Pensioners

For housing and council tax benefit purposes a pensioner is anyone aged 60 and over.

How to claim housing benefit and council tax benefit if you receive Pension Credit
If you make a claim for Pension Credit you may receive a housing benefit and council tax benefit form from the Pension Service. Once you have filled in the form you should return it to the Pension Service who will pass it to us.

If you are already getting Pension Credit and have not made a claim through the Pension Service for housing and/or council tax benefit you should contact us.  We will send you a claim form, which you should return as soon as possible. 

How to claim housing benefit and/or council tax benefit if you are not getting Pension Credit   
You must claim housing benefit and/or council tax benefit directly from us.  You will need to complete a claim form (pdf). This form is applicable for housing benefit and council tax benefit.

Please print out the form, complete it and return to:
Benefits service, PO Box 32251, Ealing, London W5 2YX or take it to our reception. You can also contact us to request a form.

Please read the guidance notes (pdf) to help you complete the claim form.

Proof of identity and proof of your National Insurance number must be provided when making a claim. All documents to support your claim must be original. We cannot accept photocopies.

When to claim housing benefit and council tax benefit
If you claim housing benefit or council tax benefit (or both) we may be able to start your benefit entitlement up to 52 weeks before the date you claimed.  We can only do this if you have had to pay rent and council tax and were aged 60 or more for this period and you qualify for benefit.  We may write to you for details covering this period. 

You can register your intention to claim by telephone or in person at our reception. We recommend that you send the application form and all the evidence required at the same time within one month. If you cannot provide the evidence within one month of registering your intention to claim please send the claim form to us without delay and send the evidence separately.

We recommend that you send the application form with all the evidence required within one month. If you cannot provide the evidence within one month do not delay in returning the application form, the evidence can be sent later.

You may make a claim up to 17 weeks before your 60th birthday and we will treat your claim as if you had made it on your 60th birthday. 

Your income  
If you get Guarantee or Savings Credit (or both) we will not need to see any proof of savings or income.

If you are not getting Pension Credit, we will add together any income, including earnings if you work and any state benefits that you and your partner (if you have one) have.

We must also take into account any savings and investments you or your partner have. This includes shares, National Savings Certificates and certain property which you or your partner own other than your home.

Types of income are:

The claim form asks you about all the income you get. When we work out your benefit we use the gross earnings less tax, National Insurance and half of any pension contributions that you and your partner make.  In all cases we ignore at least the first £5 every week of your earned income.

Savings
If you do not get Income Support or JSA (IB), we need to know about any savings you or your partner have. When you claim you will need to provide proof of all your savings.

This includes:

• bank accounts (all types), building society accounts and post office savings
• PEPs,TESSAs and ISAs
• stocks, shares, and unit trusts
• National Savings Certificates
• cash
• property or land you own (but not the home you live in)

Normally, if you have savings over £16,000 you are not eligible to claim housing benefit or council tax benefit. This does not stop you claiming second adult rebate.

If you receive Guarantee Credit you will automatically get maximum housing benefit or council tax benefit (or both) less any non-dependant charges, even if you have savings over £16,000.

If you are aged 60 or over we will ignore any of you and your partner’s savings or investments (or both) up to £6,000.  If you have over £6,000, we will add £1 a week to your income for every £500 or part of £500 you have over £6,000. So, if you have £7,300, we will count that as an extra income of £3 a week.

How we work out housing benefit and council tax benefit
We will assess your housing benefit according to the rules set by the government. We can pay extra benefit to war pensioners that qualify.

Each year the government sets figures called allowances and premiums that we use to work out how much money you need to live on each week. The total of these allowances and premiums is called your ‘applicable amount’. Allowances are for basic needs.  There are different rates for single people, couples and children. Premiums are for special needs. There are amounts for families, elderly people, disabled people, single-parent families and carers.

Maximum housing benefit is 100% of the eligible rent that you pay after services such as heating, lighting, water rates and non dependant charges are taken out.  If you pay rent to a private landlord, we may not be able to pay benefit on the full rent if it is too expensive or the accommodation is too large.  Maximum council tax benefit is 100% of your council tax bill less any non-dependant charges. 

If you get Guarantee Credit or your total income is less than or the same as your applicable amount, you will get maximum housing benefit or council tax benefit (or both).  If you do not get Guarantee Credit and your income is higher than your applicable amount you will not get maximum henefit and/or council tax benefit. The more money you have coming in the less benefit you will receive.

Going into residential care accommodation
If you move into residential care accommodation but intend to return home you may be entitled to benefit for up to 52 weeks. If you go into residential care on a trial basis you may be entitled to benefit for up to 13 weeks. You must tell us as soon as possible if you are going away from home and wish to continue claiming housing or council tax benefit.