reply by email to all cases submitted as well as highlighting some on the day.
Presented by the “HB Anorak” Peter Barker who has many years’ experience dealing with complex supported accommodation case work and representing both local authorities and providers in appeal cases.
Topics Covered:
More Than Minimal Support
· Supported living: the landlord’s role
· What the case law tells us
Leased Accommodation
· Explanation of the lease based model
o Developers
o Investors
o How the rent is worked out
· Different kinds of lease
· Valuation methods
Taking Advantage Of The Scheme
· The Baragroveline of cases
· Connections between entities
· Targeting “vulnerable categories”
· First choice or fall-back alternative?
Contact us for In-House & Online booking information.
We are always pleased to arrange most of our Workshops, such as this one, for staff from an individual organisation to be held at their own training venue or by Zoom/TEAMS. Please email us with your requirements for details.
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