The following is based on a real life example of one of our clients

Georgina is a single mother, having left a violent and abusive husband, with 3 children (aged 4, 7 & 10). When she was with her husband he was working in London so they needed to live in London. Now she is raising her three children single-handedly, through no fault of her own. She lives on benefits and relies on the support of local friends and family. Her ex-husband is not contributing in any way.

Her housing benefit was cut last year as a result of the housing benefit caps so, in order to remain close to her support systems, she downsized and now lives with her 3 children in a 2 bedroom flat at a rent of £330 per week.

She currently receives £591.73 a week in income support, child benefit, child tax credit and housing benefit. Prior to April 2013 this left her with £261.73 after rent, however she now has to pay £4.37 a week in Council Tax. After paying her energy bills she is left with £220 with which to feed and clothe her children and take them to school.

From 15^th July she will be subject to the benefit cap meaning her Housing Benefit entitlement of £305.77 will be reduced to £214.04. After she pays her rent and energy costs this will leave her with just £128.63 a week to survive on – an impossible task. What would you do in her situation?

I am currently studying Social Work at the University of West London but still live at home during the holidays. Under the new ‘bedroom tax’ regulations rooms occupied by students studying away from home are meant to be exempt. However Barnsley Council recently contacted my parents to inform them they would have to pay for my room, even though I am a full time student.

I called the council on behalf of my mum to inform them that the room is occupied by a full time student so could not be classed as under-occupied. They asked me to put this in writing, after which they then wrote back asking for seven pieces of information to prove that the room is occupied by the student. These included train tickets to prove the periods I had been at home (who keeps train tickets from 2011?!) and a list of all the times I have visited home since starting my course, where belongings are kept and post is delivered, what sort of accommodation do I live in at uni and what work I have undertaken during my summer holidays.They also threatened that even if the bedroom is exempt then they would make a Non-Dependant Deduction anyway.

Whilst I could provide the information they requested (with the exception of train tickets), this is an exceedingly over-zealous and bureaucratic process.  If they ask this information of all households with a full time student it must waste an incredible amount of time as well as causing anxiety, especially with the threat of having to pay a Non-Dependant Deduction.

In my case I am fortunate enough to be on  a placement at Z2K so I was armed with the knowledge that Non-Dependant Deduction do not apply to full time students, but someone with this knowledge may have been made to pay.