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Please click on the appropriate link from the list below for an answer to you Housing Benefits questions:
If you wish to make a claim, please click on the link below to download a benefit claim form:
Please note that you will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this document. Further information about downloading documents is available on this site.
Alternatively, email us and we will send you a claim form.
Use our online benefits calculator is see if you are entitled to benefits, and an estimate of your entitlement.
Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit are national welfare benefits that help people on low income, or other state benefits, meet their rent and Council Tax costs.
There are three types of Housing Benefit. Rent Rebate is paid to people who rent from the Council and Rent Allowance paid to those who rent from a private landlord or Housing Association. From 7th April 2008 Housing Benefit will take the form of a Local Housing Allowance for people who rent from private landlords if they do not have an existing claim or have changed address on or after that date.
There are also two types of Council Tax Benefit. Main Council Tax Benefit and Second Adult Rebate.
Both Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit are means tested benefits. When we work out how much benefit you are entitled to receive we have to take into account things like your income, capital, any savings or investments that you have and any other people that live with you.
The maximum amount of housing benefit granted can be up to 100% of the rent you pay if your claim is made before 7th April 2008. If you rent from a private landlord the Rent Officer will look at the rent for your home in order to see whether the rent is reasonable. Your Housing Benefit may be restricted if the rent you pay is unreasonably high or your home is too large for your personal circumstances.
If you rent from a private landlord and your claim is made after 7th April 2008 or you move home after that date you will receive Local Housing Allowance.
You can claim if you
For example
If you fall into one of these categories you should contact us for more information.
That depends on your rent, Council Tax, income and whether you have other people living in your house, and when your claim is made.
Claims made before 7th April 2008:
If your rent covers "ineligible services" - which means costs for food, fuel or other living costs - these will not be met by Housing Benefit. If you are a council tenant or a Housing Association tenant your estate office or tenancy officer should be able to tell you how much you must pay to cover these charges.
If you or your partner receives state benefits and you are liable for rent and/or Council Tax, you will usually qualify for Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Benefit. This may change if there are other people living with you (Non-dependants) or if you rent from a private landlord.
This is because all rents for private landlords are decided by The Rent Service, who considers whether your rent is too high for the property, too high for the area, or if your property is too large for your needs. Whichever is lower is the maximum amount of help you can get.
Claims made after 7th April 2008:
If you rent from a private landlord and either make a new claim for benefit or move home you will receive Local Housing Allowance. The rates of Local Housing Allowance are set by the Rent Service each month. Current Local Housing Allowance rates.
Second Adult Rebate is another way to help you pay your Council Tax. The maximum amount that can be awarded is 25% of the Council Tax bill.
It is not based on the money you have, but on the money other people who live with you have, such as a relative or a friend. These people are called 'non-dependants'.
You may be able to get Second Adult Rebate if there are other people living in your home who are on a low income or state benefits but you cannot claim it if you are married or have a partner.
You cannot get Council Tax Benefit and Second Adult Rebate at the same time. If you qualify for both, we will give you the one that reduces your Council Tax the most.
In order to be classed as a second adult, the non-dependant must not be
liable for Council Tax; a joint owner or tenant with you; your married or unmarried partner; living with more than one liable person. You will need to make a claim for Second Adult Rebate unless you have already claimed Council Tax Benefit. The income of the second adult will be taken into account when deciding whether you can get Second Adult Rebate.
If you claim Pension Credits the Pensions Service may give you a form for you to claim Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit. Fill in the form and send it back to us straight away so that we can work out your benefit.
If you claim Income Support, Jobseekers Allowance or Incapacity Benefit you will be asked about Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit when you make your telephone claim with the Jobseekers Plus office. They will also ask you to supply evidence in support of that claim that may be used for your Housing benefit or Council Tax Benefit claim. We will only receive the details of your claim when you have provided evidence to Jobseeker Plus. When we receive your claim we may ask you to provide evidence you have not needed to supply so far, such as details of the rent you pay.
If you are not given a form or not claiming other benefits you can claim by filling in one of our claim forms, and giving us the proof we need to assess your claim.
You should return your claim forms to:
Westminster Benefit Services
PO Box 82
Erith
DA8 1WJ
3rd Floor, Westbourne House
14-16 Westbourne Grove
London
W2 HRH
or
180 Vauxhall Bridge Road
London
SW1V 1ER
It is important that you claim straight away. Do not delay in making a claim as we normally only pay benefit from the Monday after we receive your application form.
Don't delay sending your claim form if the proof needed isn't available at the moment. You can send the information in later, but we cannot work out your benefit without it.
If you apply late, and ask us to pay for a 'backdated' period, we might not be able to pay you for that period. This is because there are strict rules telling us when we can and when we can't pay for a backdated period.
