Report a change in circumstances for housing benefit or council tax reduction claims

It is important that you tell us about any changes to your, or your household’s, income straight away to prevent overpayments. You can tell us up to 13 weeks before the change is due to happen.

If you do not tell us about a change that affects your entitlement and we give you too much housing benefit or council tax reduction, then you may have to pay back some, or all, of the money that you have had.  You must tell us within one calendar month of the change happening or you may lose benefit.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) share HMRC information about your earnings and private pensions with us. We will use this information to make sure that you get the correct amount of benefit that you are entitled to, but it is still your responsibility to tell us about any changes that affect your household income.

Before you start

All changes need to be reported online via My Account except for the following:

  • If you are moving out of the borough or reporting a death, telephone 020 8825 7829.
  • If you are a landlord reporting suspected overpayments of housing benefit you must do so in writing to: Benefits service, PO Box 32251, Ealing W5 5XA

You will need

You may be asked to provide written confirmation and documentary evidence of any change in your circumstances that you report, such as:

  • Ending your claim
    • You are moving out of Ealing
    • You no longer need help paying your rent or council tax.
  • Moving home/rent changes
    • Change of address within Ealing, including change of room or rooms
    • Any changes in your tenancy, including increases or decreases in your rent, unless you are a local authority tenant.
  • Temporary absence from home
    • Any absence from your home for more than thirteen weeks where you, your partner or any other member of your household remain within Great Britain
    • Any absence spent outside of Great Britain by you, your partner or any other member of your household for more than four weeks - outside of Great Britain includes Northern Ireland, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands and anywhere else in the world
    • Any absence from your home for more than four weeks where you, your partner or any other member of your household are in hospital.
    • In some of the above situations your benefit will end if it is you that are absent for more than the stated times given above. This is not always the case if it is another member of your household that is absent.
  • Household member changes
    • If anyone has joined or left your household including boarders, joint tenants or sub tenants.
    • You have a new baby.
    • A child leaves school or starts university.
  • Income
    • Entitlement to Income Support, Jobseekers Allowance, Universal Credit, Guarantee Pension Credit, Disability Living Allowance, or Personal Independence Payments begins or ends - you do not need to tell us about the annual April increases in these benefits 
    • Earned Income - starting or stopping work, change of employer, rate of pay, hours worked, etc
    • Changes to private or company pensions.
  • Bank accounts, savings and investments
    • If you or your partner have combined savings or assets over:
      • £6,000 (for working-age people)
      • £10,000 (for pensioners)
    • If you receive Pension Savings Credit only report savings over £16,000.
    • If you receive Guarantee Pension Credit you do not need to report changes in your savings.

The above are only examples of common changes. It is important for you to tell us about any changes - not just the ones listed here - as soon as they happen.

Uploading supporting documents

We may ask you to upload some documents. 

  • Accepted file types: Word (docx), Acrobat (pdf), Excel (xlsx), Plain text (txt).
  • Zip files cannot be uploaded.
  • We also accept clear photos taken on phones and tablets and the following image file types - jpeg, gif, png.
  • There is a maximum individual file size per document of 50MB.

What happens next

After form submission, you will receive notification of the evidence required for your application.

Only changes relating to moving out of the borough or reporting a death will be accepted over the telephone. Please call 020 8825 7829.

 

This form should take approximately eight minutes to complete.

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