Amount of benefit

The amount of HB you get depends on your income compared with the amount the law says you need to live on. Also, there are limits set on how much rent HB will cover. This section just gives an outline of how HB is calculated, so you can see how a change in your circumstances or in your income might affect your entitlement.

Step one: calculate the maximum housing benefit

This is the maximum amount the local authority can pay. HB does not cover some charges, such as those for fuel and meals. Your maximum HB may not be as much as your actual rent. Most private tenants have their maximum HB determined by a ‘local housing allowance’. This is a flat rate based on the area in which you live and on the size of your household.

Working-age tenants in the social rented sector (ie, local authority or housing association tenants) have their maximum HB reduced if they are deemed to be under-occupying their home – ie, if they have one or more spare bedrooms. This is commonly known as the ‘bedroom tax’. Note: this does not apply to you if you are over pension age and there are some other exceptions – eg, if you have a disabled child and s/he cannot share a room due to her/his disability. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook for more details of this reduction. See the relevant chapter of this Handbook for how it affects your particular situation. If you are affected by the bedroom tax, you should claim a discretionary housing payment (DHP – see here).

Step two: deduct amounts for non-dependants from maximum housing benefit

A ‘non-dependant’ is someone aged 18 or over, usually a friend or adult relative, who lives with you but not on a commercial basis. A non-dependant deduction is made to reflect an assumed contribution from her/him to the household, whether or not s/he pays anything. Sometimes no non-dependant deduction is made – eg, if the non-dependant is under 25 and gets certain benefits, or is someone who normally lives elsewhere. If you or your partner gets attendance allowance, the daily living component of personal independence payment or the care component of disability living allowance, or are certified as severely sight impaired or blind by a consultant ophthalmologist, no non-dependant deduction is made.

Non-dependant deductions are made at a fixed rate, depending on the income and circumstances of the non-dependant. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook for details.

Step three: if you get means-tested benefits

If you get income support (IS), income-based jobseeker’s allowance (JSA), income-related employment and support allowance (ESA), PC (guarantee credit) or UC, your HB is your maximum HB minus any amount for non-dependants. You do not need to continue with the remainder of these steps.

Step four: if you do not get means-tested benefits

If you do not get IS, income-based JSA, income-related ESA, PC (guarantee credit) or UC, you must compare your income with your ‘applicable amount’. Your applicable amount is made up of:

•personal allowances; and
•premiums; and
•components.

The applicable amount includes allowances, premiums and components for yourself and for your partner, if you have one. It also includes allowances and premiums for dependent children. The amounts for HB are the same as for IS (see here), except:

•personal allowances:
◦the child allowance is included in HB. This may be subject to the ‘two-child limit’ (see CPAG’s Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook for details);
◦single people under 25 and lone parents under 18 who are entitled to main-phase ESA get £74.70;
◦young couples get £117.40, unless both are under 18 and the claimant is not entitled to main-phase ESA, in which case they get £89.45;
◦single people who reached pension age before 1 April 2021 get £191.15; single people who reach pension age on or after 1 April 2021 get £177.10;
◦couples where one or both reached pension age before 1 April 2021 get £286.05; couples where both reach pension age on or after 1 April 2021 get £270.30;
•premiums:
◦family premium (£17.65, or £22.20 for some lone parents), disabled child premium (£65.94) and enhanced disability premium for a child (£26.67) are included in HB. The family premium is only included if you were getting it before 1 May 2016, you are still getting HB and have not made a new claim for HB since then;
◦you do not get a disability premium if you have been assessed as having limited capability for work for ESA and you (ie, not your partner, if you have one) are the HB claimant;
•components:
◦instead of a disability premium, include a work-related activity component of £29.70 if you have claimed ESA and been assessed as having limited capability for work, or a support component of £39.40 if you also have limited capability for work-related activity (see here for more about ESA). You will only get the work-related activity component if it is included in your ESA (see here).

Step five: work out your weekly income

Some kinds of income are ignored. For details, see CPAG’s Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook.

See the relevant chapters of this Handbook for more information on how specific income (eg, fostering allowances and payments from the local authority) is treated.

Step six: calculate your housing benefit

If your income is less than or the same as your applicable amount, HB is the amount worked out at Step two – ie, your maximum rent less any non-dependant deductions.

If your income is more than your applicable amount, work out 65 per cent of the difference. Your HB is the amount you worked out at Step two minus 65 per cent of the difference between your weekly income and your applicable amount.