Housing Benefit

What is Housing Benefit (HB)?

Housing Benefit is help towards your rent.

You do not have to be unemployed or getting Income Support to get Housing Benefit. If you have a low income, you may be entitled to some help with your rent.

The amount of benefit you get generally depends on your income and benefits, and any other money, savings or investments you have, and on the income and savings of other people who live in your home.

For some private tenants Local Housing Allowance has taken the place of Housing Benefit.

You cannot get Housing Benefit if you have more than £16,000 in savings, stocks and shares or other capital (not including some special payments such as war atrocities payments) unless you receive Guaranteed Pension Credit.

HB - who can claim?

You can claim Housing Benefit if you are working or unemployed. Usually only people on a low income or getting some state benefits will qualify.

You will only be entitled to HB provided you do not have capital or savings over £16,000*. If you have any savings between £3,000* and £16,000* they will be taken into account in calculating your income and may reduce the amount of HB you get.

If you are not sure if you earn too much to qualify, you should claim anyway.

You can use our online benefits calculator to get an estimate of how much housing benefit or council tax benefit you may be entitled to.

Most students and some people from abroad are not eligible to claim HB, but you should seek advice first because each case is different.

People under 25

From 7 October 1996, HB for single people under the age of 25 and living in private rented accommodation was restricted to the "market rent" of a single room, with shared use of kitchen and bathroom. This HB restriction is known as the Single Room Rent.

In effect, if you are single and under 25 years old and find private self-contained accommodation, HB may not cover all the rent you have to pay. This means that you will have to pay any rent HB do not give you out of your own income.

How do I apply for HB?

There are several ways to apply for Housing Benefit (and Council Tax Benefit):

You can apply online for Housing Benefit using our interactive form
You can download a Housing Benefit/Council Tax Benefit Form (PDF 1.5MB) from this website
You can get an application form from the Revenues and Benefits Service.

Start date

Your entitlement will usually start from the Monday after we receive your form, or after you first contacted us asking to claim (but you must get your completed form to us within a month of contacting us). If you delay, you may receive less money. If you think you might be entitled to benefit, please make a claim as soon as possible.

Backdating

Sometimes we can pay benefit from an earlier date if you have good reason for not claiming earlier. If you want us to consider paying your benefit from an earlier date, tell us when you want benefit from and why you did not claim earlier.

If you delay claiming without a good reason, you may lose money.

What information do I need to supply?

To make sure your HB application is processed accurately and quickly, please provide the HB office with all the relevant information we require, such as:

your tenancy agreement (if you have one), rent book, letter from your landlord with details of your home and rent;
proof of Income, e.g.: payslips, bank statements. If you are receiving benefit, HB will want to see your benefit book, giro, certificate from the Department for Work and Pensions.
a completed Housing Benefit/Council Tax Benefit Form.

Please also see the New Rules for Claiming Benefit ("Verification Framework")

Overpaid Housing Benefit

There are special rules that apply if you or your landlord are paid more benefit that you are entitled to. The Housing Benefits Overpayments page has more details.

HB Appeals

If you disagree with a decision about your HB (or Council Tax Benefit), you have the right to appeal but there are time limits. You must put any appeal in writing, and it will help to keep copies of your letters.

Before you make an appeal you should:

ask the Revenues and Benefits Service to give you written reasons for their decision.

If you are still not satisfied with their decision, you can:

ask for an “internal review” by Benefits staff.
ask for a hearing by a tribunal, administered by the Appeals Service Agency.
- The Appeals Service Agency is independent of the Council
- You can find out more about them on their website at www.appeals-service.gov.uk (external)

There is more information on the Housing Benefit Appeals page.

Contact Us

Details of how to contact Housing Benefits are given on the Revenues and Benefits Contacts Page.