Office of Public Sector Information

PART 2 Amounts prescribed for the purposes of sections 2(1) and 4(2) of the Act

Regulations 67(1)(c), 68(2)(d)

SCHEDULE 6 HOUSING COSTS

Housing costs

1.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this Schedule, the housing costs applicable to a claimant are those costs—

(a) which the claimant or, where the claimant has a partner, that partner is, in accordance with paragraph 4, liable to meet in respect of the dwelling occupied as the home which the claimant or that claimant’s partner is treated as occupying; and

(b) which qualify under paragraphs 16 to 18.

(2) In this Schedule—

“existing housing costs” means housing costs arising under an agreement entered into before 2nd October 1995, or under an agreement entered into after 1st October 1995 (“the new agreement”)—

“housing costs” means those costs to which sub-paragraph (1) refers;

“new housing costs” means housing costs arising under an agreement entered into after 1st October 1995 other than an agreement referred to in the definition of “existing housing costs”;

“standard rate” means the rate for the time being determined in accordance with paragraph 13.

(3) For the purposes of this Schedule a disabled person is a person—

(a) in respect of whom the main phase employment and support allowance is payable to the claimant or to a person living with the claimant;

(b) who, had that person in fact been entitled to income support, would have satisfied the requirements of paragraph 12 of Schedule 2 to the Income Support Regulations (additional condition for the disability premium);

(c) aged 75 or over; or

(d) who is disabled or severely disabled for the purposes of section 9(6) of the Tax Credits Act (maximum rate).

(4) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (3), a person will not cease to be a disabled person on account of that person being disqualified for receiving benefit or treated as not having limited capability for work by virtue of the operation of section 18(1) to (3) of the Act.

Remunerative work

2.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this paragraph, a person is to be treated for the purposes of this Schedule as engaged in remunerative work if that person is engaged, or, where the person’s hours of work fluctuate, is engaged on average, for not less than 16 hours a week, being work for which payment is made or which is done in expectation of payment.

(2) Subject to sub-paragraph (3), in determining the number of hours for which a person is engaged in work where that person’s hours of work fluctuate, regard is to be had to the average of hours worked over—

(a) if there is a recognisable cycle of work, the period of one complete cycle (including, where the cycle involves periods in which the person does no work, those periods but disregarding any other absences);

(b) in any other case, the period of 5 weeks immediately prior to the date of claim, or such other length of time as may, in the particular case, enable the person’s weekly average hours of work to be determined more accurately.

(3) Where no recognisable cycle has been established in respect of a person’s work, regard is to be had to the number of hours or, where those hours will fluctuate, the average of the hours, which that person is expected to work in a week.

(4) A person is to be treated as engaged in remunerative work during any period for which that person is absent from work referred to in sub-paragraph (1) if the absence is either without good cause or by reason of a recognised, customary or other holiday.

(5) A person is not to be treated as engaged in remunerative work on any day on which the person is on maternity leave, paternity leave or adoption leave or is absent from work because the person is ill.

(6) For the purposes of this paragraph, in determining the number of hours in which a person is engaged or treated as engaged in remunerative work, no account is to be taken of any hours in which the person is engaged in an employment or a scheme to which regulation 43(1) (circumstances under which partners of persons entitled to an income-related allowance are not to be treated as engaged in remunerative work) applies.

(7) For the purposes of sub-paragraphs (1) and (2), in determining the number of hours for which a person is engaged in work, that number is to include any time allowed to that person by that person’s employer for a meal or for refreshment, but only where that person is, or expects to be, paid earnings in respect of that time.

(8) Notwithstanding the application of regulation 43 to the partner of a claimant entitled to an income-related allowance, a claimant is to be treated as not being engaged in remunerative work on any day in which that claimant falls within the circumstances prescribed in that regulation.

