Additional help that may be claimed

If you are about to start work and have been receiving Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance, Incapacity Benefit or Severe Disablement Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance you may be entitled to up to four weeks Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit after your employment starts. This is known as an Extended Payment.

People in receipt of Income Support , Jobseeker’s Allowance (Income Based) or Employment and Support Allowance (Income Related)

You or your partner must have:

started work; or
increased your hours of work to at least 16 hours per week (24 hours in the case of your partner); or
increased your earnings sufficiently to take you off Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance (Income Based) or Employment Support Allowance (Income Related)

and

have been in receipt of Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance (Income Based) or Employment Support Allowance (Income Related) continuously for at least 26 weeks (or any combination of those benefits in that period);
the new job or increase in hours/earnings will last for at least five weeks;
you have been liable for rent and/or Council Tax immediately before your Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance (Income Based) or Employment Support Allowance (Income Related) ended, and for the whole of the Extended Payment period

People in receipt of Incapacity Benefit , Severe Disablement Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance Contribution Related
The rules for qualifying for Extended Payments are much the same as above i.e.

You or your partner must have

started work; or
increased your hours of work to at least 16 hours per week (24 hours in the case of your partner); or
increased your earnings;
and

have been in receipt of Incapacity Benefit , Severe Disablement Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance Contribution Related continuously for at least 26 weeks(or any combination of those benefits in that period), but Income Support or Pension Credit must not have been in payment during this period;
the new job or increase in hours/earnings will last for at least five weeks;
you have been liable for rent and/or Council Tax immediately before your Incapacity Benefit , Severe Disablement Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance Contribution Related ended, and for the whole of the Extended Payment period

You do not need to claim an extended payment, once we have been notified that your Job Seekers Allowance (Income Based), Income Support, Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance, Employment Support Allowance (Contribution related) or Employment Support Allowance (Income Related) has ended, we will check to make sure that you meet the qualifying conditions.

If we write to you for further information you have one calendar month to respond; failure to do this may result in you losing out on benefit.

Your benefit claim will continue at the same rate for up to 4 weeks from the Monday following the date that your Job Seekers Allowance (Income Based), Income Support, Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance, Employment Support Allowance (Contribution related) or Employment Support Allowance (Income Related) stopped.

If you want to claim further help with your rent and/or council tax after the Extended Payment period on your new circumstances, you may need supply proof of earnings, capital and other income. If you don’t do this straight away, then you may lose benefit.

You must also remember to tell the Department for Work and Pensions or Job Centre Plus that you have started work.

Second adult rebate is a type of council tax benefit. If you are a single person solely liable for council tax you are entitled to the single person discount. However, you may be solely liable for council tax, but not get the single person discount because there is another person living in the household. If the other person is on a low income you may be entitled to second adult rebate.

The second adult, living in your home, must be over 18 years but must not be:
• Your partner
• A tenant or boarder, who is paying you a commercial rent.
You may still claim second adult rebate if there is more than one other adult living in the household. The income of all the other adults will be added together for our calculations.

The amount of Second Adult Rebate you may receive will depend on the income of the other adult.

The table below shows the percentage of rebate that may be applied to your council tax bill:

If your Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Benefit do not cover all of your rental and/or Council Tax costs you may be entitled to additional financial help through Discretionary Housing Payments. Any entitlement is determined by your individual circumstances and the level of income you have left after taking into account your essential expenditure.

A number of factors are taken into account before a Discretionary Housing Payments award can be made:

Income

Savings

Other people in your home

Your loans and debts

Your money managing skills

Illness or disability in your household

Your efforts to improve your situation

The city council has limited funds for Discretionary Housing Payments, so these payments are normally for a temporary period. You must already be in receipt of some Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Benefit in order to be eligible for these payments.

If you are in receipt of Housing Benefit, Discretionary Housing Payments will help to meet some or all of the rent that you have to pay after your Housing Benefit entitlement has been calculated. However, Discretionary Housing Payments will only be considered on the amount of rent that is eligible for Housing Benefit purposes after deducting costs such as water rates or fuel. If you are in receipt of Council Tax Benefit, then Discretionary Housing Payments will help to meet some or all of the Council Tax that you have to pay after your Council Tax Benefit entitlement has been calculated.

A Discretionary Housing Payment application form needs to be completed as well as an income and expenditure questionnaire. As much evidence as possible regarding the reasons for your request will need to be provided.

When a decision has been made about your request for Discretionary Housing Payments, you will be notified of the outcome in writing. If you are not happy about the amount of your Discretionary Housing Payments award, you must put you reasons in writing, so that a review of the decision can be considered.

Discretionary Housing Payment forms are available from Gateway in the Civic Centre or from your local housing office. Alternatively a form can be requested from the call centre or be printed from the council website.