Housing and Council Tax Benefits
How Much Benefit Will I Get?
If you want an instant on-line estimate of your Housing and Council Tax Benefit entitlement, please see the Web Benefits Calculator.
We will try to work out your benefit as quickly as possible. Delays can sometimes be caused if you do not provide all of the information that we need or if we have to contact you to ask you to provide documentary evidence.
The amount of benefit you may receive depends on the following:
- The amount of money you have coming in
- The amount of money you have in savings and investments
- Your personal circumstances (such as having children, living with a disability, who else lives in the household)
- The amount of Rent and /or Council Tax charged
If you receive Job Seekers Allowance (Income Based) or Income Support you will generally receive the maximum Housing Benefit that can be awarded. If you have any non-dependants living with you (such as an adult daughter or son, or a parent), a deduction will generally be made from your benefit.
If you do not receive Job Seekers Allowance (Income Based) or Income Support we will need to know how much money you have coming in to calculate your entitlement.
The amount of money you have coming in
We will add together your earnings and any other income you have (including your partner's income, if you have one). We will also need to have income details for any non-dependants living with you.
Earnings include:
Gross pay less
- income tax
- National Insurance contributions, and
- 50% of any contributions you make to an occupational or personal pension.
Some childcare charges may also be deducted.
Self-Employed:
If you are self-employed, please either ask for a self-employed person's claim form by contacting us or download the Self Employed Form (27 Kb) 
.
Other income:
Other income is any other source of income you may have including Social Security Benefits, Maintenance and Pensions. We will not count certain benefits you may receive such as Disability Living Allowance but you must still declare you receive these benefits on your application form.
The amount of money you have in savings and investments
Savings and investments include such things as bank or building society deposits, stocks, shares, and other investments.We add together your savings and capital with your partner's.
If your savings are £6,000 or less we will ignore them. Between £6,000 and £16,000 we will deduct £1 per week from your benefit for every unit or part unit of £250 above the lower limit.
If you have savings and investments, either separately or jointly with your partner, worth more than £16,000, you will not be entitled to Housing or Council Tax Benefit.
Your Personal Circumstances
Every year the Government sets the levels of personal allowances and premiums which we must use to work out how much benefit you will get.
A personal allowance will depend on:
- Your age
- Whether you are single or have a partner
- How many dependant children you have
Premiums are extra sums of money intended to recognise the special needs of:
- Families
- Elderly people
- Disabled people/people who care for disabled persons
- People who have been sick for over 52 weeks or 28 weeks if they are terminally ill.
The amount of Rent and/or Council Tax charged
Council Tax Benefits
The amount of Council Tax Benefit that you may receive will be based on your Council Tax liability.
Housing Benefits - Council & Housing Association Tenants
The amount of Housing Benefit that you may receive will be based on your rental liability.
Housing Benefits - Private Tenants
The amount of Housing Benefit that you may be awarded may not necessarily be the full amount of rent that you pay to your landlord. Please see our section on Private Tenants for more information.
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