Previous entitlement to other income-related benefits

3.—(1) Where the claimant or the claimant’s partner was in receipt of, or was treated as being in receipt of, an income-based jobseeker’s allowance or income support not more than 12 weeks before one of them becomes entitled to an income-related allowance or, where the claimant or the claimant’s partner is a person to whom paragraph 15(2) or (13) (linking rules) refers, not more than 26 weeks before becoming so entitled and—

(a) the applicable amount for that income-based jobseeker’s allowance or income support included an amount in respect of housing costs under paragraphs 14 to 16 of Schedule 2 to the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations or, as the case may be, paragraphs 15 to 17 of Schedule 3 to the Income Support Regulations; and

(b) the circumstances affecting the calculation of those housing costs remain unchanged since the last calculation of those costs,

the applicable amount in respect of housing costs for an income-related allowance is to be the applicable amount in respect of those costs current when entitlement to an income-based jobseeker’s allowance or income support was last determined.

(2) Where a claimant or the claimant’s partner was in receipt of state pension credit not more than 12 weeks before one of them becomes entitled to income support or, where the claimant or the claimant’s partner is a person to whom paragraph 15(2) or (13) (linking rules) refers, not more than 26 weeks before becoming so entitled, and—

(a) the appropriate minimum guarantee included an amount in respect of housing costs under paragraphs 11 to 13 of Schedule 2 to the State Pension Credit Regulations 2002(216); and

(b) the circumstances affecting the calculation of those housing costs remain unchanged since the last calculation of those costs,

the applicable amount in respect of housing costs for an income-related allowance is to be the applicable amount in respect of those costs current when entitlement to state pension credit was last determined.

(3) Where, in the period since housing costs were last calculated for an income-based jobseeker’s allowance, income support or, as the case may be, state pension credit, there has been a change of circumstances, other than a reduction in the amount of an outstanding loan, which increases or reduces those costs, the amount to be met under this Schedule must, for the purposes of the claim for an income-related allowance, be recalculated so as to take account of that change.

Circumstances in which a person is liable to meet housing costs

4.  A person is liable to meet housing costs where—

(a) the liability falls upon that person or that person’s partner but not where the liability is to a member of the same household as the person on whom the liability falls;

(b) because the person liable to meet the housing costs is not meeting them, the claimant has to meet those costs in order to continue to live in the dwelling occupied as the home and it is reasonable in all the circumstances to treat the claimant as liable to meet those costs;

(c) in practice the claimant shares the housing costs with other members of the household none of whom are close relatives either of the claimant or the claimant’s partner, and—

(i) one or more of those members is liable to meet those costs; and

(ii) it is reasonable in the circumstances to treat the claimant as sharing responsibility.

Circumstances in which a person is to be treated as occupying a dwelling as the home

5.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this paragraph, a person is to be treated as occupying as the home the dwelling normally occupied as the home by that person or, if that person is a member of a family, by that person and that person’s family and that person is not to be treated as occupying any other dwelling as the home.

(2) In determining whether a dwelling is the dwelling normally occupied as the claimant’s home for the purposes of sub-paragraph (1) regard must be had to any other dwelling occupied by the claimant or by the claimant and that claimant’s family whether or not that other dwelling is in Great Britain.

(3) Subject to sub-paragraph (4), where a claimant who has no partner is a full-time student or is on a training course and is liable to make payments (including payments of mortgage interest or, in Scotland, payments under heritable securities or, in either case, analogous payments) in respect of either (but not both) the dwelling which that claimant occupies for the purpose of attending the course of study or the training course or, as the case may be, the dwelling which that claimant occupies when not attending that course, that claimant is to be treated as occupying as the home the dwelling in respect of which that claimant is liable to make payments.

(4) A full-time student is not to be treated as occupying a dwelling as that student’s home for any week of absence from it, other than an absence occasioned by the need to enter hospital for treatment, outside the period of study, if the main purposes of that student’s occupation during the period of study would be to facilitate attendance on that student’s course.

