Housing Benefit
Housing Benefit is a national welfare benefit administered by
local authorities.
- If you're on a low income, whether you're working or not, and
need financial help towards paying your rent, you may be entitled
to Housing Benefit. Housing Benefit can only be paid where there is
a liability to pay rent, and cannot help towards any mortgage
payments.
Council Tax Support
Council Tax Support is a local scheme, to help people with a
Council Tax liability to pay that charge. It is a discount, not a
welfare benefit. All Local Authorities throughout England, have
their own individual scheme.
- If you receive Universal Credit the Council must use the income
details provided by the DWP.
- If you are on a low income, whether you're working or not, and
have a council tax liability, you may be entitled to Council Tax
Reduction to reduce the amount you have to pay. Council Tax Support
is an income based discount applied to your Council Tax
Account.
- If you are of working age, the maximum help you can get through
Council Tax Support is 85% of your charge after any other discounts
or exemptions have been applied. This means whatever your income,
you will be liable to pay 15% of your charge.
- If you are of working age your Council Tax Support will be
restricted to the charge for a band C property.
- If you have reached state pension credit age, your Council Tax
Support will be calculated based on 100% of the charge, so you
could get the whole charge covered through Council Tax
Support.
- If you have reached state pension credit age, and have a
partner who is working age and in receipt of Income Support,
Jobseeker's Allowance (Income Based) or Employment & Support
Allowance (Income Related) the rules of the working age scheme will
apply to you.
Our 2016/17 scheme
Other Benefits
For other benefits such as Universal Credit (UC), Job Seekers
Allowance (JSA) and Income Support (IS) please go to the Gov.uk Website.
Am I eligible to claim?
By using the online
calculator you will get an approximate idea,
based on the information you supply, of how much Housing Benefit
and/or Council Tax Support you could receive.
Make sure that you have personal details such as weekly or
monthly wages, rent payable etc to hand. You can use the
calculator to find out roughly how much benefit you could get.
Please note, this is only an estimate and there is a
chance that actual benefits may vary when you make a
claim.
You will need to complete an on line
benefit application for an exact calculation.
You can use the Local
Housing Allowance web site to determine what room level your
household will require.
Who isn't eligible.
You can't usually get Housing Benefit if:
- if you receive or have applied for Universal Credit
- you have savings of over £16,000, unless you are getting the
'guarantee credit' of Pension Credit
- you live in the home of a close relative
- you're a full-time student (unless you're disabled or have
children)
- you're an asylum seeker or are sponsored to be in the UK
- if you previously owned the home within the previous 5 years,
where you are now liable to pay rent, unless you meet certain
criteria.
- you are liable to pay a mortgage because you own your home, and
do not pay rent.
You can't usually get Council Tax
Support if:
- you have savings of over £16,000, unless you are getting the
'guarantee credit' of Pension Credit
- you have savings of over £6,000 and of working age unless you
are getting an income based state benefit
- you're a full-time student so not liable to pay Council
Tax
- you have come here from abroad and do not meet the criteria to
claim
- you are already exempt from paying Council Tax due to Severe
mental Impairment
- you are under 18 so cannot be liable to pay Council Tax
Please note that this list is not exhaustive.
Change in circumstance
It is important that any change in your circumstances is
reported, immediately it occurs. Your entitlement will be
reassessed from the Monday following the date of the change.
See our advice on Change of Circumstances
How will you pay me my housing benefit?
The easiest and quickest
way to get your benefit is to have it paid into your bank or
building society account (BACS). It gets there quicker and is
cleared funds so you can take it out straight away.
If you have chosen to
have your benefit paid to you the easiest and quickest way to get
it is to have it paid straight into your bank/building society
account.
- Benefit reaches
the account earlier
- It is cleared
funds and can be drawn out straight away
- It is more
convenient - it doesn't need a trip to the bank/building
society.
- cheques can get
lost or delayed in the post - BACS payments are not lost or
delayed.
If you want it paid into
your bank you can either call 01935 462462 or you can complete
the
Payment by BAC's form When you have filled in
your details send the form to:
The Benefit Team
The Council Offices
Brympton Way
Yeovil
BA20 2HT
We will write to tell you when we start making payment into
your account.
You may prefer to have your benefit paid to your landlord.
If you do you can request this on your application form.
Changes to the amount of Council Tax Support
If your circumstances change and your award of Council Tax
Support is reduced we will need to adjust any monies already
credited to your Council Tax Account. The previous award will be
removed from your Council Tax Account and the revised amount will
be credited instead. This will mean that your remaining Council Tax
liability will increase. A bill will be sent to you to advise you
of the amended balance you are liable to pay and the level of
instalments required.
If the changes to your circumstances mean that your Council Tax
Support is increased. The previous award will be removed from your
Council Tax Account and the revised amount will be credited
instead. This will mean that your remaining Council Tax liability
will increase. A bill will be sent to you to advise you of the
amended balance you are liable to pay and the level of instalments
required.