RR2 - A guide to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit
Claiming Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit
- How to claim
- Couples
- Appointees and nominees
- Information and evidence
- How long it takes to decide your claim
- Date of claim
- Backdating a claim
- Benefit periods
How to claim
This section explains all aspects of claiming Housing Benefit (HB) and Council Tax Benefit (CTB).
If you make an application for Pension Credit, Income Support or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
If you claim HB and/or CTB at the same time as claiming Income Support, Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) or Incapacity Benefit from Jobcentre Plus, normally your details will be taken over the phone. They will then send you a statement of your circumstances for you to check, sign and return to Jobcentre Plus either at an interview or by post if you are not required to attend the office. Once you have returned this statement to Jobcentre Plus along with the necessary evidence in support of your benefit claims they will send details of your HB and/or CTB claim(s) to your local council.
If you apply for Pension Credit, you can also claim Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit at the same time over the phone. Call The Pension Service on 0800 99 1234.
Occasionally, Jobcentre Plus or The Pension Service will send you a Pension Credit/Income Support/JSA application pack which will contain claim form HCTB1 which you should fill in and return to your local council. The Pension Service or Jobcentre Plus will tell the council if you are entitled to Pension Credit, Income Support or income-based JSA or not. [HB Reg 18, CTB Reg 10]
If you are already getting Pension Credit, Income Support or income-based JSA and you become responsible for council tax and/or accommodation costs you will need to claim HB and/or CTB direct from your council.
If you are not applying for Pension Credit, Income Support or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
If you are not making an application for Pension Credit, Income Support or income-based JSA you need to make your claim direct to your local council. Local councils have their own claim forms, and you will have to contact your own council to get one. You can get the address of your council from the phone book, libraries, Citizens Advice Bureau, or council offices like the housing department.
When you have completed your HB/CTB claim forms you need to return them to the council
Couples
If you are married and your husband or wife normally lives with you, or if you live with someone as though you are a married couple, only one of you can make the claim for both. You may choose who is to make the claim, or if you cannot agree who is to claim, the council will nominate one of you to be the claimant. [HB Reg 71(1), CTB Reg 61(1)]
Appointees and nominees
An appointee, for the purposes for HB/CTB, is someone over 18 appointed by the local authority, to manage the HB/CTB claim of someone who is incapable of doing so themselves (mainly because of mentally incapacity). A nominee is someone who collects benefit for the customer even where the customer is otherwise capable of managing their benefit.
Appointees
If you are already an appointee for other benefits and wish to be the appointee for HB/CTB, you should write to be appointed by the local authority. The role and responsibilities are the same. If you wish to become an appointee you should get in touch with your local authority; they will explain the process and your responsibilities.The local authority can end the appointment at any time. It is ended automatically if one of the people listed below is appointed. As an appointee you can resign at any time. An appointee cannot be made where there is already someone acting for the customer’s financial affairs in any of the following capacities: [HB Reg 82(3), CTB 68 (3)]
- a receiver appointed by the Court of Protection
- under Scottish law, a tutor, curator or other guardian, a continuing attorney or welfare attorney
- someone appointed to have the power of attorney.
Nominees
A nominee is someone you name to collect your money for you. But you still need to fill in your own claim form and notify the council of changes in your circumstances. Your nominee must be at least 18 years old. You need to let the council know who you have chosen as your nominee.
When the council has agreed to your choice of nominee, they can pay your HB to your nominee. (You need to arrange how to collect your benefit between yourself and your nominee). [HB Reg 86, CTB Reg 72]
Information and evidence
The council may need more information or supporting evidence so that they can calculate your HB/CTB. If all the information they need is not on the claim form, or they need to clarify something or want some more verification of your circumstances the council will write to you. If you do not reply within one month a decision will be made on your claim based on the evidence you have provided. (The council may extend the one month time limit if they think it is reasonable to give more time) HB Reg 86, CTB Reg 72 CTB(SPC)Reg57].
How long it takes to decide your claim
Your council must deal with your claim for HB/CTB within 14 days of receiving all the information from you that they need to work out your entitlement; or as soon as possible after that. If you are a private tenant your council should make the first payment within 14 days of receiving your claim. If there is a delay in assessing your claim for HB you can get a payment on account to help you with your rent until HB is assessed, provided that you have not failed, without good cause, to provide evidence or information which the authority has requested and reasonably requires to assess your claim. [HB Reg 89(2), CTB Reg 75(2), HB Reg 91(3), HB Reg 93(1)].
