Housing Benefit - New & Current Claim

Description

What is Housing Benefit?

The Council's Benefit section administers Housing Benefit, which is a Government scheme that helps people on low-income pay rent on the home that they live in. To work out your Housing Benefit we will look at the money that you have coming in, the capital or savings that you have, and your circumstances, such as size of your family, age, any disabled members of your household and other people living with you. We also take into consideration the size, and in some cases, the condition of the property you live in, and the amount of rent you pay compared with similar homes in the area.

Contractual Rent

The rent which has been agreed between you and your landlord for the dwelling and is required to be paid to the landlord either weekly, monthly or calendar monthly in accordance with your tenancy agreement.

Claim Related Rent

This is the amount of money that has been decided is enough for the place where you live and the people who live with you. It may be less than the rent you pay. The Rent Officer may have decided that you are paying too much for where you live or that where you live is too large for your family

Local Reference Rent

This is the level of rent determined for a dwelling by the Rent Officer which is average for a dwelling of a similar size with the same number of rooms, in the same state of repair and let on the same terms within the same locality, excluding any part of the rent which covers ineligible services (apart from meals and fuel).

Single Room Rent

This is the figure set by the Rent Officer, which is the average for one room accommodation with shared facilities in the area. If you are single and under 25 your Housing Benefit will be worked out using the Single Room Rent figure where it is lower than the Maximum Rent.

Your Housing Benefit entitlement will be calculated using the lowest of any of the rent figures shown above which apply. This is the most help that you can normally get with your rent.When applying for Housing Benefit you will also be considered for Council Tax Benefit. If you need to know more about Council Tax Benefit click the link at the right hand side of the page.

Applicable Amount

We will use the information you give in the form and any supporting evidence you send us to process your claim for Housing Benefit. We work out your benefit by comparing the money you get each week with your 'applicable amount'. Your applicable amount is the amount of money the government say you and your family need to live on each week. The applicable amount will be higher for some people, such as those with disabled members of the family or one-parent families.

If you are a tenant of a private landlord or housing association, you will receive notice of the amount of benefit you have been granted and confirmation of how the payment will be made. Payment can be made to you or you can ask to have it paid straight to your landlord.If you are a council tenant, you will receive notice of the amount of any benefit you have been granted. Payment is credited to your rent account.

It may be necessary at some point in the life of your claim for our Officers to visit you to comply with government legislation called the 'Verification Framework'. For more information click here.

If you think our decision is wrong, you have legal rights to challenge most of our decisions. If you want us to look at the decision again, we will check if the decision is correct. If the decision is wrong, we will change it. If the decision cannot be changed we will write and inform you. For more information on 'Making an Appeal', click the link at the right hand side of the page.

Data Protection

We will use the information you give on the Housing Benefit Application Form and any supporting evidence you send us to process your claim for Housing Benefit. We may pass the information on to the Department for Work and Pensions and Inland Revenue, as allowed by law. We may also use the information to tell you what other welfare benefits you are entitled to.

We may check the information provided by you, or information about you provided by someone else, against other information we hold. We may also ask other agencies, organisations, local authorities or government departments to give us information they have about you to make sure the information is accurate, to prevent or detect crime and to protect public funds.

We will not give information about you to anyone else, or use information about you for other purposes, unless the law allows us to.

Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council is the data controller for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998. Please ask if you would like to know more about what information we have about you, or the way that we use that information.

Eligibility

Who is entitled?

You can claim Housing Benefit if you pay rent to live in your home and you are on a low income. You can claim Housing Benefit even if you are working and claiming no other benefits. You must also live in the UK, occupy the dwelling as your home and be liable to pay rent on that dwelling. Joint income and joint capital will be assessed in cases where you have a partner. A partner is someone you are married to, or someone you live with as if you are married to him or her.

You may not claim Housing Benefit

• if you are not liable to pay rent

• you have more than £16,000 in capital (either you or your partner, or you and your partner together)(unless you receive the guarantee credit part of pension credit)

• you live in a nursing home or residential care home

• you are a full time student in higher education (unless you are in an exempt category, for example single parents)

• you are living in the same household and paying rent to a close relative, an in-law or employer

• you rent a former joint home from your ex-partner

• you are the parent or guardian of your landlord's child

The rules and regulations can be complicated and criteria extensive. Claim if you are not sure and we will let you know if you qualify.

 

Procedure

Claiming Housing Benefit

To claim Housing Benefit you will need to complete an application form and supply all the documents requested on the form.

You can contact the Housing Benefit Section to discuss your current claim. If you have had a change in circumstances and need to complete a new form, the form is available available at any local Barnsley Connects Office. If you need help filling in the form, you may telephone and ask us to help you. If you are housebound or have restricted mobility, we can send a Visiting Officer out to see you in your home.

Fully complete the form as soon as possible and send it to us. If you do not send the form in quickly, you could miss out on benefit.

Benefit Review

All existing claims will be reviewed periodically. We will either do this by visiting you at home or sending a form through the post. If we decide to visit you, we will try to contact you by phone to arrange an appointment, or if we are not able to contact you we will write and tell you when we will be calling. This will give you time to arrange for a friend or member of your family to be there if you choose, and to get together all the evidence we will need to see if your circumstances have changed.

