Housing Benefit
Housing Benefit helps with your housing costs only if you live in supported or temporary Accommodation.
We will check if you can get Council Tax Support so you can apply for it at the same time and only have to fill the form in once.
If you are not in one of the groups that can claim Housing Benefit to help with housing costs check if you can get Universal Credit on GOV.UK
If you or your partner are pension-age, you either claim help with housing costs from us or you claim help with housing costs from Universal Credit - it depends on your circumstances.
If you are applying for help with your housing costs and are self-employed and do not have accounts for your last full year of trading you can complete the Self-Employed Pro Forma form. This form needs to be completed in addition to the main application form. If we need additional information we will contact you once the form has been submitted.
Mixed age couples, pensioner couples and single pensioners: help with housing costs from 15 May 2019
A ‘mixed age’ couple is a couple where one member is pension age and the other is working age.
If you are part of a mixed age couple and you don’t already get either Housing Benefit or Pension Credit, and you need help with your housing costs, you must claim Universal Credit. When you make your Universal Credit claim, you should also state that you want to claim Council Tax Support to help with council tax. More about claiming Council Tax Support.
If you are part of a mixed age couple and you already get Pension Credit, and you need help with your housing costs, you must to make a new claim for Housing Benefit. We will work out if you are entitled to help with your council tax at the same time. (Please note: the rules also say that if you are part of a mixed-age couple that already gets Housing Benefit, you can make a new claim for Pension Credit instead of claiming Universal Credit).
If you are a single pensioner or part of a couple who are both pension-age, the rules haven’t changed. Universal Credit is not open to you. You can continue to claim Pension Credit through the Pension Service, and if you need help with housing costs claim Housing Benefit separately from us. We will work out if you are entitled to help with your council tax at the same time.
More information about the changes to Pension Credit and Universal Credit for mixed-age couples can be found on the government website.
How do I apply for Housing Benefit?
If you are in one of the groups listed above that can claim Housing Benefit from us you must fill in an application form and send it to the Benefits Section. You can either download the claim form, or contact us and we will send you one by post.
Make sure you complete and return the form immediately you realise you need help to pay your rent, as benefit is normally paid from the Monday after the first indication of a wish to claim. If you haven't got all the evidence we ask for in support of your claim, send whatever you have got to us with the form straightaway. You can send the rest in within one calendar month. We will write to you for any further information we need.