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Housing Benefit

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Who can apply

Housing Benefit can help you with the cost of your rent if you’re unemployed or on a low income. 

You can claim Housing Benefit if:

  • you live in specified supported accommodation
  • you live in temporary homeless accommodation provided by the council
  • you are of state pension age

You cannot claim Housing Benefit if:

  • you’re eligible for Universal Credit housing element
  • you (and your partner, if you have one) have £16,000 or more in savings, unless you receive guaranteed pension credit
  • you pay rent to a close relative who lives with you
  • you own your home

If you qualify for Severe Disability Premium (SDP) you are no longer able to make a new claim for Housing Benefit. You should claim Universal Credit instead, and ask to be considered for the transitional element.

You can find out more about eligibility on the government's website.

Apply for Housing Benefit online

Send us your evidence

You can upload your supporting evidence at the end of the online application process.

Upload your evidence online

What evidence do I need?

All claims

Your benefits or deductions may be delayed if you do not provide the right evidence. If you or your partner have any of the listed items you’ll need to supply them:

  • your last 5 (weekly) or 3 (fortnightly) or 2 (monthly) payslips. If you have just started work, do not wait until you get them to submit your claim. You can supply them as you get them.
  • the last two pension slips from your former employer/your personal pension, or a letter from your pension provider showing the latest rise
  • evidence of all capital and savings
  • bank statements or building society pass books covering the last two months
  • Post Office books, Premium Bonds, Income Bonds, ISAs, TESSAs
  • National Savings certificates, stocks and shares information
  • state benefits or state pension
  • evidence of maintenance
  • evidence of childcare costs
  • evidence of student grant or loan
  • letter detailing how the grant or loan is made up
  • evidence of income for non-dependants

First claim

If this is your first claim with Walsall Council, you’ll need to provide:

  • two items of ID (for example, your passport, driver’s license, birth or marriage certificate)
  • evidence of your National Insurance (NI) number (for example, a wage slip, correspondence from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) or your NI card)

If you are applying with a partner, they will also need to provide this evidence.
 

New claim

If you’re making a new claim, you may need to provide:

  • identification
  • tenancy agreement
  • evidence of your income

Change of circumstances

If you’re reporting a change of circumstances, you may need to provide:

  • wage slips
  • bank statements
  • identification

If you’re a private tenant reporting a change of address you will need to send us a copy of your tenancy agreement. 

You may have to pay a penalty if you don’t tell us about any changes within one month.  For more serious offences, you could be prosecuted for benefit fraud.

How you receive your payments

If you do not have one, think about opening a basic bank account or a Walsave credit union account. Most banks will not allow you to borrow money with a basic account, so you should not get into debt.

LHA

If you rent from a private landlord we will usually pay your Housing Benefit by BACS directly into your bank or Walsave account.

Social housing

We usually pay your Housing Benefit direct to your landlord.

Alternatively, we can pay your Housing Benefit by BACS into your bank or Walsave account and it will be up to you to pay your landlord.

Sharing information with your landlord

By law, we must tell your landlord about certain decisions we make. For example, we will tell them if we decide to pay your Housing Benefit directly to them. This is set out in the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006.

With your consent, we may also tell your landlord:

  • details that affect your claim, for example, the tenancy start date
  • if you have claimed Housing Benefit
  • when we have made a claim decision

We will not share information about your personal, household or financial circumstances. We will not share any other information without your consent. 

Consent

We need your consent to discuss some details with your landlord. You can find out more about our responsibility to your data on our data protection pages.

When you are making your claim, you can choose to give your consent by agreeing in the application form. 

You can contact us to withdraw your consent at any time.

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