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Housing Benefit If you need help to pay your rent, you may be able to get Housing Benefit. It makes no difference if you are in work or not
Housing Benefit is not paid to help with:
Mortgage interest payments
Some service charges
Meals
Fuel costs
But you may be able to get some help to cover your mortgage interest payments from Income Support (see Income Support).
If you, or you and your partner, have savings of more than £16,000, you cannot get Housing Benefit.
If you get Income Support or income-based
Jobseeker’s Allowance and you pay rent, you may be able entitled
to maximum Housing Benefit. This may not be the same as the rent you are
paying. If you do not get Income Support or income-based Jobseeker’s
Allowance you may still get maximum Housing Benefit if the money you have
coming in is less than the amount allowed for your needs.
The money you have coming in is calculated to include:
Earnings-money you get when you are employed by someone else, and money you get when you are self-employed.
Unearned income-any other money, including some social security benefits
Savings-these are taken into account only if you have more than £3,000. If you have more than £3,000 but less than £16,000, the council will calculate on the assumption that you have money coming in from those savings-between £1 and £52 per week depending on the amount of savings. From April 1996, for certain people living permanently in residential care homes or nursing homes, the lower capital limit was increased from £3,000 to £10,000.
Your needs are calculated to include:
A personal allowance for yourself (this is increased if you have a partner)
An allowance for any dependent children or young people living with you
Premiums for special needs (for example, if you are elderly, disabled or looking after children).
If any money you have coming in is more than the amount allowed for your needs, your Housing Benefit will be reduced. The more you have coming in, the less Housing Benefit you will get
If you qualify for maximum Housing Benefit you will get help from the council to cover all your eligible rent.
Eligible rent means the part you have to pay just to live in your home. It may not be the same as the amount you pay your landlord. For example, Housing Benefit cannot help with day to day living costs such as meals or fuel for heating.
If you have other people living with
you who do not depend on you to support them, you may get less help with
rent. This does not apply if you or your partner are registered blind
or are in receipt of the care component of Disability Living Allowance.
You may be able to get maximum Housing Benefit for an extra four weeks
after your Income Support or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance stops
because you or your partner start work or increase your hours or wages.
The extra help is called an extended payment
To get an extended payment you must be aged under
60 or, if you are getting income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, under
state pension age, and you must have been unemployed and getting Jobseeker’s
Allowance for at least six months or more without a break, or have been
getting Income Support as a lone parent, a carer, for at least six months
without a break.
How to claim
You can get a claim form from your local council. But if you are claiming Income Support or Jobseeker’s Allowance, use the Housing Benefit claim form included in your Income Support or Jobseeker’s Allowance claim form. You may lose benefit if you delay claiming.
Housing Benefit is awarded for limited periods which are set by the council. These are known as benefit periods. You will have to make a fresh claim at the end of each period.
More information
Ask at your local council, or get leaflet RR1 (Housing Benefit-help with your rent) from Citizens Advice Bureaux or your local council.
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Council Tax Benefit is the local tax set by councils to help pay for services. There will be one bill for each dwelling, which will usually be payable by the owner occupier or tenant, including council tenants. If you are on low income and find it hard to pay your council tax, you may be able to get help from the Council Tax Benefit Scheme.
How much you get
Nearly all the rules which apply to Housing Benefit will apply to Council Tax Benefit. The amount of help you can get depends on how much money you have coming in, your personal circumstances, your savings and the amount or council tax you have to pay. If you have a partner, your combined income and savings will be looked at to see what help you and your partner can get.
You may get Second Adult Rebate if someone over 18 lives with you who does not pay council tax, has a low income and is not your partner or paying rent.
If you qualify for Council Tax Benefit and Second Adult Rebate, you will get the higher amount of the two.
You may be able to get maximum Council Tax Benefit for an extra four weeks after your Income Support or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance stops because you or your partner start work or increase your hours or wages. The extra help is called extended payment.
To get an extended payment you must be aged under 60 or, if you are getting income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, under state pension age, and you must have been unemployed and getting Jobseeker’s Allowance for at least six months or more without a break, or have been getting Income Support as a lone parent, a carer, for at least six months without a break.
How to claim
If you claim Income Support or Jobseeker’s Allowance you can claim Council Tax Benefit at the same time. A form to claim Council Tax Benefit is included with your Income Support or Jobseeker’s Allowance claim form, Fill this in and return it to your social security office. They will pass the form to your council. If you delay you may lose benefit.
If you are not claiming Income Support or Jobseeker’s Allowance, get a Council Tax Benefit claim form from your local council.
More information
Get leaflet CTB1-(Help
with your council tax) from your council or social security office.
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Jobseeker’s Allowance (briefly)
This benefit is for unemployed jobseekers who are actively seeking work, are capable of work, and are available for work. It is available as either contribution-based or income-based.
How much
Contribution-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
Person aged 16-17 £31.45Person aged 18-24 £41.35
Person aged 25 or over £52.20
Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
Person aged 16-17 up to £41.35Person aged 18-24 £41.35
Person aged 25 or over £52.20
Couple up to £81.95
Rates vary according to circumstances. Additional amounts may be paid
for dependants and to people with special circumstances.
To claim and for more information
Contact a jobcentre for a claim form. You may lose your benefit if you delay. See leaflet JSAL5-(Jobseeker’s Allowance-helping you back to work).
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Other
Financial Help
Many professions and
industries have benevolent associations which give grants to disabled
people, pensioners and people facing a crisis. To qualify you need to
work or have once worked, in the particular industry or belong to the
family of such a worker.
Ex-members of the armed forces, their families and
dependants may also be able to get financial help from forces benevolent
societies.
Social Security offices are staffed and equipped to make sure disabled people can
get information in the form they need it, including blind people, deaf
people and foreign language speakers.Disability Benefits
Helpline Tel: 0345 123456Benefits Enquiry Line 0800 88 22 00 Textphone: 0800 243355. Advice and information
for people with disabilities and their carers about social security benefits
and how to claim them. The person you speak to will not have your personal
records but will be able to give you general advice.Dial (Disability Information
Advice Line) is run mostly by
people who themselves are disabled. See phone book for your local DIAL or call DIAL UK on
(01302) 310123 or see section in Dial in Main Index
Citizens Advice Bureaux are the largest independent provider of general advice
in England and Wales. They exist to give confidential , impartial free
advice to all and to present policy makers with issues of concern. Some
have Specialist debt and disability advisers See local phone book).
Welfare Rights Officers are employed
by many local authorities. Some may also have a Disability Rights Centre.
Voluntary organisations connected with particular disabilities often provide advice and publications to help make sure you get your full entitlement.Disablement Income Group (DIG) provides advice, advocacy, fieldwork, information, publications, research and training to improve the financial welfare of disabled people. Tel: 0207 263 3981
The Disability Alliance has a rights and
advice line. Tel/Textphone: (0207) 247 8763 (between 2pm and 4pm on Mondays
and Wednesdays.
Publications:
After Age 16 What Next? Service and benefits for young disabled people by Alison Cowen, Family FundA-Z of Welfare Benefits MIND Publications, £2.50 plus 25p postage and packing
Directory of Social Change, 24, Stephenson Way, London NW1 2DP.
Tel: 0207 209 4949, publishes guides to possible sources of grants
Disability Rights Handbook published annually by the Disability Alliance,National Welfare Benefits Handbook published by Child Poverty Action Group
What Tax-the Council Tax explained from RADAR
For full addresses of organisations see ADDRESSES section