Home: Q&A: Claiming Council Tax and Housing Benefit menu
General Information about Claiming Benefit
Chris Read - June 2004
revenues.benefits@kirklees.gov.uk
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| Can I claim? |
Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit are national welfare benefits. The purpose of the Housing Benefit scheme is to help people with low incomes pay their rent. The Council Tax Benefit scheme provides assistance with the Council Tax. Both schemes are means tested.
Anyone who has to pay rent on their home may qualify for Housing Benefit.
Anyone who has to pay Council Tax on their home may get Council Tax benefit.
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| How do I claim? |
You must complete a claim form, in order for the service to calculate your entitlement to housing benefit or council tax.
You can claim:
If you have any queries about claiming housing or council tax benefit, then contact the
Revenues and Benefits service.
You will also need to provide original documents to confirm the details that you have made in your claim. These include providing proof
of your National Insurance Number and identity, proof of your income, bank and building society accounts and any other savings, and
proof of any rent you pay. The claim form includes a section which advises you what original evidence you need to provide.
We cannot process your claim until these proofs have been received, and you will hear about your claim much more quickly if you provide
all the evidence we need with your claim form. Do not send valuable documents through the post.
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| Can I get help completing the form? |
The claim form is quite lengthy and does ask a lot of questions. If you require assistance in completing the form you can get help from any of our Local Area Housing Offices, Cash and Information Offices, or Kirklees Information Points.
Please remember that we need you to answer every part of the form applicable to you.
You can also get assistance from the Department for Work and Pensions or CHAS Housing.
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| Why do I need to provide proof of my Income/Savings/Rent? |
In order for your claim to be processed, the service requires confirmation of the details that you have advised us of. This requirement ensures that public funds are safegarded as far as possible from customers making fraudulent claims.
The onus on obtaining information lies with the customer. If the department requested the information for all its customers then time delays with processing the claims would inevitably build up.
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Why do I need to provide proof of my National Insurance Number?
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Section 19 of the Social Security Administration (Fraud) Act 1997 details two major changes to the qualifying conditions for Housing and Council Tax Benefit. The changes require the customer (and their partner if applicable) to provide proof of their identity and to provide a National Insurance Number with proof that the National Insurance Number is theirs.
If the customer and/or partner fail to provide this information, the benefit claim cannot be processed and no benefit is payable. These new requirements are mandatory for all new claims received after 06/09/99.
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| What if I earn money from work? |
If you are working, you still may be entitled to Housing/Council Tax benefit. When you submit a claim form, we will need to see proof of your earnings. If you are paid weekly, we will need 5 consecutive wage slips. If you are paid monthly or 4 weekly, we will need to see 2 consecutive wage slips.
We will calculate your net weekly wage, by deducting any payments of National Insurance and Income Tax, and 50% of any pension contributions that you make. Other deductions that you pay are not deducted for benefit calculation purposes.
If you do not have wage slips, we can provide you with a form that can be completed by your employer. You can print a copy of the Claimants Earning Certificate.
If you receive Working Families Tax Credit, we will also need to see proof of this.
If you are self-employed, we will need to see your most recent accounts. If the business is new, or has been running for less than 1 year, then please complete the Self Employed Earner Claim form.
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| How will I be paid? |
How you will be paid, depends on which benefits you qualify for, and what you requested on your claim form.
If you are entitled to Council Tax Benefit, the benefit will be credited to your Council Tax account, and a revised bill will be sent to you. You will also be sent notification letters, detailing your benefit, and how it was calculated.
If you are entitled to Housing Benefit, and live in a council owned property, your benefit will be credited to your rent account.
If you live in a private rented property with a private landlord or are a housing association tenant, the benefit can be paid to either yourself or your landlord, whichever you prefer. However, if you are in arrears by more than 8 weeks, the benefit must be paid to your landlord.
You can be paid by cheque or through the BACS system, which will send the benefit direct to your bank account.
Your benefit will be paid in arrears. If it is paid to the tenant it will be paid 2 weeks in arrears. If paid to the landlord, it will be paid 4 weeks in arrears.
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| When will I be paid? |
Your benefit will be paid when your claim has been processed. In order to process your claim, we need to have all the relevant information and proofs 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 are more than 4 weeks in arrears when we process your claim, and are a private tenant, a payment will be created that day. You should then receive the payment by cheque within 4 days. If the payment is made direct to your bank account, it will be in your account on or around the 4th day.
If you are not more than 4 weeks in arrears, a payment will be created at the end of the first two weeks if payment is to be made to the tenant, or at the end of the fourth week if to be paid to the landlord. You will then receive payments either 2 weekly or 4 weekly thereafter.
If you are a council tenant, or qualify for Council Tax benefit the benefit will be credited to your account(s) at the end of that day.
If you have any queries regarding your payment you can contact us.
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| How much Council Tax/housing benefit will I get? |
If you would like to know how much benefit you will be entitled to, you can contact one of the Kirklees Information Points, who will be able to do a trial calculation for you. This will only be an estimate and should only be used as a guide.
The amount you are entitled to is dependent on;
- Your families income.
- Your families level of savings.
- Household composition.
- The number of non-dependants (people in your household over 18) and their income.
- The amount of Council Tax and rent you are liable to pay.
- Your age and the age of the people in your household.
- Any premiums you are entitled to because of your household composition, age or health.
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| What happens if I have to go to Prison? |
If you are arrested and detained on remand pending trial, you are still entitled to Housing Benefit for up to 52 weeks. You should complete a new application form as soon as possible on entry to the prison, to notify us of the fact. This will ensure that your benefit continues.
When you are tried, if you are found guilty, your benefit will be cancelled if your sentence is more than 13 weeks, or if the sentence awarded minus time already spent on remand is more than 13 weeks.
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| I am going abroad, can I claim Benefit? |
Housing and Council Tax Benefits may be payable for people who go abroad for a limited length of time (less than 13 weeks). The important issue is that you claim your benefit before you go away. If you fail to do this, you may not get your benefit backdated after you return to this country.
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| For more information contact: |
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