(5) Where a claimant has been required to move into temporary accommodation by reason of essential repairs being carried out to the dwelling normally occupied as the home and that claimant is liable to make payments (including payments of mortgage interest or, in Scotland, payments under heritable securities or, in either case, analogous payments) in respect of either (but not both) the dwelling normally occupied or the temporary accommodation, that claimant must be treated as occupying as the home the dwelling in respect of which that claimant is liable to make those payments.

(6) Where a claimant is liable to make payments in respect of two (but not more than two) dwellings, that claimant must be treated as occupying both dwellings as the home only—

(a) where that claimant has left and remains absent from the former dwelling occupied as the home through fear of violence in that dwelling or of violence by a former member of the claimant’s family and it is reasonable that housing costs should be met in respect of both that claimant’s former dwelling and that claimant’s present dwelling occupied as the home;

(b) in the case of a couple or a member of a polygamous marriage where a partner is a full-time student or is on a training course and it is unavoidable that that student, or they, should occupy two separate dwellings and reasonable that housing costs should be met in respect of both dwellings; or

(c) in the case where a claimant has moved into a new dwelling occupied as the home, except where sub-paragraph (5) applies, for a period not exceeding four benefit weeks from the first day of the benefit week in which the move occurs if that claimant’s liability to make payments in respect of two dwellings is unavoidable.

(7) Where—

(a) a claimant has moved into a dwelling and was liable to make payments in respect of that dwelling before moving in;

(b) that claimant had claimed an income-related allowance before moving in and either that claim has not yet been determined or it has been determined but an amount has not been included under this Schedule and if the claim has been refused a further claim has been made within four weeks of the date on which the claimant moved into the new dwelling occupied as the home; and

(c) the delay in moving into the dwelling in respect of which there was liability to make payments before moving in was reasonable and—

(i) that delay was necessary in order to adapt the dwelling to meet the disablement needs of the claimant or any member of the claimant’s family;

(ii) the move was delayed pending the outcome of an application for a social fund payment under Part 8 of the Contributions and Benefits Act to meet a need arising out of the move or in connection with setting up the home in the dwelling, and—

(aa) a member of the claimant’s family is aged five or under;

(bb) the claimant is a person in respect of whom the main phase employment and support allowance is payable;

(cc) the claimant’s applicable amount includes a pensioner premium;

(dd) the claimant’s applicable amount includes a severe disability premium; or

(ee) a child tax credit is paid for a member of the claimant’s family who is disabled or severely disabled for the purposes of section 9(6) of the Tax Credits Act; or

(iii) the claimant became liable to make payments in respect of the dwelling while that claimant was a patient or was in residential accommodation,

that claimant is to be treated as occupying the dwelling as the home for any period not exceeding four weeks immediately prior to the date on which that claimant moved into the dwelling and in respect of which that claimant was liable to make payments.

(8) This sub-paragraph applies to a claimant who enters residential accommodation—

(a) for the purpose of ascertaining whether the accommodation suits that claimant’s needs; and

(b) with the intention of returning to the dwelling which that claimant normally occupies as the home should, in the event, the residential accommodation prove not to suit that claimant’s needs,

and while in the accommodation, the part of the dwelling which that claimant normally occupies as the home is not let or sub-let to another person.

(9) A claimant to whom sub-paragraph (8) applies is to be treated as occupying the dwelling that the claimant normally occupies as the home during any period (commencing on the day that claimant enters the accommodation) not exceeding 13 weeks in which the claimant is resident in the accommodation, but only in so far as the total absence from the dwelling does not exceed 52 weeks.

(10) A claimant, other than a claimant to whom sub-paragraph (11) applies, is to be treated as occupying a dwelling as the home throughout any period of absence not exceeding 13 weeks, if, and only if—

(a) that claimant intends to return to occupy the dwelling as the home;

(b) the part of the dwelling normally occupied by that claimant has not been let or sub-let to another person; and

(c) the period of absence is unlikely to exceed 13 weeks.

