§ Mr. KidneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what reductions are applied to an entitled person's(a) housing benefit and (b) council tax benefit during a period of in-patient (i) NHS hospital treatment and (ii) private hospital treatment. [19115]
§ Malcolm WicksAfter six weeks of in-patient treatment in a national health service hospital people in receipt of housing benefit (HB) or council tax benefit (CTB), but who do not receive income support (IS), have their benefit reduced. This adjustment reflects the patient's lower day-to-day living expenses which result in more income being available to meet housing costs. At688W this stage, no automatic reduction is applied to HB or CTB paid to people receiving privately funded hospital treatment.
People who receive HB or CTB and IS will have an analogous reduction applied to their IS entitlement after six weeks of in-patient treatment in a national health service hospital. Their HB or CTB entitlement will remain unchanged at this point unless they cease to be entitled to IS. Where IS entitlement does stop, people affected can reapply for HB or CTB at the reduced levels.
After 52 weeks, or earlier if the local authority decides that the person's absence from home is likely to be substantially more than 52 weeks or permanent, both HB and CTB are withdrawn for all hospital in-patients.