Extra bedroom allowance

My husband and I have been receiving ESA Housing Benefit & Council Tax reduction for over 10years. Last year due to a change in circumstances (my husband started to receive his State pension) our claim was transferred to UC and is now in my name because I am only 65, at the time of the transfer in November 2024 we received Transitional protection to protect our existing benefits. In February 2025 our circumstances changed again and I applied for the extra bedroom allowance, at first it was declined but I asked for the decision makers to look at it again and the decision was changed and they agreed to pay the extra bedroom. They said they would make the adjustments and it would reflect in my next payment due on 13/1/26 and any arrears due, would be paid separately, however, my monthly payment hasn't changed and they have said I'm not entitled to any arrears, because we received the transitional protection. I contacted them and said that I understand what the transitional payment is but my claim for the extra bedroom was when we were already receiving UC. The first person I spoke to agreed and said to leave it with them, I had to chase it up and then they said we weren't entitlled to the arrears again. I phoned again and repeated what had already been said, and the guy I spoke to agreed with what I was saying and advised me to say as this was referred back to the decision maker, I wanted to appeal for the arrears to be paid. The position I'm in now is they have said I can't appeal because of receiving the Transitional protection, so Im totally confused, my monthly payment hasn't increased, I'm not entitled to any arrears, so I don't understand the point in applying in the first place. Can you please look at this for me and if possible explain (in simple terms) whether or not I should be receiving the extra payment each month and am I entitlled to the arrears from February 2025. I'm sorry this is so long I wanted to explain fully.I look forward to hearing from you.

Hi David the first letter said

Luke 5.11.25
You are entitled to an additional bedroom for an adult we have looked at he information you gave about your housing for your claim. Based on the evidence we have decided that you are entitled to additional housing costs for an additional bedroom. Thisxis because you arecrentingand you have health conditions which prevent you from sharing a bedroom with your partner.
If your circumstances change you must tell UC straightaway there is a change etc etc. Then I asked if the calculation would be backdated or is it just paid with my next payment in November.
Beth replied 14.11.25
Your additional bedroom will only be from your November payment as that's the datecon the decision makers decision. If you reported your need from an earlier date please reply to this message and let me know, we may be able to refer this to our decision makers for further backdating.
I replied 14.11.25
When I notified you of the change I did put the date from 1.8.25 so if you could look at this again I would appreciate it
Karen 18.11.25
We have raised a mandatory reconsideration for you regarding this. This means that you are able to dispute the date the extra bedroom has been allowed from. The request has been made that this be considered from 1.8.25 you will be notified of the outcome through your journal.
Richard 28.12.25
Letter to say Our Decision. -Our revised decision is that you are entitled to an additional bedroom when considering your housing cost element of UC from 11.2.25, this is the start of the payment period in which you first declared the need for an extra bedroom at your former property on 5.3.25. Your case manager will now update your claim and advise you of a review date if applicable. The amount of housing costs you are entitled to will be detailed on your monthly statement.etc etc
I replied on 29.12.25
Thank you for letting me know about the additional bedroom payment will the extra payment paid with our January payment and the new payment amount.
David 7.1.26
Unfortunately there are no arrears as your award hasn't changed due to the presence of transitional protection
I phoned them 7.1.26
They replied to say that they have asked for a case manager to look at my case and will respond tomorrow
David 8.1.26
Unfortunately the lack of arrears is due to your element of transitional protection. Transitional protection on your claim, this element is added to ensure your UC entitlement is to the same value or higher than that of the legacy benefits you were previously in receipt of. As housing allowance is not a protected element of transitional protection any increase to threats housing element will causeway decrease in the transitional protection. Therefore despite the allowance of backdating the spare room entitlement in the decision letter no further arrears is owed as the overall award did not increase .

I will send this as part 1 and part 2 to follow

Lynz

I replied 8.1.26
I asked for an explanation of Transitional Protection and how the Dan who I spoke to on the phone said he didn't understand why I hadn't had any arrears either and advised me to appeal he then messaged me thru the journal to say he had asked a case manager to look at it.
Debbie 14.1.26
TP is in place to prevent you from being worse off on UC than you were on legacy benefits as UC is calculated differently, because your housing costs then increased as the decision maker allowed the extra bedroom this means the TP has now eroded penny for penny with this increase in UC, this is because you were getting more TP previously to make up the difference in the housing costs. If you look back on the statements you can see that when the housing costs increased to what they should be the TP entitlement went down.

I don't understand this because my monthly payment has never changed I called UC to say I don't understand any of this.

20.1.26 Karen
We understand and appreciate this can be difficult when transferring from another benefit maybe the easiest way to view this is by your statements, if you view 17/3/25 you will see that there is a drop down of 2 options Original and Corrected version you will see your housing amount paid is £475.00 if you then use the change options to view your corrected statement the statement was corrected on 7/1/26 you will see that the housing amount paid to you is showing as £550.00this proves that the housing element allowed by the decision maker has been implemented .

I still have no idea why I'm not getting any arrears the TP was to ensure I was no worse off when I had to transfer to UC I get that but the claim for extra bedroom was made when I was already on UC and my monthly payment has remained the same from May 2025 £1091.04 so what is the point applying for this extra payment. Pretty much every statement says its been updated but the amount stays the same. Help !

Regards Lynz