• How will I know how much benefit I will receive?
• What if I think your decision about my benefit is wrong?
• How will I receive my benefit payments?
• When will I receive my benefit payments?
• Can my bank use my benefit payments to clear my overdraft?
• What if my benefit doesn't cover my rent payments?
• What if you give me too much money?
• Housing benefit & council tax benefit – contact details

Once we have calculated your completed claim we will write to you to tell you how much benefit you will get. The amount you get will be shown as a weekly figure.

It is important you check your letter to make sure the details we have used are correct. If you spot a mistake on your benefit decision notice, please contact us straight away and we’ll advise you what needs to be done.

However, if you don’t agree with the actual decision we make on your housing or council tax benefit you can appeal.

If you wish to appeal, you must do so within one calendar month of the date of the notification letter(s), detailing the reasons why you do not agree and any supporting evidence. Your appeal must be in writing. If it helps, you can use the form at the back of this leaflet:

• Housing and council tax benefit appeals (PDF 187KB)

Send your appeal to:
The Appeals Officer
Housing Benefits Section
Civic Centre 1
Huddersfield
HD1 2NF

The Appeals Officer will consider your appeal. If the decision is not revised to your advantage we will send your appeal onto the Tribunals Service to be heard at an independent tribunal. We will send forms asking if you would like a paper or oral hearing, and whether you need an interpreter or signer.

You will receive the final decision in writing and also be told on the day if you have an oral hearing.

Local housing allowance claims
The Rent Officer makes the assessment on the local housing allowance. You have no right of appeal against the figures the Rent Officer provides. If you are a council tenant, we will pay your housing benefit direct to your rent account.

If you are not a council tenant we will send your housing benefit payments direct to your bank account.

If you don't have a bank account you can set one up. Most banks offer basic bank accounting facilities, as do credit unions such as Castle & Minster Credit Union. Read more about basic bank accounts and how to set them up on the Money Advice Service website.

In some circumstances, we can make payments direct to your landlord. We can pay the landlord direct if the authority considers that it will help to secure or retain a tenancy, or if the claimant:

• is more than 8 weeks behind with their rent,
• is paying rent arrears through a court order, or
• has special circumstances which means they are unable or unlikely to pay the rent to their landlord.

Please contact us if you want to discuss who we should pay benefit to. We will pay your benefit when we have processed your claim. In order to process your claim, we need to have all the relevant information and evidence to support your claim.

We aim to process your claim within 14 days of having received the last piece of information from you.

If you’re a private tenant and you're more than 4 weeks behind with your rent:

We will create a payment the same day we process your claim. If we are making payments direct to your bank account, it will be in your account on or around the 4th day. If we are making payments to you by cheque we will send you a cheque the day we process your claim.

If you’re a private tenant and are not more than 4 weeks behind with your rent:

We will create a payment at the end of the 1st 2 weeks if we are paying you, or at the end of the 4th week if we are paying your landlord. We will then send you payments every 2 weeks, or your landlord every 4 weeks thereafter.

If you are a council tenant, or qualify for council tax benefit:

We will credit your benefit to your account(s) at the end of that day. Banks are not allowed to use housing benefit or any other benefit to repay an overdraft.

The law says that a person needs a minimum amount of money to live on. This is what income related benefits are for. You can protect your housing benefit payments by telling your bank it should only be used to pay your rent.

This protection is called a 'first right of appropriation of funds order'.

You can use the first right of appropriation on any money being paid into your account. For example, you may want to make sure that your job seekers allowance (JSA) is used to pay your electricity bill and water rates. You will need to tell your bank how to use these payments by writing to them.

For housing benefit payments, make it clear in your letter that any regular payments or future deposits from Kirklees Council are to be used to pay for your rent. If you don’t make it clear any future payments are to be used for your rent, you will have to tell the bank every time your housing benefit is paid into your account.

For example, you may want to instruct your bank or building society:- "On or around August 20th, and every 2 weeks after, my housing benefit will be paid into my current account number 0101010101. I am exercising my first right of appropriation over these funds and wish you to pay the following items from it:- £75 standing order payable to my landlord, Mr Smith on the 25th of the month."

Keep a copy of the letter you have sent to your bank or building society in case there is any dispute later. You may also want to ask your bank or building society for a written acknowledgment of your instructions.

Alternatively you can download and use the simple form at the back of our Rights of Appropriation leaflet.

• Rights of appropriation (PDF: 61KB)

If the amount of housing benefit you get is lower than the amount of rent you pay, you will be responsible for making up the difference yourself.

If your local housing allowance rate doesn't cover your rent, you have a number of options. You can:

• Ask us to check your benefit claim to make sure you are receiving the correct amount of benefit.
• Pay the shortfall between your benefit and your rent out of your income.
• Ask your landlord whether they will accept less rent.
• Consider moving to a cheaper rented home.
• Apply for a discretionary housing payment if you think you have a good reason for needing to stay in your current home.

If we give you too much benefit, it is called an 'overpayment'. How we recover the overpayment depends on your circumstances and what type of benefit you receive.

• Housing benefit overpayments