Housing Benefit advice
Supported housing, evidenced to the penny.
Independent advice on enhanced Housing Benefit and intensive housing management for local authority approved supported housing providers, and for councils seeking to reduce subsidy loss. Built on a case-law based eligibility framework, and a forensic model that stands up to scrutiny.
The eligibility framework
Intensive housing management and maintenance are support, supervision and sufficient.
Michael Patterson reintroduced the term “intensive housing management” in 2005, and has since developed a Housing Benefit eligibility framework for it, underpinned by case law. At its core is a three-stage test drawn from Upper Tribunal and Commissioners’ decisions.
Stage 1
Beyond general needs
Are you doing more than a standard landlord would?
R(H) 7/07
Stage 2
Supportive in nature
Are you helping the tenant cope with living there?
Chorley BC v EM, CH/4432/2006
Stage 3
Makes a real difference
Would the tenant struggle or fail without it?
Bristol CC v AW, CH/200/2009
Yes to all three: legally sufficient support. The one-line check: “If we removed our service, would this tenant realistically be able to sustain their tenancy?”
The “more than minimal” myth
A modest threshold, too often inflated.
The requirement that care, support or supervision be more than minimal is real. The myth is that it demands substantial personal support. Decision-makers should focus on the actual services provided, and whether they make a real difference to the claimant’s ability to occupy and sustain their accommodation.
- No set hoursDWP guidance: “There is no set number of hours that must be provided for the care, support or supervision to be sufficient.”
- No main-provider ruleThe landlord does not have to be the claimant’s principal support provider.
- No separate packageNo requirement for commissioned care or a separate package of non-HB support.
- Substance, not labelsCalling an activity housing management does not stop it being support.
Case law
The authorities behind the framework
The decisions we rely on when building claims, and when challenging, reviewing and appealing decisions. Summaries are ours; always read the full decision.
| Authority | What it establishes |
|---|---|
| R(H) 2/07CH/423/2006 | Support means “the giving of advice and assistance to the claimant in coping with the practicalities of everyday life”. It need not be care. |
| R(H) 7/07CH/3811/2006 | Care, support or supervision must be more than minimal, and go beyond ordinary landlord functions. The landlord need not be the main support provider. |
| Chorley BC v EMCH/4432/2006; [2009] UKUT 108 (AAC) | Arranging repairs, liaising with contractors and managing the home environment can be support. Repairs, with sufficient intensity, can amount to support. |
| Chorley BC v IT[2009] UKUT 107 (AAC) | Repairs and maintenance responding to tenants’ vulnerability can be support where they go beyond ordinary landlord functions. |
| Bristol CC v AWCH/200/2009; [2009] UKUT 109 (AAC) | The test of more than minimal: is the support likely to make a real difference to the claimant’s ability to live in the accommodation? |
| R(H) 4/09 | The availability and responsiveness of landlord staff can contribute to support and supervision, including reactively. |
| Allerdale BC v JD & Others[2019] UKUT 304 (AAC) | Intensive housing management is neither automatically support nor automatically excluded. Each element is assessed on what it does, and charges apportioned. |
| DW v Oxford CC[2012] UKUT 52 (AAC) | A caution: IHM can be treated as support yet fall short of more than minimal on the evidence. How the evidence is presented matters. |
How we work
A claim should read like an audit trail, not an argument.
Our spreadsheet model breaks an enhanced Housing Benefit claim down to the penny, per week, per resident, across the entire basis of claim. Providers get a claim they can defend. Councils get the evidence they need for subsidy.
- Grounded in the DWP Housing Benefit Guidance for Supported Housing Claims and current case law
- Intensive housing management and maintenance mapped line by line to eligible service charges
- A non-adversarial approach with Revenues and Benefits colleagues, from first draft to decision
Fees: usually factored transparently into the revised claim, so the work is effectively cost-neutral to you.
What we help with
From first claim to tribunal
For providers and councils alike.
01
New claims & rent reviews
Claims rebuilt from the ground up, with every figure traceable to a cost and an activity.
02
Claims under challenge
Responses to information requests, audits and reviews, and allegations of insufficient care, support or supervision.
03
Reconsiderations & appeals
Case-law based submissions, including exempt accommodation versus managed property.
04
Subsidy loss for councils
Where the landlord is not a registered provider, councils usually reclaim only 60% of the excess over LHA. We help close the gap, often through the Exempt Accommodation Project.
Read more
Our analysis
Intensive Housing Management and Maintenance are Support, Supervision and Sufficient
The case law underpinning a practical, defensible position for supported housing providers.
IHM and Maintenance vs “Care, Support or Supervision”
Why intensive housing management and maintenance are support and supervision, and likely more than minimal.
What is “Care, Support or Supervision”, and can it be funded through enhanced Housing Benefit?
Challenging the notion that care, support or supervision in its entirety is ineligible for enhanced Housing Benefit.
Who we work with. We work on enhanced Housing Benefit claims only with organisations approved as supported housing providers by their local authority. We do not help newly established providers seek that approval.
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