Housing Benefit is a means tested benefit paid by Local Authorities to help people on low incomes to meet the cost of rented accommodation.
NOTE: New claims for HB can only be made by claimants who:
Everyone else, not currently getting Housing Benefit, who needs help to pay rent and tenancy service charges, will need to claim Universal Credit.
But note, currently someone already getting Housing Benefit will only need to move over to UC under certain changes in circumstance. Click
here for who has to make a new claim for Universal Credit
An award of HB helps the claimant pay the rent for the property occupied by their family. The calculation takes into account the circumstances of the claimant, their partner (if they have one), their dependant children (if they have any) and any 'non-dependants' that live with them.
To claim Housing Benefit:
- The claimant (and their partner) must meet the long list of qualifying conditions, eg have joint savings below £16,000, and
- The claimant (or their partner) must be liable to pay rent on a property.
- The claimant must occupy that property as their home
- The claimant must fit into one of the categores of people who can claim HB rather than UC (as list above)..
Click on the links below for more information.