Apply for housing benefit or council tax support, or upload evidence
Since 9 May 2018 most new claims for help to pay rent have had to be made through universal credit. You can still apply for housing benefit if:
- You and your partner are of pension credit age
- You live in specified accommodation
- You live in temporary accommodation provided by us
If you have any further queries or are unsure which benefit to claim, please contact us.
You'll still need to continue to claim council tax support from us and can do so using the form below.
Apply online
Apply for housing benefit and/or council tax support, report a change in circumstances or upload evidence below
Download a claim form
Alternatively, you can make a claim for housing benefit or council tax support by downloading a claim form. We can assess you for both benefits at the same time, using the information you give on this form.
If you're unable to use our online services you can contact us to discuss this further.
Phone: 0345 678 9002
Submitting a claim in advance
If you're not on benefit already and you're moving to a new address, you can submit a claim for housing benefit up to 13 weeks (17 weeks if you've reached state pension or pension credit age) before you move. We won't normally be able to pay you any money before you move in (because you must be resident in your home in order to get housing benefit), but it can help us to more quickly assess your claim. This way, you don't have to wait for your claim to be assessed once you've moved in.
What other information will I need to supply to claim benefit?
If you live with a partner you'll need to claim together, which means that both your circumstances will be taken into account. However, you'll need to decide whose name the claim will be in.
We need a lot of information from you before we can make a decision on whether you can get benefit:
- A completed benefit claim form
- Two original documents for proof of identification for both yourself and your partner (if you have one)
- An original document showing national insurance numbers for yourself and your partner (if you have one)
- Your tenancy agreement
We'll also need to know about:
- Your financial circumstances, including your earnings, pensions and any other state benefits you have coming in - you'll need to provide details of all of your savings, capital and any other accounts you have, such as building society or post office accounts
- People in your household, for example partner, children or a lodger - we'll need details and proof of all their income and savings
- The kind of property you live in and the rent you pay - this only applies if you want to claim housing benefit
It's important that you tell us all this information on your claim form. Please answer all the questions. You'll also need to send us proof of all the details you tell us about. You must send us original documents as we can't accept photocopies. We'll return these documents to you.
If you're unable to provide your wage slips, for instance if you have only just started work, or if you've changed the hours you work, you can print a certificate of earnings for your employer to complete. If you're self employed and aren't able to provide your most recent certified profit and loss accounts, you can print a self employment form instead. If you're unable to provide an up-to-date tenancy agreement you can print a confirmation of tenancy form for your landlord to complete. If you have childcare, you can use our childcare costs declaration.
If your proof (or some of your proof) isn't available straight away, it's important that you don't wait for this before sending your claim form to us. You must send your claim form to us as soon as it's ready, otherwise you may lose money you're entitled to.
You must provide all supporting evidence to us within one calendar month of submitting your claim. If you're unable to provide the evidence we need you should contact us immediately.