If you need help in completing the application form, or if you have a question about your claim, you can either;
The Housing and Council Tax Benefit scheme is based on regulations set by the Government. The Council needs to know a lot of information about you and your household before we can work out how much benefit you can have. Its aim is to ensure that the correct amount of benefit is paid out.
Benefit Customers are asked to provide evidence of their identity & national insurance number, income, capital, rent liability and household details using original documents (not photocopies). We ask for evidence that we consider reasonable for you to provide.
Don't delay sending your claim form if the proof isn't available at the moment. You can send the information in later, but we cannot work out your benefit until we receive it.
If you have any queries regarding the information that is required please contact us.
We normally pay benefit from the Monday after we receive your application form.
If you move into a new address we can start your claim on the date that you move in provided we receive the claim form before you move in or within the same week (for benefit purposes a week begins on a Monday and ends on a Sunday).
If you are receiving specific state benefits and you move into a new address, your benefit will start on the date that you move in provided we receive a claim form within four weeks of that date.
If you claimed specific state benefits and you claimed Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit within four weeks, your benefit will start from the Monday after your other benefit starts.
If you have friends, relatives or anyone over 18 living in your home, you may get less benefit. These people are called 'non-dependants' and a set amount may be taken out of your benefit each week for each non-dependant who lives in your home.
Non-dependants do not include;
No money will be taken out of your benefit for non-dependants if;
If you get specific state benefits you may get the full amount as benefit, after any non-dependant deductions and ineligible service charges have been deducted. If you are a private tenant, the amount of Housing Benefit you get might also be affected by the Rent Officer's decision.
In all other cases we work out your benefit by comparing the money you get each week with your 'applicable amount'. Your applicable amount is what the government says you and your household need to live on each week. The applicable amount will depend on the circumstances of your household.
We count almost all income you receive. This includes things like:
Some types of income and benefits are ignored but we will advise you of this when we calculate your benefit. If you are in doubt as to the income you have, please declare it when you make your claim. Failure to do so could result in an overpayment of benefit and further action could be considered.
That depends on how much you have. The Government rules say that if you, and your partner if you are a couple, have savings or capital of more than £16,000, you cannot get Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit
If you or your partner are under 60 and have £6,000 or less, it will not affect your claim. However, if you or your partner have between £6,000 and £16,000, it does affect how much benefit you get. For every £250 (or part of £250) you have over £6,000, we add £1.00 to the money we count each week when working out your benefit. This is called 'tariff income'.
If you or your partner are over 60 and have £6,000 or less, it will not affect your claim. Tariff income will only be used if you have between £6,000 and £16,000. For every £500 (or part of £500) you have over £6,000, we add £1.00 to the money we count each week when working out your benefit. This is called 'tariff income'. If you receive Guarantee Pension Credit no tariff income will be used in the calculation of your entitlement.
If you are in doubt as to the capital you have, please declare it when you make your claim. Failure to do so could result in an overpayment of benefit and further action could be considered.
If you qualify for Council Tax Benefit we will pay it straight into your Council Tax account. A new bill will show the amount you have to pay after the benefit has been deducted.
If you are a council tenant who qualifies for Housing Benefit we pay you a weekly 'rent rebate'. The rent rebate goes straight to your rent account and reduces the amount of rent you have to pay.
If you are a private tenant who qualifies for Housing Benefit since before 7 April 2008 or a Housing Association tenant who qualifies for Housing Benefit, we pay you a 'rent allowance'. The rent allowance is usually paid to you, but sometimes we can pay it to your Housing Association or landlord. We usually pay your rent allowance every 4 weeks, in arrears.
If you receive Local Housing Allowance we must pay this to you unless there are exceptional circumstances. We can only make payments to your landlord in specific circumstances and we have developed a set of criteria that help us make a decision on these cases; we call this our Safeguards Policy.
Sometimes we can pay benefit for a period before the date you have claimed. This is called 'backdating' your claim. The maximum that we can backdate a claim is 52 weeks.
There has to be a good reason why your claim is late, this is known as 'good cause'.
By 'good cause' we mean things like:
If you think you have 'good cause' for making a late claim you should make a written request telling us the period you want to claim backdating, give full details and evidence of why your claim is late and supply all the evidence about your income as soon as possible.
We will then consider whether we can backdate your benefit and advise you in writing of our decision.
When we have dealt with your claim for benefit we will send you a decision letter. The letter shows the information we have used to work out your benefit and you should check it carefully.
If you do not understand our decision, or you want to know more, please get in touch with us and ask us to explain it. You should do this within one month of the date on our decision letter. If you ask us for more information after this time, we will still explain the decision to you but we may not be able to look at the decision again if you later decide that it is wrong.
We can explain our decision by sending you a 'Statement of Reasons' explaining how we have worked out your benefit. You can contact us by phone, in writing or you can call into one of our offices.
