Proof of identity and income for housing benefit and council tax support claims

Documents required to support your claim

To support your claim for housing and/or council tax support you may be asked to provide proof of your and your partner’s identity, rent, income and savings.

We cannot award any benefit if you do not supply all of this information.

Proof of identity and national insurance number

You must provide proof of your national insurance number and your partner’s national insurance number.  If you are claiming as a couple but one of you has not got a National Insurance number because your immigration status does not allow you to work, this person will need to attend an interview at the Job Centre Plus to have their identity confirmed.  This will not stop the partner who has a national insurance number from claiming benefit housing and council tax support for both of you.

Please send a least two items of proof for each person.  At least one item of proof must be from the following:

  • Birth certificate
  • Passport
  • Driving licence

Other examples of proof include:

  • Gas/electric or water bill
  • NHS medical card
  • Benefit entitlement

See the housing benefit and council tax support online claim form for a full list of acceptable proof

Proof of income

If you or your partner are employed you must provide:

  • Five wage slips in a row if paid weekly or
  • Three wage slips in a row if paid every two weeks or
  • Two wage slips in a row if paid monthly

If you or your partner are self-employed, you must provide your accounts for the last financial year or a trading summary if you have only recently started trading. 

If you are receiving any state benefits, we will need to see a notification letter.

Proof of savings and investments

We will need to see evidence of all your bank, building society and post office accounts, certificates for premium bonds, National Savings certificates, ISAs, stocks and shares, and unit trusts.  You must provide details for at least the last two months.

Proof of rent

You can provide one of the following:

  • Rent account
  • Tenancy agreement
  • Rent book
  • A letter from your landlord

How to provide your documents

Providing your documents electronically is the quickest way to make sure we get the information we need to process your claim as soon as possible. There are two easy ways to do this:

1. Upload your documents
Complete the evidence upload form where you can attach digital photos or scanned copies of your documents.
Scans and photos should be clearly readable and displayed the correct way up (portrait).

  • Accepted image file types: jpeg, gif, png.
  • Accepted file types: Word (docx), Acrobat (pdf), Excel (xlsx), Plain text (txt).
  • Zip files cannot be uploaded.
  • There is a maximum individual file size per document of 50MB.

If you can’t upload images and it’s not something you’ve done before, then ask someone to help you. It’s a good way of making sure we deal with your application straight away.

Upload now

2. Post documents
If you can’t upload documents, then you can post copies to Ealing Council, PO Box 32251, London W5 5XA. Remember to pay for postage. Do not send original documents since they will be treated as copies and will not be returned.

At the absolute latest, we need all your documents within one month. If not, we are not allowed to process your application. You’ll have to start again.

Problem getting the documents we need to see? If so, call us on 020 8825 7000 to tell us, or your claim will be delayed.

In the future, if you do have a ‘change of circumstances’, we can backdate any increase in money we can give you, if you tell us within a month of the change.

Continue with your application