(11) This sub-paragraph applies to a claimant whose absence from the dwelling that that claimant normally occupies as the home is temporary and—

(a) that claimant intends to return to occupy the dwelling as the home;

(b) the part of the dwelling normally occupied by that claimant has not been let or sub-let; and

(c) that claimant is—

(i) detained in custody on remand pending trial or, as a condition of bail, required to reside—

(aa) in a dwelling other than the dwelling that claimant occupies as the home; or

(bb) in premises approved under section 13 of the Offender Management Act 2007(217),

or, detained pending sentence upon conviction;

(ii) resident in a hospital or similar institution as a patient;

(iii) undergoing or, as the case may be, that claimant’s partner or dependant child is undergoing, in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, medical treatment or medically approved convalescence, in accommodation other than residential accommodation;

(iv) following, in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, a training course;

(v) undertaking medically approved care of a person residing in the United Kingdom or elsewhere;

(vi) undertaking the care of a child whose parent or guardian is temporarily absent from the dwelling normally occupied by that parent or guardian for the purpose of receiving medically approved care or medical treatment;

(vii) a claimant who is, whether in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, receiving medically approved care provided in accommodation other than residential accommodation;

(viii) a full-time student to whom sub-paragraph (3) or (6)(b) does not apply;

(ix) a claimant other than a claimant to whom sub-paragraph (8) applies, who is receiving care provided in residential accommodation; or

(x) a claimant to whom sub-paragraph (6)(a) does not apply and who has left the dwelling that claimant occupies as the home through fear of violence in that dwelling, or by a person who was formerly a member of that claimant’s family; and

(d) the period of that claimant’s absence is unlikely to exceed a period of 52 weeks, or in exceptional circumstances, is unlikely substantially to exceed that period.

(12) A claimant to whom sub-paragraph (11) applies is to be treated as occupying the dwelling that claimant normally occupies as the home during any period of absence not exceeding 52 weeks beginning with the first day of that absence.

(13) In this paragraph—

“medically approved” means certified by a medical practitioner;

“patient” means a person who is undergoing medical or other treatment as an in-patient in a hospital or similar institution;

“residential accommodation” means accommodation which is a care home, an Abbeyfield Home or an independent hospital;

“training course” means such a course of training or instruction provided wholly or partly by or on behalf of or in pursuance of arrangements made with, or approved by or on behalf of, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, a government department or the Secretary of State.

Housing costs not met

6.—(1) No amount may be met under the provisions of this Schedule—

(a) in respect of housing benefit expenditure; or

(b) where the claimant is living in a care home, an Abbeyfield Home or an independent hospital except where the claimant is living in such a home or hospital during a temporary absence from the dwelling the claimant occupies as the home and in so far as they relate to temporary absences, the provisions of paragraph 5(8) to (12) apply to that claimant during that absence.

(2) Subject to the following provisions of this paragraph, loans which, apart from this paragraph, qualify under paragraph 16 (loans on residential property) must not so qualify where the loan was incurred during the relevant period and was incurred—

(a) after 27th October 2008; or

(b) after 2nd May 1994 and the housing costs applicable to that loan were not met by virtue of the former paragraph 5A of Schedule 3 to the Income Support Regulations in any one or more of the 26 weeks preceding 27th October 2008; or

(c) subject to sub-paragraph (3), in the 26 weeks preceding 27th October 2008 by a person—

(i) who was not at that time entitled to income support, income-based jobseeker’s allowance or state pension credit; and

(ii) who becomes, or whose partner becomes entitled to an income-related allowance after 27th October 2008 and that entitlement is within 26 weeks of an earlier entitlement to income support, an income-based jobseeker’s allowance or state pension credit of the claimant or the claimant’s partner.

(3) Sub-paragraph (2)(c) will not apply in respect of a loan where the claimant has interest payments on that loan met without restrictions under an award of income support in respect of a period commencing before 27th October 2008.