If you receive a review form through the post, please ensure you complete the form and return it to us as soon as possible with evidence of your income and capital if the amounts have changed. Holding on to your form, or not returning it with the required evidence could lead to your benefit being suspended.

Backdating Benefit

If you or your partner are of pensionable age you can have your claim backdated for a maximum of three months. There is no need for you to request a backdate

The following guidance applies to people of working age.

If there is a reason which has stopped or delayed you applying for Housing Benefit you can ask for your claim to be 'backdated' so that it starts from an earlier date. You can only ask for a backdate if there is 'good cause' why you were unable to apply for your benefit earlier. There is no formal definition of 'good cause' - each case will be decided according to its own individual situation. However the reason that you give for your delay in submitting the claim must show 'good cause' for the whole of the period that you would want your benefit backdating. The maximum period that a benefit claim can be backdated is 6 months from the date we received the backdate request. The backdate request must be received in writing, stating your name, address, claim number, the date you wish your claim to be backdated to and the reason why you were late applying for benefit.

If you disagree with the date your claim starts from for any other reason, you can appeal against the decision. For information on how to appeal click on the link at the right hand side of the page.

The documents you need to provide along with your completed application form

When making a new claim for Housing Benefit we always need to see original documents for you, your partner and any other people who live in your home. In order for your claim to be processed we need to see:

• Two original documents that confirm your identity (one of these documents should show your National Insurance number); and

• Two original documents that confirm your partner's identity (one of these documents should show your partner's National Insurance number).

• Proof of all income for both you and your partner.

• Proof of your tenancy and the rent you are charged.

• Proof of all capital, savings and investments

• Proof of the income and capital of any other people living with you.

Proof of identity for reviews is not always necessary.

For more details on what is acceptable evidence please read the notes supplied with the application form. Please remember every document must be an original, we cannot accept photocopies. Do not delay sending in your claim form even if you do not have all the evidence now. Send or bring the documents in later, but within 4 weeks. Let us know if you need more than four weeks to provide proof.

Non Dependant Deductions

If you have anyone over 18 living in your home such as friends or relatives, you may get less Housing Benefit. These people are called non-dependants. A set amount of money may be taken out of your benefit for each non-dependant who lives in your home.

Non-dependants do not include: -

• Your partner

• A child you get Child Benefit for

• People under 18 years old

• People in full time education

• People on Youth Training Schemes

No money will be deducted from your benefit if :

• You are registered blind

• You get the care component of Disability Living Allowance

• You get Attendance Allowance

Click on the link to see Housing Benefit Non-Dependant deductions from 1st April 2008

Self Employed

If you are self-employed, we need to see your recent accounts or your last 6 months daybooks. For more information contact our helpline where an officer will be able to explain more.

Forms and documents can be brought to any local Barnsley Connects Office.

Any documents posted to the Council will be returned by post. We do not accept responsibility for the loss of any documents sent by post. It is therefore recommended that you bring any valuable documents to one of the offices mentioned above.

Method of payment of Housing Benefit 

We can normally award benefit from the Monday after the day we receive your claim. We can pay Housing Benefit either by crossed cheque every two weeks in arrears or directly into your bank account.

If you prefer, we can send your benefit straight to your landlord, although, if we do pay direct to your landlord, payment is made four weekly in arrears and we do not take on any of your responsibilities to your landlord. In other words, you still have to make sure all your rent is paid, and you must still tell us about all changes to your circumstances.

Ineligible Services

These are charges included in the rent by the landlord. Payments for fuel (for example gas, electricity, etc.) or water rates are not eligible for Housing Benefit. If you are in a privately rented property and your rent includes an unspecified amount for fuel, or water rates, we have to make statutory deductions. If you can provide evidence of the actual cost of your fuel or water rates we may be able to increase your Housing Benefit.

Interim Payments

If the authority is unable to determine the correct level of benefit, due to not being in receipt of all the necessary information, a lower level of rent can be paid, these are known as 'interim payments' or 'temporary payments on account'. When the correct benefit is awarded the rent payments are adjusted to take into account the monies already paid.

We usually have to pay your Housing Benefit straight to your Landlord if you owe 8 weeks rent or more or if we decide it is in your best interests to do so.

If you are a Council tenant, your Housing Benefit will be paid directly into your rent account.

If you have claimed Housing Benefit and we have not paid you yet and you need it urgently to prevent you being evicted or similar, let us know and send us a copy of any letters about eviction proceedings your landlord has sent you. We will arrange a payment quickly, but we can only do this if you have sent all the information we need to process your claim.

Help

Contact us

For details of how to contact the Benefits section, how to view your benefit details online, and Opening hours see Benefit Enquiries

 

How you can help

You can help when enquiring about your existing claim by having your claim reference number to hand. For new claims, or if you are required to complete another application form, you can help by fully completing the application form, this means, you must fill in each section of the form. Each section starts with a question to help you decide if all the questions in that section are relevant to you. If you do not give us enough information or do not answer sections, we will return the form to you for you to complete. Use black ink to fill in the form. Do not use pencil. If you make a mistake, just cross it out and put the right answer next to it. Do not use correction fluid or tape.

