If you apply for Council Tax Support or Housing Benefit, your payment will usually start from the Monday after you submit your claim. In some circumstances and at our discretion, we can backdate your claim to start earlier. This will not normally be earlier than the start of the financial year.
There are different rules for backdating claims depending on your age.
Pensionable age people
If you or your partner are pensionable age, your claim will automatically be backdated for a maximum of three months depending on your circumstances. You don't need to make a request for this to be done.
Working age people
If you or your partner are of working age and in supported accommodation, you can apply to backdate your Housing Benefit claim for a maximum period of one month. You'll need to give a good reason why you weren't able to claim before.
For Council Tax Support, you should tell us the reason you want your claim to be backdated in your application form when you apply.
Good reasons for backdating your claim
To ask for your benefit backdating, you need to give a good reason why your claim's late. 'Thinking that you may not be entitled' or 'not knowing that you could claim' aren’t good reasons to backdate your claim.
Acceptable reasons why your claim is late include:
- being too ill
- bereavement
- problems with postal services
- not being given the right information by an official body or service, such as an advice centre
- having to rely on others to deal with your affairs because you’re pensionable age, disabled or in poor health
How to apply
You can apply for backdated Council Tax Support or Housing Benefit using our online form. Please answer all of the questions on the form.
If we need more information from you, we’ll tell you what we need and when you need to provide it. You can upload any evidence to support your claim using our online form.
What happens next
Once we’ve considered your evidence, we’ll let you know if your claim for backdated benefit was successful.
Any backdated Council Tax Support will be shown on your Council Tax bill. Any backdated Housing Benefit will be paid the same way as your Housing Benefit.