5. Claiming housing benefit

If you can still make a claim for housing benefit (HB) (see here), you can get a claim form from your local authority HB office. You may also be able to claim online. If you return the form to your local HB office, ask for a receipt. If you return it by post, keep a copy, as claim forms are often lost. If you need to fill in another form, the local authority can backdate it if you can show the date of your original claim.

When your housing benefit starts

Your HB starts from when you make your claim. It can be backdated for up to one month if you ask for this and you have continuous ‘good cause’ for not claiming throughout the whole period. When deciding whether there is good cause to backdate a claim, a local authority must take into account how a reasonable person of your age, experience and state of health would have acted or failed to act in the same circumstances.1Reg 83(12) HB Regs; R(S) 2/63(T) If you have reached pension age (see here) and are not on IS, income-based JSA or income-related ESA, HB can be backdated for up to three months whatever the reason for the delay.

HB is usually paid directly into your rent account if you are a council tenant, otherwise it is either paid to you or directly to your landlord.

By law, local authorities are supposed to pay you within 14 days of receiving your completed claim form or as soon as possible after that. However, in many areas there are long delays. If you are a private tenant, ask for a ‘payment on account’ until your claim can be properly assessed. Local authorities are legally obliged to give you an interim payment of a reasonable amount, unless it is obvious that you will not be entitled to HB or you have not supplied information that has been requested.

 

1     Reg 83(12) HB Regs; R(S) 2/63(T) »