Housing Benefit

Who can claim Housing Benefit

You can only make a new claim for Housing Benefit if any of the following apply:

• you and your partner have both reached state pension age
• one of you has reached state pension age and started claiming pension credit (for you as a couple) before 15 May 2019
  You can check your state pension age at GOV.UK
• you live in temporary accommodation such as a B & B arranged through the Council
• you live in specified housing – such accommodation includes hostels, refuges and homes for people with disabilities

If none of these apply, then you need to apply straight away for Universal Credit. Universal Credit is not usually backdated.

If you do meet the criteria and can claim Housing Benefit you may be eligible if;

• your savings are below £16,000 unless you get Guarantee Credit of Pension Credit
• you have a commercial rent liability
• you are not an asylum seeker or sponsored to be in the UK

Couples and Housing Benefit

Only one person in a couple can claim Housing Benefit. We still need to know information about both of you.

Joint tenants and Housing Benefit

Individuals sharing a home as joint tenants can make separate Housing Benefit claims for their share of the rent.

Full-time students and Housing Benefit

If you are a full-time student, you can only get Housing Benefit if any of the following apply:

• you are not already claiming Universal Credit
• you get Income Support or income-based Job Seeker’s Allowance or income related Employment Support Allowance
• you are 21 or under and in normal education (up to A level)
• you or your partner are 60 or over
• you are responsible for a child or for a foster child placed by the local authority or voluntary organisation
• you meet conditions for a disability premium
• you have limited capacity for work for Employment Support Allowance purposes for at least 28 weeks
• you get a grant that includes an amount for deafness

Renting from a close relative

If your landlord is a close relative, you can only get Housing Benefit if you do not live with them and the tenancy is on a commercial basis.

You can tell us how your tenancy has been set up by filling in our customer questionnaire if you rent from a relative.  You can send us these when you apply for Housing Benefit to avoid delay or you can wait to find out if we need them.

As a landlord renting a property to a relative you will need to fill in the landlord questionnaire at the same time.

How to apply for Housing Benefit

We find that most people check if they are entitled to any help before they actually apply for Housing Benefit . For more information about this see GOV.UK calculators.

To apply for Housing Benefit, see claiming Housing Benefit online.

You still need to use our form even if you have already answered questions about claiming Housing Benefit at your local Job Centre. This is so we have full information and can make sure you get all the benefit you are entitled to.

You might also be able to claim Council Tax Support if you are on a low income. The same form covers both Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support, so you can apply for both at the same time.

What happens after you apply for Housing Benefit

We normally make decisions and start making payments within 10 working days of getting all the information we need. You will be able to see our decision letter as soon as we issue it if you have an online account – you can register for an online account now if you haven’t done so already. We will post the letter if you don’t have an online account. We may also phone you.

We usually award Housing Benefit from the Monday after we get the form, unless we agree to backdate the claim. For more information about payments, see housing benefit payments.

You must tell us about any changes that might affect your claim.

There is a process you can follow if you disagree with our decision.

If someone is helping you with your Housing Benefit claim

If someone is helping with your Housing Benefit claim and you want us to share information with them, you need to let us know that you are happy for us to do so. See authority to discuss.

Where people are unable to manage their own financial affairs, an appointee can handle their benefits claims for them.

Foreign nationals and returning UK nationals

Foreign nationals and UK nationals returning to the UK after living in another country may need to give us extra information so we can check eligibility for Housing Benefit. To find out how to send us the completed forms, see supporting evidence.

European Economic Area nationals

If you are an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen, living in the UK, you and your family should have applied to the EU Settlement Scheme. Getting a Settled Status under the scheme, or if you have Indefinite Leave to enter and remain will mean you will be eligible to apply for Housing Benefit.

If you arrived in the UK before 31.12.2020 and have Pre-settled status under the scheme you may be eligible to apply for Housing Benefit if you are exercising a qualifying right to reside under EU legislation, for example, as worker or self-employed person, or if you are deriving residency rights from a family member. We may need you to fill in a person from abroad (PFA) form, habitual residency form or both. You can send us these when you apply to avoid delay, or you can wait to find out if we need them. You can attach the documents to our forms.

If you arrived in the UK after 31.12.2020 and have Pre-settled status under the scheme you are not eligible to apply for Housing Benefit.