(4) The “relevant period” for the purposes of this paragraph is any period during which the person to whom the loan was made—

(a) is entitled to an income-related allowance, an income-based jobseeker’s allowance, income support or state pension credit; or

(b) has a partner and the partner is entitled to an income-related allowance, an income-based jobseeker’s allowance, income support or state pension credit,

together with any linked period, that is to say a period falling between two periods separated by not more than 26 weeks in which one of the paragraphs (a) or (b) is satisfied.

(5) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (4), a person is to be treated as entitled to an income-related allowance during any period when that person or that person’s partner was not so entitled because—

(a) that person or that person’s partner was participating in an employment programme specified in regulation 75(1)(a)(ii) of the Jobseeker’s Allowance Regulations or in the Intensive Activity Period specified in regulation 75(1)(a)(iv) of those Regulations; and

(b) in consequence of such participation that person or that person’s partner was engaged in remunerative work or had an income in excess of the claimant’s applicable amount as prescribed in Part 9.

(6) A person treated by virtue of paragraph 15 as being in receipt of an income-related allowance for the purposes of this Schedule is not to be treated as entitled to an income-related allowance for the purposes of sub-paragraph (4).

(7) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (4)—

(a) any week in the period of 26 weeks ending on 1st October 1995 on which there arose an entitlement to income support such as is mentioned in that sub-paragraph must be taken into account in determining when the relevant period commences; and

(b) two or more periods of entitlement and any intervening linked periods must together form a single relevant period.

(8) Where the loan to which sub-paragraph (2) refers has been applied—

(a) for paying off an earlier loan, and that earlier loan qualified under paragraph 16 during the relevant period; or

(b) to finance the purchase of a property where an earlier loan, which qualified under paragraph 16 or 17 during the relevant period in respect of another property, is paid off (in whole or in part) with monies received from the sale of that property,

then the amount of the loan to which sub-paragraph (2) applies is the amount (if any) by which the new loan exceeds the earlier loan.

(9) Notwithstanding the preceding provisions of this paragraph, housing costs must be met in any case where a claimant satisfies any of the conditions specified in sub-paragraphs (10) to (13), but—

(a) those costs must be subject to any additional limitations imposed by the sub-paragraph; and

(b) where the claimant satisfies the conditions in more than one of these sub-paragraphs, only one of them will apply in that claimant’s case and the one that applies will be the one most favourable to the claimant.

(10) The conditions specified in this sub-paragraph are that—

(a) during the relevant period the claimant or a member of the claimant’s family acquires an interest (“the relevant interest”) in a dwelling which that claimant then occupies or continues to occupy, as the home; and

(b) in the week preceding the week in which the relevant interest was acquired, housing benefit was payable to the claimant or a member of the claimant’s family,

so however that the amount to be met by way of housing costs will initially not exceed the aggregate of—

(i) the housing benefit payable in the week mentioned at sub-paragraph (10)(b); and

(ii) any amount included in the applicable amount of the claimant or a member of the claimant’s family in accordance with regulation 67(1)(c) or 68(1)(d) in that week,

and is to be increased subsequently only to the extent that it is necessary to take account of any increase, arising after the date of the acquisition, in the standard rate or in any housing costs which qualify under paragraph 18 (other housing costs).

(11) The condition specified in this sub-paragraph is that the loan was taken out, or an existing loan increased, to acquire alternative accommodation more suited to the special needs of a disabled person than the accommodation which was occupied before the acquisition by the claimant.

(12) The conditions specified in this sub-paragraph are that—

(a) the loan commitment increased in consequence of the disposal of the dwelling occupied as the home and the acquisition of an alternative such dwelling; and

(b) the change of dwelling was made solely by reason of the need to provide separate sleeping accommodation for children of different sexes aged 10 or over who belong to the same family as the claimant.

(13) The conditions specified in this sub-paragraph are that—

(a) during the relevant period the claimant or a member of the claimant’s family acquires an interest (“the relevant interest”) in a dwelling which that claimant then occupies as the home; and

(b) in the week preceding the week in which the relevant interest was acquired, the applicable amount of the claimant or a member of the claimant’s family included an amount determined by reference to paragraph 18 and did not include any amount specified in paragraph 16 or paragraph 17,

so however that the amount to be met by way of housing costs will initially not exceed the amount so determined, and will be increased subsequently only to the extent that it is necessary to take account of any increase, arising after the date of acquisition, in the standard rate or in any housing costs which qualify under paragraph 18.

