Apply for Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Reduction
Planned maintenance
Please note that the Housing Benefit/Council Tax Reduction form will be unavailable for a few hours each month for the remainder of 2024, due to planned maintenance. The next maintenance period is on Sunday 21 April 2024, from 8.45am to 4pm.
You cannot make a new claim for Housing Benefit (HB) in this area unless you are in one of the groups that can still make a claim. If you cannot claim HB you will need to claim Universal Credit (UC) for help with your rent.
Claiming HB/CTR for EU and EEA citizens
Check if you can still claim Housing Benefit
Claiming Council Tax Reduction (CTR) if you have claimed or get UC
CTR can help towards the cost of your Council Tax.
If you have recently claimed UC you will not need to make a claim for CTR. The DWP will tell us you have claimed UC and we can use this as your claim for CTR.
If we contact you for more details you must reply as soon as possible or you may lose out on help.
If you are already on UC and you are not getting CTR you will need to make a claim as soon as possible.
If you have to pay rent or Council Tax and you meet one of the following criteria you can apply for Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Reduction (you cannot claim HB if you are entitled to UC):
- You have reached state pension credit age
- You live in supported accommodation
- You have savings below £16,000 (unless you are on Guaranteed Credit)
If you are a student or a person that has come from abroad you may need to meet further criteria.
If you can claim, please apply as soon as possible; if you don't, you may lose out on benefit. Please supply any supporting proof as soon as you can.
Before you fill in this form
You won't be able to save this form to complete later, so please allow yourself at least five minutes to fill in the form.
Help with applying
If you need help completing the application form or need to arrange a visit because of illness or disability, please contact Benefit Services via their online enquiry form.
