Section 134 | Arrangements for housing benefit

(1)Housing benefit provided by virtue of a scheme under section 123 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 (in this Part referred to as “the housing benefit scheme”) shall be funded and administered by the appropriate housing authority or local authority.^F1

(1A)Housing Benefit in respect of payments which the occupier of a dwelling is liable to make to a housing authority shall take the form of a rent rebate or, in prescribed cases, a rent allowance funded and administered by that authority. The cases that may be so prescribed do not include any where the payment is in respect of property within the authority's Housing Revenue Account.^F1

(1B)In any other case housing benefit shall take the form of a rent allowance funded and administered by the local authority for the area in which the dwelling is situated or by such other local authority as is specified by an order made by the Secretary of State.^F1

(2)The rebates and allowances referred to in subsections (1A) and (1B) above may take any of the following forms, that is to say—^F2

(a)a payment or payments by the authority to the person entitled to the benefit;

(b)a reduction in the amount of any payments which that person is liable to make to the authority by way of rent ...; or^F3

(c)such a payment or payments and such a reduction;

and in any enactment or instrument (whenever passed or made) “pay”, in relation to housing benefit, includes discharge in any of those forms.

(3)Repealed^F4

(4)Repealed^F4

(5)Authorities may—^F5

(a)agree that one shall discharge functions relating to housing benefit on another's behalf; or^F5

(b)discharge any such functions jointly or arrange for their discharge by a joint committee.^F5

(5A)Nothing in this section shall be read as excluding the general provisions of the Local Government Act 1972 or the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 from applying in relation to the housing benefit functions of a local authority.^F5

(6)Repealed^F6

(7)Repealed^F6

(8)An authority may modify any part of the housing benefit scheme administered by the authority—

(a)so as to provide for disregarding, in determining a person's income (whether he is the occupier of a dwelling or any other person whose income falls to be aggregated with that of the occupier of a dwelling), the whole or part of any prescribed war disablement pension or prescribed war widow's ... pension payable to that person;^F7F8

(b)to such extent in other respects as may be prescribed,

and any such modifications may be adopted by resolution of an authority.

(9)Modifications other than such modification as are mentioned in subsection (8)(a) above shall be so framed as to secure that, in the estimate of the authority adopting them, the total of the housing benefit which will be paid by the authority in any year ill not exceed the permitted total or any subsidiary limit specified by order of the Secretary of State.^F9

(10)An authority who have adopted modifications by resolution revoke or vary them.

(11)If the housing benefit scheme includes power for an authority to exercise a discretion in awarding housing benefit, the authority shall not exercise that discretion so that the total of the housing benefit paid by them during the year exceeds the permitted total or any subsidiary limit specified by order of the Secretary of State.^F10

(12)The Secretary of State—^F11

(a)shall by order specify the permitted total of housing benefit payable by any authority in any year; and^F11

(b)may by order specify one or more subsidiary limits on the amount of housing benefit payable by any authority in any year in respect of any matter or matters specified in the order.^F11

The power to specify the permitted total or a subsidiary limit may be exercised by fixing an amount or by providing rules for its calculation.

(13)In this section “modifications” includes additions, omissions and amendments, and related expressions shall be construed accordingly.

(14)In this section “war widow's pension” includes any corresponding pension payable to a widower or surviving civil partner.^F12