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BENEFITS FINANCIAL HELP 9 |
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Main Benefits Housing Benefit
Housing Benefit If you need help to pay your rent, you may be able to get Housing Benefit. It makes no difference if you are in work or not
Housing Benefit is not paid to help with:
Mortgage interest payments
Some service charges
Meals
Fuel costs
But you may be able to get some help to cover your mortgage interest payments from Income Support (see Income Support).
If you, or you and your partner, have savings of more than £16,000, you cannot get Housing Benefit.
If you get Income Support or income-based
Jobseeker’s Allowance and you pay rent, you may be able entitled
to maximum Housing Benefit. This may not be the same as the rent you are
paying. If you do not get Income Support or income-based Jobseeker’s
Allowance you may still get maximum Housing Benefit if the money you have
coming in is less than the amount allowed for your needs.
The money you have coming in is calculated to include:
Earnings-money you get when you are employed by someone else, and money you get when you are self-employed.
Unearned income-any other money, including some social security benefits
Savings-these are taken into account only if you have more than £3,000. If you have more than £3,000 but less than £16,000, the council will calculate on the assumption that you have money coming in from those savings-between £1 and £52 per week depending on the amount of savings. From April 1996, for certain people living permanently in residential care homes or nursing homes, the lower capital limit was increased from £3,000 to £10,000.
Your needs are calculated to include:
A personal allowance for yourself (this is increased if you have a partner)
An allowance for any dependent children or young people living with you
Premiums for special needs (for example, if you are elderly, disabled or looking after children).
If any money you have coming in is more than the amount allowed for your needs, your Housing Benefit will be reduced. The more you have coming in, the less Housing Benefit you will get
If you qualify for maximum Housing Benefit you will get help from the council to cover all your eligible rent.
Eligible rent means the part you have to pay just to live in your home. It may not be the same as the amount you pay your landlord. For example, Housing Benefit cannot help with day to day living costs such as meals or fuel for heating.
If you have other people living with
you who do not depend on you to support them, you may get less help with
rent. This does not
apply if you or your partner are registered blind
or are in receipt of the care component of Disability Living Allowance.
You may be able to get maximum Housing Benefit for an extra four weeks
after your Income Support or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance stops
because you or your partner start work or increase your hours or wages.
The extra help is called an extended payment
To get an extended payment you must be aged under
60 or, if you are getting income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, under
state pension age, and you must have been unemployed and getting Jobseeker’s
Allowance for at least six months or more without a break, or have been
getting Income Support as a lone parent, a carer, for at least six months
without a break.
How to claim
You can get a claim form from your local council. But if you are claiming Income Support or Jobseeker’s Allowance, use the Housing Benefit claim form included in your Income Support or Jobseeker’s Allowance claim form. You may lose benefit if you delay claiming.
Housing Benefit is awarded for limited periods which are set by the council. These are known as benefit periods. You will have to make a fresh claim at the end of each period.
More information
Ask at your local council, or get leaflet RR1 (Housing Benefit-help with your rent) from Citizens Advice Bureaux or your local council.
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