Council Tax Benefit - New & Current Claim

Description

What is Council Tax Benefit?

The Council's Benefit section administers Council Tax Benefit, which is a Government scheme that helps people on low-income pay their Council Tax. To work out your Council Tax 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.

Second Adult Rebate

Second Adult Rebate is Council Tax Benefit for people who do not have a partner but who share their home with someone who is over 18; is on a low income; and does not pay them rent. Second Adult Rebate is based on the circumstances of the person who shares your home. Your income and savings will not have an effect on Second Adult Rebate. If you can qualify for both Council Tax Benefit and Second Adult Rebate, we will award whichever benefit is the greater. If you rent the home that you live in you may also qualify for Housing Benefit click on the link for more information.

Eligibility

Who is entitled?

You can claim Council Tax Benefit if you are on a low income, Income Support or Job seekers Allowance, or self-employed and on a low income.

Joint income and joint capital will be assessed in cases where you have a partner. A partner is classed as someone who you are married to, or live with as if you are married to him or her.

You cannot get Council Tax Benefit ifyou 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)

Non-Dependant Deductions

If you have anyone over 18 living in your home such as friends or relatives, you may get less Council Tax 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 in respect of non-dependants if you are:-

• You are registered blind

• You get the care component of Disability Living Allowance

• You get Attendance Allowance

Click on the link to see Council Tax Benefit Non-Dependant Deductions from 1st April 2008

The rules and regulations can be complicated, claim if you think you are on a low income and we will let you know if you qualify.

Procedure

How do you claim?

Claiming Council Tax Benefit and/or Second Adult Rebate

To claim Council Tax Benefit and/or Second Adult Rebate you will need to complete an application form and supply all the documents requested on the form.

The form is available at any local Barnsley Connects Offices. If you need help filling in the form, you may telephone and ask us to help you. You can also get help in person at any Barnsley Connects Office.If you are housebound or have restricted mobility, we can send a Visiting Officer out to see you in your home.

You can contact the Council Tax 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 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 Council Tax 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 reasons that you give for your delay in submitting the claim must show 'good cause' for the whole of the period that you 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 Council Tax Benefit we always need to see original documents for you, your partner and any other people who live in your home (Proof of identity for repeat claims or reviews is not always necessary).

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 all capital, savings and investments

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

Proof of identity for repeat claims or reviews is not always required.

Proof of identity is still required for the liable person of a property where Second Adult Rebate is being claimed, but the proof of income/savings is required of the 'second adult' not the liable person.

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.

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 4 weeks to provide proof.

Forms and documents can be brought to any local Barnsley Connects Office or sent/brought into County Way.

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.

For details of how to contact us and links to view your own Benefit details, see Benefit enquiries

 

Payment of Council Tax Benefit

Your Council Tax Benefit will be paid straight to your Council Tax account. You will receive a bill showing any amount you have to pay after benefit has been awarded. You may be able to get Council Tax Benefit for the full amount of Council Tax that you have to pay; in which case, you will still receive a Council Tax bill showing a nil balance.

Help

For further information including

Contact details

Opening Hours

Click on Benefit Enquiries

How you can help

You can help when enquiring about your existing claim by having your claim reference number to hand. 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 may 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 straight away 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;

• 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.

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 Council Tax 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 straightaway, 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 Council Tax 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 Council Tax 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 Department for Work and Pensions 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 too much benefit in which case we will expect you to pay it back. For more information on overpayments click on the link.

If you have a good reason for delaying your new claim or reporting a change in circumstances you may qualify for a backdate .

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's 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, 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.

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.  

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)

 

Leaflets are available from:

All Barnsley Connects Offices. click on the link down the right hand side for locations.

Other useful organisations:

Housing Advice

Telephone 01226 773870

Welfare Rights

Telephone 01226 775656
Welfare Rights Service

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

 

Related Links:

• Berneslai Homes

• Welfare Rights Service

• Citizens Advice Bureau

• Department for Works and Pensions

• Town Centre Map

 

Response times / Next steps

Once you have submitted all the information and evidence we require, our officers will work out your entitlement to Council Tax Benefit and/or Second Adult Rebate.

Applicable Amount
We will use the information you give in the form and any supporting evidence you send us to process your claim for Council Tax Benefits. 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.

We will send you a new Council Tax Bill, even if you have nothing to pay, detailing how we have worked your benefit out. Please check the information on your bill very carefully, if you think there is anything wrong you must tell us immediately.

Benefit is usually awarded the Monday after receipt of your claim form.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 on the link.

Data Protection
We will use the information you give on the Council Tax Benefit Application Form and any supporting evidence you send us to process your claim for Council Tax Benefits. 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 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.

Additional Notes / Legislation

Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1987.

Council Tax Benefit (General) Regulations 1992.

Data Protection Act 1998

Last modified on 29/10/2008