(14) The following provisions of this Schedule will have effect subject to the provisions of this paragraph.

Apportionment of housing costs

7.—(1) Where the dwelling occupied as the home is a composite hereditament and—

(a) before 1st April 1990 for the purposes of section 48(5) of the General Rate Act 1967(218) (reduction of rates on dwellings), it appeared to a rating authority or it was determined in pursuance of subsection (6) of section 48 of that Act that the hereditament, including the dwelling occupied as the home, was a mixed hereditament and that only a proportion of the rateable value of the hereditament was attributable to use for the purpose of a private dwelling; or

(b) in Scotland, before 1st April 1989 an assessor acting pursuant to section 45(1) of the Water (Scotland) Act 1980(219) (provision as to valuation roll) has apportioned the net annual value of the premises including the dwelling occupied as the home between the part occupied as a dwelling and the remainder,

the amounts applicable under this Schedule are to be such proportion of the amounts applicable in respect of the hereditament or premises as a whole as is equal to the proportion of the rateable value of the hereditament attributable to the part of the hereditament used for the purposes of a private tenancy or, in Scotland, the proportion of the net annual value of the premises apportioned to the part occupied as a dwelling house.

(2) Subject to sub-paragraph (1) and the following provisions of this paragraph, where the dwelling occupied as the home is a composite hereditament, the amount applicable under this Schedule is to be the relevant fraction of the amount which would otherwise be applicable under this Schedule in respect of the dwelling occupied as the home.

(3) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (2), the relevant fraction is to be obtained in accordance with the formula—

where—

A is the current market value of the claimant’s interest in that part of the composite hereditament which is domestic property within the meaning of section 66 of the Act of 1988;

B is the current market value of the claimant’s interest in that part of the composite hereditament which is not domestic property within that section.

(4) In this paragraph—

“composite hereditament” means—

“local non-domestic rating list” means a list compiled and maintained under section 41(1) of the Act of 1988;

“the Act of 1987” means the Abolition of Domestic Rates Etc. (Scotland) Act 1987(220);

“the Act of 1988” means the Local Government Finance Act 1988(221).

(5) Where responsibility for expenditure which relates to housing costs met under this Schedule is shared, the amounts applicable are to be calculated by reference to the appropriate proportion of that expenditure for which the claimant is responsible.

Existing housing costs

8.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Schedule, the existing housing costs to be met in any particular case are—

(a) where the claimant has been entitled to an employment and support allowance for a continuous period of 26 weeks or more, the aggregate of—

(i) an amount determined in the manner set out in paragraph 11 by applying the standard rate to the eligible capital for the time being owing in connection with a loan which qualifies under paragraph 16 or 17; and

(ii) an amount equal to any payments which qualify under paragraph 18(1)(a) to (c);

(b) where the claimant has been entitled to an employment and support allowance for a continuous period of not less than 8 weeks but less than 26 weeks, an amount which is half the amount which would fall to be met by applying the provisions of sub-paragraph (a);

(c) in any other case, nil.

(2) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1) and subject to sub-paragraph (3), the eligible capital for the time being owing is to be determined on the date the existing housing costs are first met and thereafter on each anniversary of that date.

(3) Where a claimant or that claimant’s partner ceases to be in receipt of or treated as being in receipt of income support, income-based jobseeker’s allowance or state pension credit and one of them becomes entitled to an income-related allowance in a case to which paragraph 3 applies, the eligible capital for the time being owing is to be recalculated on each anniversary of the date on which the housing costs were first met for whichever of the benefits concerned the claimant or the claimant’s partner was first entitled.

