Allowances that reduce housing-benefit income

Housing benefit does not attach to the net amount paid out, but to total income after statutory adjustment. The lower this figure, the more likely a subsidy remains after the formula. Allowances are therefore not an extra payment, but a deduction on the income side.

They apply only if the statutory conditions are met and evidenced. The general rules on income remain fully applicable alongside them.

Under section 17 WoGG an allowance of 1,320 euros a year is deducted for single parents. You are a single parent for housing-benefit purposes if you live in the dwelling with at least one minor child and no other adult belongs to the household. A separated parent who does not live in the dwelling does not usually change this classification.

If two adults live with the child – for example in a new partnership – this allowance falls away, even if you are still a single parent for maintenance-law purposes. The life situation is described on the Single parents page, the household boundary under Household members.

For severely disabled people with a degree of disability of 100, or for people who are helpless or have a care grade, section 17 WoGG provides an allowance of 1,800 euros a year. The amount is taken into account against the income of the person concerned or in the household’s total income.

Evidence is the severely disabled person’s pass or the assessment notice, and in the case of a need for care the corresponding notice from the care fund. Guidance on the application route is on People with disabilities.

Besides the allowances in section 17, flat-rate deduction amounts reduce annual income if the burden actually arises:

Maintenance that a household member pays to people who do not belong to the household can lower countable income. The condition is a demonstrable entitlement and actual payment – for example by a court order, a youth-welfare deed or a bank receipt.

For income from employment, work-related expenses are taken into account under housing-benefit rules; a flat rate often applies here unless higher expenses are evidenced. Which documents the office expects is under Documents.

A modest pension can fall further through the disability allowance; that alone does not create a claim if the rent is low or assets are substantial. Employed single parents often combine the single-parent allowance with the deductions under section 16. See Pensioners and Employees.

Allowances change nothing about assets: anyone above the protected amount remains excluded, even if monthly income after deductions looks small. How the adjusted figure enters the formula is explained in the calculation.

Allowances are not automatically “thought of” if the facts are not visible from the documents. A severely disabled person’s pass, a care notice, evidence of single parenthood and proof of maintenance payments therefore belong with a complete application – for a first application as for a renewal.

Whether a subsidy remains after all deductions also depends on household size and countable rent. The order of the check is under Eligibility.