Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit information.
What are Housing Benefit and Council Tax
Benefit?
Housing Benefit is available to help you to pay your rent if you
are on a low income. If you pay rent to a housing association or
private landlord, the benefit is called rent allowance. Payments
will normally be paid directly to you but in some cases we can
pay your landlord.
Council Tax Benefit may be claimed by the person responsible for
payment of the Council Tax for your accommodation. Your Council Tax
bill will be reduced by the amount of benefit due to you. Council
Tax Benefit is to be abolished on 31 March 2013 and replaced by a
local Council Tax Reduction Scheme.
If you have other adults living with you, who do not pay you
rent, you may be entitled to second adult rebate. This is an
alternative to Council Tax Benefit, and is worked out using the
income of all other adults in the property.
Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit / Council Tax
Reduction are means tested benefits, administered by the
Council on behalf of the Department for Work &
Pensions. These benefits assist claimants on low incomes
with payment of their rent and Council Tax.
Note: Housing Benefit cannot assist with
deposits or rent paid in advance.
Low income means people on Income Support,
Jobseekers Allowance, low earnings, state benefits, retirement
pensions etc.
Who can claim?
You can claim benefit if you have a liability to pay rent or
Council Tax. Complete the online
benefits calculator for an estimate of the amount of
benefit available to you.
Can I receive Housing Benefit if I sell my home and rent
it from the new owner?
Housing Benefit can sometimes provide help with your rent in
these circumstances, however certain conditions apply:
- you must have sold your home at least five years prior to
claiming, or
- you must be able to show the council that you could not have
stayed in your home without selling it.
A leaflet containing more information on "sale and rent back" is
available in the downloadable documents
section at the bottom of this page.
How to claim
There is no automatic entitlement to benefit, an application
form along with supporting evidence must be
submitted. Download
the application forms from further down the page, or
collect one from one of our Council Offices or the Department for
Work & Pensions. If you are making a claim for Jobseekers
Allowance or Pension Credit the agency handling your claim will
forward your income details to the Council so that Housing
Benefit and/or Council Tax Benefit / Council Tax Reduction can
be calculated automatically.
What supporting evidence
is required?
There are a number of documents that must be
provided in support of a benefit application to allow benefit
entitlement to be determined. All of these documents must be
original.
Proof of identity and National Insurance Number
Claimants must provide evidence of identity and National
Insurance number for themselves and their partner. A leaflet
listing some of the documents that are acceptable is available
from the downloadable
documents section at the bottom of this page.
Proof of income
If you are employed, you are required to provide five wage
slips if you are paid weekly, two wage slips if you
are paid monthly or three wage slips if you are paid
fortnightly. If you do not have wage slips, an official
letter from your employer may be acceptable. The letter
should include the following information:
- The full name and address of your employer
- The number of hours worked and the period covered
- Gross income for the period and year to date
- Income Tax deducted
- National Insurance contributions deducted
- Details of occupational pension or personal
pension payments
- Method of payment (for example, cheque, cash, BACS
etc).
Alternatively we can send a 'Certificate of Earned
Income' directly to your employer. This form requests
all the relevant earnings details that we
require.
Proof of savings/capital
To establish your savings/capital, we will need to see your
last two months' bank statements or the up to date pass books
for each account that you hold, as well as details of any other
investments you may have, for example; stocks and shares,
PEPs, ISAs, Premium Bonds, National Savings Certificates, land or
property etc.
Proof of rent
If you rent your home and wish to claim Housing Benefit, you
will need to provide up to date proof of your rent. This is usually
your tenancy agreement and rent book or a signed and dated
letter from your landlord confirming the following:
- The full name & address of your landlord and managing
agent
- Your tenancy start date and the term of the tenancy
- The amount of rent payable
- The frequency at which the rent is to be paid
- Details of any services included in the rent (e.g meals,
heating, lighting, hot water etc)
- Details of any payments that have already been made (amounts
and dates of the payments).
The application form states what supporting evidence is required
to allow us to process a claim. These documents must be
original, photocopies will not be accepted.
If you cannot provide evidence straightaway you should send in
the form and submit the evidence later.
Receipts will be given for claims accepted at your local office,
if requested.
When to claim
Entitlement to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit /
Council Tax Reduction normally start from the Monday following
the receipt of an application form so if you think that you
may be entitled, it is important that you claim straight away as
benefit can only be backdated if you can show that you had 'good
cause' for not claiming earlier.
Benefit can only be paid if you are actually occupying the
property. New tenants should make sure their claim is submitted the
day they move in or their benefit will only start from the Monday
after they claim. Existing tenants should claim as soon as possible
as their entitlement will start from the Monday after they
claim.
When does entitlement end?
Benefit is paid indefinitely until a person has a change in
their circumstances which means their claim has to be cancelled,
for example, when they move into residential care or out of
the area.
Changes of
circumstance
It is important that all changes of circumstance are
reported to us within one calendar month of the
change occurring. If the change is advantageous to the claimant,
delaying in notifying us may result in loss of benefit. If
the change is likely to be detrimental to the claimant's benefit
entitlement (for example, their wages have increased) an
overpayment may occur if we are not notified immediately.
Note: Failure to report any changes that may
result in a decrease in the amount of benefit awarded may lead to
prosecution.
Will you qualify?
Whether you qualify for help depends on:
- Your income
- Your savings
- The size of your family
- The income of anyone else who lives with you,
(such as grown up children or parents).
You will not be entitled to benefit if you have savings over
£16,000, unless you are in receipt of the Guaranteed element of
Pension Credit. Click here for more
information on how capital may affect your Benefit
Entitlement.
Generally speaking, people in receipt of Income Support, income
based Jobseekers Allowance or the Guaranteed element
of Pension Credit will qualify for maximum benefit, subject to
non-dependant deductions and restrictions to the eligible
rent. For further information on how Housing and Council Tax
Benefits / Council Tax Reduction Scheme are calculated go to
'How Housing & Council Tax Benefits /
Council Tax Reduction are calculated and paid'.