People of working age

For housing and council tax benefit purposes a person of working age is anyone aged under 60.

How to claim 
If you claim income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance or Income Support you can claim housing benefit and council tax benefit at the same time. A form is included in the Jobseeker’s Allowance and Income Support claim forms. Once you have completed the form you should send it back to the DWP.  They will pass the form to us:

if you already get income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance or Income Support and you now have to pay rent or if you are not claiming income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance or Income Support you should complete a claim form (pdf). This form is for housing benefit and council tax benefit.

Please print out the claim 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 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 
The date of your claim will be the date that you register your intention to claim with us providing that you return a completed application form within one month of the date of registration.

You can register your intention to claim by telephone, email, in writing or in person at our reception. 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 claim up to 13 weeks beforehand if you know that your circumstances are about to change, for example if you are moving house. 

If you claim in the same week (Monday to Sunday) in which you first become responsible for paying the rent, your housing benefit will start on the same day as the rent.

You can ask for your benefit to start earlier but we can only backdate claims where there was continuous good reason for not claiming sooner. We can only backdate your claim up to 52 weeks from the date of receiving your written request.

Special rules for single people under 25
If you are a single person aged under 25, we normally work out your benefit using a figure called the ‘single-room rent’. This is the average cost of renting a room or a bedsit. Please contact us if you are already renting more than one room or you would like more details.

Your income
To work out how much money you have coming in, we add together your earnings and those of your partner (if you have one) together with any other income and state benefits that you 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
We will need to see you and your partner’s last five weekly payslips or two monthly payslips. If you or your partner are self-employed we will need evidence of your income such as certified accounts or a record of income and outgoings. 

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:

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.

We will ignore any of your 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 £250 or part of £250 you have over £6,000. So, if you have £6,600, 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 rent that you pay after services such as heating, lighting, water rates 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. 

If you get income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance/Income Support or your total income is less than or the same as your applicable amount, you will get maximum housing benefit and/or council tax benefit.  If you do not get income based Jobseeker’s Allowance/Income Support and your income is higher than your applicable amount you will not get maximum housing benefit and/or council tax benefit. The more money you have coming in the less benefit you will get.

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.