Housing benefit and how to claim

To claim or to be eligible for housing benefit, you need to fulfill certain requirement/criteria, such as:

1. You pay rent for the place you live/stay in: In order to be eligible for housing benefit, you must pay rent for the place you are staying. You could have rented the place from either a housing association or local council or a private landlord. It doesn’t matters. What matters is that you are paying rent for that place. You are eligible for housing benefit if:
   1. You are staying in a hotel room or
   2. You are a boarder.
   3. You are sharing a room or a flat. In this case, you can claim housing benefit as a joint tenant.
   4. If you are staying as a couple with your partner. However, in this case, only one member can claim housing benefit
2. If you are an UK Resident: It is easier for a UK resident to claim housing benefit as compared to someone who is staying overseas. It is better to consult an experienced adviser to understand your eligibility to claim housing benefit.
3. If your savings are below £16,000: In case your savings are below a certain amount, i.e.£16,000 as per UK Government, you are eligible to claim housing benefit, provided you fulfil other criteria as well.

   The amount of housing benefit gets reduced in case:

   1. In case you are a working adult and have savings or investments above £6000.
   2. In case you are a retired personnel and living in a foster/care home and have savings or investments above £10,000.
4. If your income is low: Main idea to introduce the scheme of housing benefit was to help those who stay in rented accommodation and have low income.

However, in case there is a shift in your circumstances, you can update about the same to your council because change in your circumstances, whether for good or for bad, can affect your housing benefit account.

For Example: If there is a shift in your circumstances, like if you start working for more hours or have started earning more money, you housing benefits might reduce or in certain cases, might stop as well. So, in cases like this, it becomes imperative of you to contact your council and he might be able to help you with an extra 4 weeks of housing benefits, also called as Extended Payment of Housing Benefit. However, in cases like this, your council will check for your eligibility and contact you on his own.

Benefit Cap is basically a limit on the total amount of benefits working people between age 16 to 64 can get. It was introduced to ensure that the people don’t get or claim more benefits than what a normal household earns.

It was in April 2013, limits were applied to your housing benefits, in case your total income (including all benefits) exceeds the following limits:

1. £500 a week for a couple, with or without dependent children.
2. £500 a week for a single parent with dependent children.
3. £350 a week for a single person without children.

However, it was on 7th November 2016, two different caps were introduced in which one was for Greater London and the other one was applicable for the rest of the country.

Benefit Cap for Greater London is:

1. £442.31 a week if you are a couple-with or without dependent children.
2. £442.31 a week if you are a single parent with dependent children.
3. £296.35 a week if you are a single person without children.

Benefit Cap for Outside of Greater London is:

1. £384.62 a week if you are a couple-with or without dependent children.
2. £384.62 a week if you are a single parent with dependent children.
3. £257.69 a week if you are a single person without children.

There are certain benefits which are affected by the introduction of benefit cap, such as:

• Bereavement Allowance
• Child Benefit
• Child Tax Credit
• Employment and Support Allowance (unless you get the ‘support’ component)
• Housing Benefit
• Incapacity Benefit
• Income Support
• Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Maternity Allowance
• Severe Disablement Allowance
• Widowed Parent’s Allowance (or Widowed Mother’s Allowance or Widows Pension if you started getting it before 9 April 2001)
• Universal Credit (unless you’ve had a work capability assessment and aren’t fit for work)

However, there are benefits which are included or a part of benefit cap, such as:

• Armed Forces Compensation Scheme
• Armed Forces Independence Payment
• Attendance Allowance
• Carer’s Allowance
• Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
• Employment and Support Allowance (if you get the support component)
• Guardian’s Allowance
• Industrial Injuries Benefits (and equivalent payments as part of a War Disablement Pension or the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme)
• Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
• Universal Credit payments towards carer’s costs or for ‘limited capability for work and work-related activity’
• War pensions
• War Widow’s or War Widower’s Pension

Once have all the details as mentioned above, you need to support your claim with documents like:

1. Current payslips. In case, you are paid on weekly basis, then you have to produce 5 recent payslips and in case you are paid on monthly basis, then you have to produce 2 recent payslips.
2. Details/relevant documents of your other source of income, if any, like shares, ISAs etc.
3. Your bank statements of last 2 months.
4. In case you have any non-dependants who is staying with you, you might be asked to submit proof of their income as well.
5. In case of contribution based jobseekers allowance, proof of your partner’s name and address will be required as well.

   For proof of address and name, you can provide any 2 of the following documents:

   1. UK photocard driving licence
   2. Current passport
   3. Birth or marriage certificate
   4. Biometric residence permit
   5. Certificate of registration or naturalisation
   6. Permanent residence card
   7. Letter from HMRC or the Home Office
   8. Recent utility bill
   9. Recent bank or building society statement
   10. Recent benefit award statements