New housing costs

9.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Schedule, the new housing costs to be met in any particular case are—

(a) where the claimant has been entitled to an employment and support allowance for a continuous period of 39 weeks or more, an amount—

(i) determined in the manner set out in paragraph 11 by applying the standard rate to the eligible capital for the time being owing in connection with a loan which qualifies under paragraph 16 or 17; and

(ii) equal to any payments which qualify under paragraph 18(1)(a) to (c);

(b) in any other case, nil.

(2) For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1) and subject to sub-paragraph (3), the eligible capital for the time being owing is to be determined on the date the new housing costs are first met and thereafter on each anniversary of that date.

(3) Where a claimant or that claimant’s partner ceases to be in receipt of or treated as being in receipt of income support, income-based jobseeker’s allowance or state pension credit and one of them becomes entitled to an income-related allowance in a case to which paragraph 2 applies, the eligible capital for the time being owing is to be recalculated on each anniversary of the date on which the housing costs were first met for whichever of the benefits concerned the claimant or that claimant’s partner was first entitled.

(4) This sub-paragraph applies to a claimant who at the time the claim is made—

(a) is a person who is described in paragraph 4 or 5 of Schedule 1B of the Income Support Regulations (person caring for another person);

(b) is detained in custody pending trial or sentence upon conviction; or

(c) has been refused payments under a policy of insurance on the ground that—

(i) the claim under the policy is the outcome of a pre-existing medical condition which, under the terms of the policy, does not give rise to any payment by the insurer; or

(ii) that claimant was infected by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus;

(iii) and the policy was taken out to insure against the risk of being unable to maintain repayments on a loan which is secured by a mortgage or a charge over land, or (in Scotland) by a heritable security.

(5) This sub-paragraph applies subject to sub-paragraph (7) where a person claims an income-related allowance because of—

(a) the death of a partner; or

(b) being abandoned by that claimant’s partner,

and where that claimant’s family includes a child.

(6) In the case of a claimant to whom sub-paragraph (4) or (5) applies, any new housing costs are to be met as though they were existing housing costs and paragraph 8 (existing housing costs) applied to them.

(7) Sub-paragraph (5) must cease to apply to a claimant who subsequently becomes one of a couple.

General exclusions from paragraphs 8 and 9

10.—(1) Paragraphs 8 and 9 will not apply where—

(a) the claimant’s partner has attained the qualifying age for state pension credit;

(b) the housing costs are payments—

(i) under a co-ownership agreement;

(ii) under or relating to a tenancy or licence of a Crown tenant; or

(iii) where the dwelling occupied as the home is a tent, in respect of the tent and the site on which it stands.

(2) In a case falling within sub-paragraph (1), the housing costs to be met are—

(a) where paragraph (a) of sub-paragraph (1) applies, an amount—

(i) determined in the manner set out in paragraph 11 by applying the standard rate to the eligible capital for the time being owing in connection with a loan which qualifies under paragraph 16 or 17; and

(ii) equal to the payments which qualify under paragraph 18;

(b) where paragraph (b) of sub-paragraph (1) applies, an amount equal to the payments which qualify under paragraph 18(1)(d) to (f).

The calculation for loans

11.  The weekly amount of existing housing costs or, as the case may be, new housing costs to be met under this Schedule in respect of a loan which qualifies under paragraph 16 or 17 are to be calculated by applying the formula—

where—

A = the amount of the loan which qualifies under paragraph 16 or 17; and

B = the standard rate for the time being applicable in respect of that loan.

General provisions applying to new and existing housing costs

12.—(1) Where on or after 2nd October 1995 a person enters into a new agreement in respect of a dwelling and an agreement entered into before 2nd October 1995 (“the earlier agreement”) continues in force independently of the new agreement, then—

(a) the housing costs applicable to the new agreement are to be calculated by reference to the provisions of paragraph 9 (new housing costs);

(b) the housing costs applicable to the earlier agreement are to be calculated by reference to the provisions of paragraph 8 (existing housing costs);

and the resulting amounts are to be aggregated.