Parental support - benefits and grants

Housing Benefit is administered by the Benefits Section of East Renfrewshire Council.

Contact

0141 577 3002
Email:.

Housing Benefit

If you are on a low income you may be able to claim money to help pay with your rent and/ or council tax. This money is called Housing or Council Tax Benefit.
Discounts are also available for residents who are not entitled to council tax benefit but who have other people staying with them on a low income.  There are also discounts on offer for residents who live alone or who share a house with students.

You may be able to get Housing Benefit if you are on other benefits, work part-time or work full-time on a low income. You cannot get Housing Benefit to help with the costs of a mortgage or home loan. If you are an owner-occupier, you may be able to get help with your mortgage interest through Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) or Pension Credit.

Housing Benefit does not help with the Council Tax, but if you are on a low income you may be able to get Council Tax Benefit to help pay your Council Tax.

You pay rent for the home you live in

To get Housing Benefit you must pay rent. It does not matter if your landlord is the council, a registered social landlord or a private landlord. You can also claim Housing Benefit if you rent a room in a hostel, or are a boarder. You can claim it if you share a flat or a house and can get Housing Benefit as a joint tenant or a sub-tenant.

You can only get Housing Benefit if you are responsible for paying the rent for your home, or live with your partner who is responsible for the rent. Only one member of a couple who live together can claim Housing Benefit. You must also live in the accommodation for which you are claiming Housing Benefit.

There are some people who will be treated as though they are not responsible for paying rent even though they are paying it, for example, if you are renting from a close relative.

Students may be able to claim Housing Benefit, but special rules apply to you.

If you have two homes or you are temporarily away from home, you may be able to get Housing Benefit, depending on the circumstances.

If you live in a residential care home or a nursing home you cannot usually claim Housing Benefit. You may be able to get help with care home fees. If you are living in a care home and you need financial help, you should consult income maximisation on 0141 577 3071 who can assess your situation and work out what should apply.

Your income and capital

To get Housing Benefit, you must have income and capital below a certain level. However, if you're getting certain benefits, different rules apply-see below. Capital means savings, land, property or anything else which could provide you with income. If you have more than £16,000 in capital, you will not get any Housing Benefit, unless you are getting the guarantee part of Pension Credit. If you have capital of over £6,000, you will be assumed to have some income from that capital.

If you are getting Income Support or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, you will automatically be within the income and capital limits for Housing Benefit and you will qualify for the maximum amount. If you are on Pension Credit and you get the guarantee credit (whether on its own or with the savings credit), you will also automatically get the maximum amount of Housing Benefit. If you get the savings credit only, you may qualify for Housing Benefit but it will depend on your income and savings. The local authority will use the Pension Service figures for income and savings to assess whether you can get Housing Benefit.

How much will I get

How much Housing Benefit you can get depends on how much rent you pay, what income you have coming in and where you live.

Housing Benefit may not cover all of your rent or the housing costs which are included in your rent. Costs it can cover include the actual rent you pay for your accommodation and charges for certain services, such as a caretaker.

Housing Benefit will not cover some costs and services which could be included in your rent, for example, water charges, charges for heating, hot water, lighting or cooking, and payments for food or fuel.

If you pay rent to a private landlord, the rent your Housing Benefit can cover will normally be restricted to an amount set by a rent officer. If you pay rent to a local authority, your Housing Benefit will not be restricted in this way. If you pay rent to a registered social landlord, such as a housing association, your Housing Benefit will not normally be restricted in this way, unless the local authority thinks your accommodation is larger than you need, or your rent is unreasonably high.

You applied for Housing Benefit or moved on or after 7 April 2008

If you're the tenant of a private landlord, when you make a new claim for Housing Benefit your local authority will normally calculate how much rent your Housing Benefit can cover using the Local Housing Allowance rules. Local Housing Allowance rules will also normally apply if you move address, even if this is within the same local authority's area.

Under the Local Housing Allowance rules, when the local authority calculate how much Housing Benefit to pay you, they will not usually look at the actual rent you pay. Instead, they will use a standard Local Housing Allowance figure which has been calculated by a rent officer. The figure used will be the one which is based on the area you live in and the number of rooms the Housing Benefit rules say are needed for your household. This may not be the same number of rooms you are actually living in.

In some cases, it's possible for your Housing Benefit entitlement to be more than your rent, although you can only be paid up to £15 a week more.

However, you will often find the amount of Housing Benefit you are entitled to won't cover all your rent. If this is the case, you may have to make up the difference out of any other income you have, or find cheaper accommodation. You may be able to get further help with housing costs.

It's very difficult to challenge a rent officer's decision about Local Housing Allowance. If you want to do this, you will need to get specialist legal help.

If you're thinking of moving into private rented accommodation, or of moving into another area, you can find out how much rent Housing Benefit will cover where you want to live from the local housing allowance pages.