If you are eligible to apply for Housing Benefit any award will be dependent upon your age, total household income, capital and on your eligible rent amount used in the calculation.

Returning UK and Irish nationals

If you are a UK or Irish national returning to the UK after living in another country, we might ask you to fill in a habitual residency form. You can send us this when you apply to avoid delay, or you can wait to find out if we need it.

People from the rest of the world

If you are not a UK, Irish or EEA national, you need to give us copies of documents from the UK Visas and Immigration Agency, the UK Border Agency or the Home Office showing us how you are able to live and work in the UK. We will need this before we can consider your claim. 

How much Housing Benefit you might get

You can get an estimate of how much Housing Benefit you might get by using the entitled to benefits calculator (link opens in a new window) or the Turn2us benefits calculator (link opens in a new window).

The amount you can get depends on your circumstances. To find out more about how different circumstances affect benefit claims, see working out Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support.

Housing Benefit is based on ‘eligible rent’. Where rent includes services, some services will count towards eligible rent and some will be ‘ineligible’. Eligible services include communal services such as caretakers and shared area heating and lighting. Ineligible services include things like water, heating, and payments for food.

If you are a social housing tenant, your Housing Benefit won’t cover what you pay for ineligible services. There is a bedroom limitation for social housing tenants - see Under-occupancy rules ('bedroom tax').

If you are a private tenant, Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rules mean you can include both eligible and ineligible services up to the LHA limit.

Backdating Housing Benefit claims

The arrangements for backdating Housing Benefit claims are different for working age people and people of Pension Credit age.

Backdating Housing Benefit for working age people

Housing Benefit can be backdated for working age people for up to a month from the date we get a written request to backdate, where there is a good reason for not claiming earlier. You will need to tell us why you have been unable to make a claim earlier. You can do this when you apply for Housing Benefit or put the detail on the contact us about benefits form.

Backdating Housing Benefit for people of Pension Credit age

If you are Pension Credit age, we will automatically look at your circumstances for the 3 months before the date you apply for Housing Benefit. We will then backdate your claim for up to 3 months if you meet the qualifying criteria. This is called ‘take up’.

Extended Housing Benefit payments

If you are starting a job or have increased your earnings, you might still be able to get Housing Benefit at the same rate as before for 4 weeks. See extended benefit payments.

Temporary absence and Housing Benefit

In some situations, you can keep claiming the same amount of Housing Benefit even if you or other people have to live away from home for a while. See temporary absence.

Housing Benefit prior to occupation

You might be able to get Housing Benefit to cover up to 4 weeks rent if you had to pay rent before you were able to move in. This type of Housing Benefit is called ‘benefit prior to occupation’. You can ask for benefit prior to occupation in any of the following circumstances:

• you could not move in because you were waiting for a Budgeting Loan decision from the Department for Works and Pensions to meet a need related to moving in to the property, and you have a child aged 5 or under, and you were not paying rent at another address
• you could not move in because you were waiting for  a Budgeting Loan decision from the Department for Works and Pensions to meet a need related to moving in to the property, and you are of Pension Credit age, and you were not paying rent at another address
• you could not move in because you were waiting for a Budgeting Loan decision from the Department for Works and Pensions to meet a need related to moving in to the property, and your Housing Benefit calculation includes disabled or disabled child premium, and you were not paying rent at another address
• you could not move in because you were in a hospital or in a nursing or residential home, and you were not paying rent at another address
• you could not move in because you were waiting for work to be done in the property to meet the needs of a disabled household member

There is more information about Budgeting Loans from the Department for Works and Pensions here.

You can apply online for benefit prior to occupation. You need to apply for Housing Benefit before you move in, but you can only apply for 'benefit prior to occupation' after you have moved in.

Sharing information with landlords

It can help us deal with your claim or changes to your claim faster if we can talk to your landlord. There is space on the application form for you to say whether you are happy for us to do this or not. If you want to give permission and are already getting benefit, you can use our online authority to discuss form.

If you give us authority, we still don’t give landlords any information about your personal, household or financial circumstances. We will only tell them whether:

• you have claimed Housing Benefit
• we have made a decision on your claim
• we need more information to make a decision on your claim 
• your Housing Benefit is in payment and how much you are getting

If you don’t want us to be able to talk to your landlord any more, you can contact us about benefits.