If you think our decision is wrong you can ask us to look at our decision again or pass your case to an independent tribunal run by the Appeals Service. You must write to us within one calendar month of the date of the decision letter. If you ask for this outside the one calendar month you must also inform us of the reasons for your delay.
If you ask for a written Statement of Reasons you will have the one calendar month from the date of the decision letter plus the time we took to send you the Statement of Reasons.
The law says you must tell us if there is any change to the information we have used to calculate your Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit.
You should tell us immediately, in writing, of any changes in your circumstances. You need to tell us about any change that could affect your benefit, for example, if there is any change to your or your partner's;
You can always check with us if you're not sure.
We cannot list all of the changes in circumstance that you should tell us about, but if you are not sure whether we need to know please contact us.
You should tell us within one month of the change happening. If you don't you could lose benefit.
If you don't tell us on time we may go on paying the same rate of benefit as before and this may be wrong. We may need to change the amount we pay you, or stop your benefit completely because of a change. We will expect you to pay back any benefit that you are overpaid.
If you take more than a month to tell us of a change that would give you more benefit, we can only increase your benefit from the Monday after the date you told us. If there are strong reasons that explain your delay we may be able to pay the extra money from an earlier date, but we cannot guarantee that.
If you don't report a change that you know to affect your benefit, and don't have a good reason for this, you are committing a criminal offence, just as if you gave us false information or concealed the truth.
Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are extra payments we can give you if your Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit is less than the full amount of your rent or Council Tax.
Unfortunately, we cannot give a DHP to cover the cost of things included in your rent, like fuel, water or food charges.
You can claim a DHP to help pay your rent or Council Tax but, we must be satisfied that you need further help.
To apply for a DHP please download the DHP claim form.
This only applies to claims made before 7 April 2008 or where a tenancy agreement renewal is about to take place. A PTD tells you how much of your rent we can use to work out your Housing Benefit.
If you are thinking about moving to a privately rented property and claiming Housing Benefit, then you should apply for a PTD before you sign up for the tenancy. The PTD will help you decide if you can afford to rent the property before you make an agreement with the landlord.
It won't tell you how much Housing Benefit you will get, but it will help you to know if you might have to pay some of the rent yourself.
You can get a PTD form from us. You should fill it in and ask the landlord of the property to sign the form to say that they agree with a PTD being made. You should then send the form to us and we will forward your details to the Rent Officer.
The Rent Officer will then value the property and send a copy of their decision to you, as well as copies to the landlord and to us.
The Rent Service (TRS) is an executive agency of the Department for Work and Pensions. TRS provides valuations for local authorities in England, for use in the assessment of claims for Housing Benefit where the tenant is renting from a private landlord. TRS also sets the Local Housing Allowance.
Housing Benefit Determinations for claims made before 7 April 2008
In making a determination the Rent Officer will consider:
The determination will usually run for 12 months unless there is a significant change to the property or the number of people included within the household.
Local Housing Allowance cases after 7 April 2008
The Local Housing Allowance rate will be decided by the following:
The rate of Local Housing Allowance set in the month you claim will apply to your claim for 12 months unless there is a change in the number of people living with you or you move house.
Current Local Housing Allowance rates
To learn more about The Rent Service click on the following link to their website and visit their Frequently Asked Questions section http://www.therentservice.gov.uk/.
If you leave your home temporarily you should contact us before you go. If you do not contact us your benefit may stop and you may have to make a new claim on your return.
If you contact us first you are still entitled to receive Housing benefit for up to 13 weeks although you must intend to return to the property and you must not charge somebody else rent for living in your accommodation whilst you are away.
If you return after 13 weeks we will not normally be able to pay you any benefit for the time you were away even if you told us before you left.
It is possible for housing benefit to be paid for up to 52 weeks if you have had to leave your home because of fear of domestic violence. If you are in a women's refuge you should ask one of the workers to contact us, if you feel unable to do so yourself, even if the refuge is not in Westminster. We will not disclose your refuge address to anyone.
If you go into hospital we can pay your benefit for up to 52 weeks provided that you are expected to return home within that time. You do not need to contact us before you go into hospital to receive benefit for the time that you are in Hospital. However, if possible you should ask a friend, or relative, or a hospital social worker to let us know where you are as soon as possible.
If you are in prison as a remand prisoner you can still receive benefit for up to 52 weeks. If during this time you are sentenced and committed to prison your Housing benefit will stop unless your sentence is for six months or less. You do not have to inform us before you go to prison to receive benefits however you or a friend, or relative, or a prison social worker should inform us of what has happened as soon as possible.
If you need help or advice about any aspect of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit you can either;
Alternatively you can contact your local Citizens Advice Bureaux or other Advice Agency for assistance.
2008 Westminster City Council. Contact the Council
