What's New?

Single and under 35?

Housing Benefit has changed from 1 January 2012 for single people aged 25 to 34 who rent from a private landlord.

Full details of the changes are given here.

Changes from April 2011

The Government has brought in changes to Local Housing Allowance and new rules for people who need an overnight carer who does not live with them.

Full details of the changes can be found here.

Older changes

On 2nd November 2009, there were some important changes to benefit rules.

• Child Benefit is no longer counted as income when we work out your Housing and Council Tax benefit.

  This means that you are more likely to qualify for help if you are on a low income. If you have claimed Housing and Council Tax benefit and were not entitled in the past, or have not claimed before, you may now be able to get some financial help towards your rent and Council Tax charges.

  You will not qualify if you have savings or capital of £16,000 or more.

• The capital threshold has been increased from £6,000 to £10,000 for customers who have reached the qualifying age for State Pension Credit.

  This means that the first £10,000 of any savings that you have is ignored in the calculation of your Housing Benefit and Council Tax benefit. We then assume a weekly income of £1 for every £500 (or part of £500) that you have between £10,000 and the savings limit of £16,000.

  The upper savings limit remains unchanged - if you (and your partner if you are a couple) have savings of more than £16000, you cannot get Housing Benefit or Council Tax benefit unless you also get Guarantee Pension Credit.

• Existing claims for Housing Benefit and Council Tax benefit have been updated automatically.

In October 2008 there were other changes in benefit law, the most important being that any child maintenance payments that you get are now ignored and not counted as income.

If you think that you may now qualify for benefit and would like more information, please contact the Benefits Team.

You can also estimate your benefit entitlement by using our on-line benefit calculator.

To make a claim, you can download a claim form, telephone or call in the request one, or we can visit you at home to complete a form.