Answer 'Yes' or 'No' questions by putting a tick in the relevant box. If you are picking an answer from a list of answers, put a tick in the relevant box. Do not put a cross in any other boxes. If someone else fills the form in for you, there is a special place for him or her to sign.

Changes you have to tell us about
You need to tell us straightaway about any changes in your circumstances that could affect your benefit. These changes could include:

• You or your partner stop or start getting Income Support or Jobseeker's Allowance;

• Your partner or your own wages go up or down;

• Your partner's or your own state benefits change;

• Anyone moves into or out of your home (including subtenants and lodgers);

• Any of your children leave school or move to another address;

• You move - this includes moving to a different flat or room in the same property;

• Your partner's or your own savings change;

• Your rent changes

• You or anyone living with you becomes a student, goes on a youth training scheme, goes into hospital or a nursing home, goes into prison, or gets, changes or leaves a job; or

• You or your partner are going to be away from home for more than a month.

You must tell us about these changes in writing within one month of the date the change happened. A telephone call is not enough.

PLEASE NOTE:
In accordance with your agreement to occupy the property which you rent, immediately you are aware that your circumstances have or are due to alter you should contact your landlord as the amount of money you are required to give to your landlord may increase. It is also important that you inform your landlord immediately you are aware that you are to leave the property prior to moving.

Starting Work

If you start work your benefits will change, so you need to tell us if you start a new job or, if already working, increase your normal hours, start working overtime, get a pay rise etc.

Extended Payments
If you have been getting Income Support, Jobseeker's Allowance, Incapacity Benefit or Severe Disablement Allowance and start a job, there are rules to make things slightly easier:Extended Payments - If you are entitled to extended payments your Housing Benefit can carry on for 4 weeks after you start work as long as you tell the Benefits Agency or Jobcentre as soon as you start work. This all depends on you informing the Benefits agency and us straight away. There are strict deadlines in which to apply.

In-Work Benefits. Unless the job you take is very well paid, you may still qualify for some Housing Benefit, but you will need to complete a new application and let us see proof of all your income. We normally require your last 5 weekly or last 2 monthly wage slips, but if your employer can provide your likely pay, both gross and net, we can possibly start payments before you have worked that long. Please do not delay claiming or you could lose benefit.

Other benefits for people who work, such as Working Tax Credit will also affect your Housing Benefit. We need to know as soon as you are awarded a tax credit or when the amount you have been awarded changes. For more information on tax credits see DWP Link.

If you do not tell us about your changes

We would probably carry on paying your old rate of benefit and this may be wrong. If you do not tell us or are slow to tell us we may pay you too much benefit, in which case we will expect you to pay it back. We may take it back from any housing benefit we are still paying you, which could leave you short of money for other things. For more information on overpayments please click on the link at the right hand side of the page. If you are slow to report a change in your circumstances, taking over one month and you would qualify for more housing benefit, we can only increase your benefit from the Monday following the date you told us.

If you have a good reason for delaying reporting a change in circumstances you may qualify for a backdate. Click on the link at the right hand side of the page for more information on backdating benefit.

If you do not report a change and do not have a good reason for this, you are committing a criminal offence; we may take court action against you.

If we find out about your change in circumstances from other sources, we may need to ask our Fraud Investigation Team to check the situation.

You must tell us about these changes in writing within one month of the date the change happened. A telephone call is not enough. Please tell us about any changes in circumstances in writing and quote your Benefit claim reference number. Tell us of the change and the date it happened. Give us all the details, such as new amounts of income, name and date of birth of people who have come to live with you etc. We usually need proof of the change, for example wage slips, notice of rent increases, award letters for increased pensions etc. Do not delay in telling us while you wait for your payslips, you can supply these at a later date.

 

Application form

Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Claim form

Leaflets

Notes for filling in the Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit and Second Adult Rebate claim form. (May 2005) available from all Barnsley Connects Offices. Click on the link down the right hand side for locations.

 

Response times / next steps 

We will try to answer your enquiries on your current claim immediately. If you are required to complete a new application form, once you have submitted all the information and evidence we require, our officers will work out your new entitlement to Housing Benefit.

 

Other useful organisations: 

Citizens Advice Bureau
1 Shambles Street
Barnsley
S70 2HT
Telephone 01226 206492
Citizens Advice Bureau

 

Department for Work and Pensions
John Rideal House
Shambles Street S70 2SQ
BarnsleyTelephone 01226 777222
Department for Work and Pensions

 

The Job Centre
Peel Street S70 2RL
Barnsley
Telephone 01226 263000

 

Other useful Websites:

• Berneslai Homes
• Welfare Rights Service
• Town Centre Map
• Barnsley Connects

 

Additional Notes / Legislation

Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1987.

Council Tax Benefit (General) Regulations 1992.

Data Protection Act 1998

Last modified on 8/10/2008