Any enquiries you want to make should be directed to your local council or your local councillor.
Date of claim
The date of claim will be the the date of first contact typically by phone for claims made alongside a clam for IS/JSA(IB) provided that the claim form is returned to an office of the LA (or DWP for a claim linked to IS/Jobseekers Allowance (JSA)/Pension Credit) within one month of the claim form being issued.
The date of claim for a HB/CTB claim made alongside a claim associated with IB/JSA(C) would be the date of receipt of the written claim.
The date of claim for all standard claims to HB and/or CTB will be the date of first contact.
If you change your address
If you move to a different council area, you must make a new claim for HB/CTB at your new council. If you move within the same council area, you must still tell your council. They will tell you whether you need to make a new claim for HB/CTB. If you are in private rented accommodation, your new claim will usually be affected by the rules about claim-related rent and local reference rent.
Backdating a claim
Your claim to HB/CTB may be backdated in some circumstances. You must prove to the council that there was continuous good cause for not having made an earlier claim. However, the maximum time the council can go back is 52 weeks from the date your claim for backdating was actually made. You must show there was ‘good cause’ for not making an earlier claim throughout the whole of any period you want backdated up to the date your claim for backdating was made. [HB Regs 83, CTB Reg 69]
If you have reached the qualifying age for state pension credit your HB/CTB may be paid for up to 12 months before the date you made your claim. You do not have to ask for this and you do not have to show “good cause” for not having claimed earlier. [HB(SPC) Reg 64(1), CTB(SPC) Reg 56
Start of benefits
Start of benefit – Housing Benefit
When you first make a claim for HB your entitlement will normally start from the next benefit week. Whenever you make your claim, it will cover the period beginning on the following Monday. Although this may mean that you do not get any HB for a few days, you will normally get money that makes up for this when you stop getting HB. [HB Reg 76]
The only time you will get HB from the week that you start claiming is when you become liable for the first time to pay rent for your home and claim HB in the same week that you become so liable. This is so that you can make your first rent payment on time.
Start of benefit – Council Tax Benefit
If you become liable for the council tax for the first time, for example if you move to a new address or reach the age of 18 or stop being a registered student, you should claim either in advance (you may claim up to 13 weeks before you expect to become liable), or in the week that your liability starts. You then get benefit from the day you start being liable. If you claim later than this, your benefit starts on the Monday after the day you claim. [CTB Reg 64]
If you are already paying the council tax and become entitled to benefit because you have less money or your applicable amount changes, you also start getting benefit on the Monday after you claim.
In a few cases your claim to HB/CTB may be backdated.
Start of Council Tax Benefit where a claimant acquires a partner
If you acquire a partner, you and your partner will be jointly and severally liable for the council tax. [CTB Reg 74]
If you notify the council of the change, either before, or in, the week that your partner becomes jointly and severally liable, benefit for you And your partner, as a couple, can be paid from the day that joint liability for council tax begins.
If you notify the council of the change after the week in which your partner becomes jointly liable for council tax, benefit for you and your partner, as a couple, can only be paid from the Monday following the day you told the council about the change. In this case, the council will re-assess your benefit entitlement from the Monday following the day you and your partner become a couple, and they will take any income and capital your partner has into account and will look at your joint needs.
End of benefit – Housing Benefit
If you no longer qualify for HB it will be stopped from the beginning of the next benefit week. In this way, even if you did not get any HB for the first few days after your claim, it may be made up when you stop. [ HB 79 and HB(SPC) 59]. However, in some circumstances, it may end on the day you cease to qualify for HB.
End of benefit – Council Tax Benefit
If you stop being liable for the council tax, for example if you move away from an address or become exempt or start being a registered student, your CTB stops on the day you stop being liable. If you no longer qualify for CTB because, for example, your income increases or your applicable amount changes, your CTB will be stopped from the beginning of the next benefit week. [CTB Reg 58, HB Reg 72, CTB Reg 62]
End of Pension Credit, Income Support or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance entitlement
If you stop getting Pension Credit, Income Support or income-based JSA, you must tell the council and they will have to stop your HB/CTB. At the same time they will send you a claim form for you to explain your new circumstances, because you may still be able to get some help with your rent/council tax.