General Information

What is Housing Benefit?

Housing Benefit can help you pay your rent. Housing Benefit cannot help you pay your mortgage. If you need help with your mortgage you should contact the Department for Work and Pensions (see external links section below).

What is Council Tax Benefit?

Council Tax Benefit can help you pay your Council Tax. There are two kinds of Council Tax Benefit:

Main Council Tax Benefit – for people with a low income
Second Adult Rebate – if you have people living with you who are on a low income. Your income does not affect entitlement to this.

When you apply for Council Tax Benefit we will automatically work out which type gives you the most money.

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Who can claim?

Anyone who has to pay rent can claim Housing Benefit. This includes you if you are:

a council tenant
a private tenant
a housing association tenant
a lodger or boarder
living in a hostel, hotel or bed and breakfast
living in a mobile home or riverboat
renting under a shared ownership scheme

Anyone who is liable to pay Council Tax can claim Council Tax Benefit. This includes you if you are:

a home owner
renting your home
anyone else with a Council Tax bill in their name

If you are having problems paying your rent or Council Tax you should apply for benefit straight away.
If you (or you and your partner together) have more than £16,000 in savings you will not be entitled to Housing Benefit or Main Council Tax Benefit, unless you also receive Pension Credit Guarantee Credit.

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How to claim

Firstly you need to complete a Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit claim form. The form is the same even if you are only claiming Council Tax benefits.

You can download a claim form by going to our Downloadable forms page.
Or you can call us on 020 8489 1000 and we will send you a form.
Or you can write to the Benefits Service to obtain a form:
Benefits Service
PO Box 10505
Wood Green
N22 7WJ

If you require help filling in the form, simply visit one of our Customer Services centres, you can find details on the Customer Services Centres on the How to contact us page.

On the form you must give information about everyone who lives with you. You will also need to tell us about:

your income
your savings
your rent
the income of other people who live with you.

You will also need to provide proof of all these things.

You can claim Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit on the same form. Once you have filled in the form go to our How To Contact Us page to see where to send it or hand it in.

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How your Housing Benefit is paid

Council Tenants

If you rent your home from the council your Housing Benefit will be credited direct to your rent account. You will not be issued with cheques.

The council will tell you how much is left for you to pay.

Private tenants

Most private tenants will have their Housing benefit worked out using Local Housing Allowance (LHA).

If your Housing Benefit claim is assessed using LHA, we will normally pay benefit directly to you. We prefer to pay Benefit directly to your bank account as this is the safest and easiest way to do it. If you do not have a bank account, we will pay you by cheque.

In some circumstances we will pay your Landlord. You will have to give us good reason as to why we should pay your landlord. We will pay your Landlord if:

we think you will have difficulty managing your financial affairs;
we don’t think you will pay your rent; or
you are 8 weeks or more behind with your rent

We will make a decision on each case individually. If we decide to pay your Landlord we will write to them for their bank details.

For a more detailed explanation of LHA, including payments, please visit the Local Housing Allowance page on this site.

All other private tenants

If you:

rent from a housing association;
live in a houseboat, caravan or mobile home;
moved into your property before 15 January 1989;
live in supported housing; or
pay a large part of your rent towards ‘board and attendance’

We can pay benefit to:

you;
your landlord; or
someone who has been nominated to look after your affairs.

We prefer to pay benefit directly into a bank account as this is the safest and easiest way to receive it. It also avoids the risk of cheques being lost, stolen or delayed in the post.

If you do not have a suitable bank account, we will pay you by cheque.

If you would like independent advice on setting up a bank account, call the Financial Services Authority (FSA) on 0845 606 1234.

If you want to change the way that we pay your benefit, please write to us, visit one of our Customer Services Centres or phone our Customer Services Call Centre on 020 8489 1000.

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How your Council Tax Benefit is paid

Council Tax Benefit is credited directly to your Council Tax account for the whole financial year. When the benefit has been credited you will be sent a new bill. If your benefit changes during the year we will send you a revised bill.

How much benefit can I receive?

If you are in doubt about whether you can get any benefit you should make a claim anyway. We will tell you as soon as we can if you are entitled.

If you want an estimate of how much Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit you can get please visit the entitledto.co.uk website - you will find an online benefits calculator there (see the external links section below).

For people claiming Income Support, Employment and Support Allowance (income related), Jobseeker’s Allowance (income based) or Pension Credit (Guarantee Credit)

If you receive:

Income Support,
Employment and Support Allowance (income related),
Jobseeker's Allowance (income based) or
Pension Credit (Guarantee Credit)

you can normally receive ‘maximum benefit’.

This means that:

Your Housing Benefit will be your ‘eligible rent’ minus any non dependant deductions.
Your Council Tax Benefit will be your Council Tax liability minus any non dependant deductions

For everyone else

If you do not receive any of these benefits you can still claim Housing and Council Tax Benefit.

We will calculate your entitlement by comparing the income and savings of you and your family against the minimum levels that the government expects you to live on.

We allow extra amounts for children, couples, lone parents, pensioners, carers and the disabled.

When we have done this we will have two figures:

An ‘applicable amount’ – This is the minimum amount per week that the government says you and your family need to live on
Your income – This is calculated by taking the actual income of you and your family but ignoring certain amounts (for example, we do not count Disability Living Allowance or a certain part of your earnings). We work this out to a weekly figure.

We then look at these two figures.

If your income is below your ‘applicable amount’ you will receive ‘maximum benefit’.

If your income is above your applicable amount we call this ‘excess income’.

Your Housing Benefit will be your ‘eligible rent’ minus 65% of your ‘excess income’ and any non dependant deductions.
Your Council Tax Benefit will be your Council Tax liability minus 20% of your ‘excess income’ and any non dependant deductions.

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What does 'eligible rent' mean?

Housing benefit can only be paid up to your ‘eligible rent’.

If you rent your home from the Council or a Housing Association, ‘eligible rent’ normally means your actual rent minus any ineligible service charges.

If you are a private tenant and you:

rent from a housing association;
live in a houseboat, caravan or mobile home;
moved into your property before 15 January 1989;
live in supported housing; or
pay a large part of your rent towards ‘board and attendance’

your eligible rent will normally be decided by The Rent Service. Your ‘eligible rent’ can not include ineligible service charges.

In all other cases, your ‘eligible rent’ will normally be set by The Rent Service in the form of Local Housing Allowance (LHA). Your ‘eligible rent’ will be the amount of LHA that The Rent Service has decided is right for the property you need.

For more detailed information on Local Housing Allowance (LHA), including the rates of LHA, visit our Local Housing Allowance page on this site.

For more details about the meaning of "ineligible service charges" and "The Rent Service" please access our Housing/Council Tax Benefits frequently asked questions page.

If you share the total rent payable for your home with other people your ‘eligible rent’ will be based on the share that you and your family pay.

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