Claiming Benefits

• Who can claim benefits?
• How Do I Claim?
• How much benefit will I qualify for?
• How long will it take to process my claim?
• When will my claim start?
• How will my Benefit be paid?
• Can I claim Housing Benefit before I move into my new address?
• Can I claim Housing Benefit on two homes?
• Can students claim Benefits?
• Will you include my grown up childs income?
• I want to rent a property from a private landlord

 

Who Can Claim Benefits?

You can claim Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Benefit if the following apply to you:

• You pay rent on your home and/or Council Tax on your home.
• You must live in the property that you are looking to claim from, normally but there are exceptions.
• You must also have a low income (this includes people who are self employed) or be claiming welfare benefits such as  Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, Pension Credit, Disability Benefits, Tax Credits etc 

If you have capital over £16,000 you cannot make a claim for benefit unless you get the Guaranteed Pension Credit from the Pension Service.

Please note

• if your capital is under £16,000 and you are under 60 years old we will add £1 to your weekly income for every £250 you have over £6000. 
• If you are 60 or over we will add £1 to your weekly income for every £500 you have over £6000.

 

How Do I Claim?

You can collect a benefit claim form in person from:

• Main Reception or Customer Centre
  Chester City Council (opposite Somerfield Supermarket)
  The Forum
  Chester
  Opening hours:
  8.30am - 4.45pm Monday - Friday
   
• Chester & District Housing Trust (CDHT) (External link)
  Northgate Street
  Chester
• You can download housing benefit forms  from our Internet site
• Or telephone us on the number below between 8.30am - 5pm Monday to Friday and we will be happy to post an application form out to you.
• Or email us at benefits@chester.gov.uk
• Or if you have difficulty getting into our office because you are disabled, elderly or vulnerable please contact our Welfare Officer on 01244 402363 who will arrange to come and see you at home.

 

How Much Benefit Will I Qualify For?

This depends on what your individual circumstances are, who lives with you and how much income and capital you have.

Once your benefit is in payment and you're still struggling to pay your rent and Council Tax you can apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment which is available in exceptional circumstances to people who are in financial difficulties.

We will look into your income and expenditure and reasons why you can not afford to pay.

We will consider paying up to the difference between your benefit entitlement and your rent/Council Tax liability.

You can download housing benefit forms for more information

 

How Long Will It Take To Process My Claim?

Our target is to process benefit claims within 25 days of receiving a claim form. Once we have all the information required to process the benefit claim we will aim to process the claim within 14 days.

Supporting Evidence

We need supporting evidence which must be original documents:

• Proof of identity such as:
  birth certificate, driving licence, passport (must be up to date). We also need official documents with your national insurance number on.
• Proof of capital, savings and investments:
  We will need to see the last 60 days transactions from all your bank, building society or post office accounts, premium bonds, national savings certificates, ISA's, stocks and shares and unit trusts.
• Proof of earned and unearned income such as:
  Proof of your wages, tax credits, maintenance, pensions and any welfare benefits. This has to be in a form of wage slips or pension slips, benefit books or benefit award letters. If you are self employed we need to see your last audited accounts. If you do not have accounts please phone us on 01244 402236 and we will send you a form.
• Proof of private rent and tenancy such as:
  A tenancy agreement or a letter from your landlord.
• Evidence of Child Care Payments such as:
  An invoice from your registered  child minder to state how many hours they look after your children and how much they charge you.

 

Please check to make sure you have provided all the information we have asked for.  If you have given us all the information we have asked for but still have not received your benefit we could be waiting for information from other agencies such as the Department for Works and Pensions, your landlord or employer.

 

From What Date Will My Claim Be Commenced?

Your new claim will be paid from the Monday after we receive the Benefit Claim Form unless you have made a claim for Job Seekers Allowance or Income Support in the last calendar month. If so you may get benefit earlier.

If you are not getting benefit at an address in Chester already and you want to claim in Chester, the claim form needs to be returned to us within the week that your tenancy starts.

If you move into the property in the first week of your tenancy we will start your benefit from the date you move in.

If you think your benefit should start from an earlier date, you can request a backdated award, please use the backdate section on the benefit claim form. You must write down:

1. The date you think your benefit should start from.
2. The reason why you did not claim earlier. You need to show continuous good cause for the whole backdating period for us to consider your request.
3. You will also need to provide proof of your income and capital for the backdating period.

 

How Will My Benefit Be Paid?

Council Tax Benefit

Will be paid direct into your Council Tax Account.  We will send you an adjusted bill to show the new balance.

If you are entitled to a refund we will send you a refund form with you bill that you must complete and return to us so that we can send you a cheque for the amount owed.

Housing Benefit

This can be paid direct to you or your landlord by cheque or directly into a bank account. However, if you are more than 8 weeks in arrears with your rent, payments will be made to your landlord. All these options are on the claim form please tick the relevant box when completing your form.

You can download the forms to have payments go directly to a bank account. There are two forms available.  You can download housing benefit forms for more information

If you have asked for Housing Benefit to be paid to your landlord it will be paid every 4 weeks in arrears.

If you want Housing Benefit payments made to yourself then we will pay you every 2 weeks in arrears.

 

Can I Claim Housing Benefit before I Move Into My New Address?

You can claim Housing Benefit before you move in if:

• your new property has to be adapted for yours or your families disability needs
• Or you intended to move in and this property would have been your normal home but you had to go into hospital or residential accommodation
• Or your moving date was delayed because you were waiting for a Social Fund application. You must have a child under 5 years old and are using the fund to purchase essential items.
• Or you are waiting for a Community Care Grant

However, you cannot have a rental liability somewhere else.

Can I Claim Housing Benefit On Two Homes?

You can claim Housing Benefit on two homes if:

• You have to move out of your old address through fear of violence and intend to return to it within 52 weeks we can pay Housing Benefit on your old address and your temporary new address. If you do not intend to return to your old address we can pay up to four weeks after you move out.
• If you have a large family we can pay on two properties if a housing association has housed you in more than one property because your family is too large to fit in a single property.
• If you are moving to a new address and it has to be adapted due to a disability we can pay for the new address whilst it is being adapted and pay at your old address until you move into your new one.
• If you have to move out and are still liable for rent at your old address, such as a tenancy notice period. We can pay up to 4 weeks on your old address as long as you have moved into your new address and there are good reasons why you could not serve your tenancy notice period.

 

Can Students Claim Benefits?

If you are a student you can claim Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Benefit if:

You may also apply if you are disabled AND:

• Qualify for a disability premium or
• Have a grant which includes a disabled student allowance or
• Are disqualified from Incapacity Benefit or
• Are incapable of work for 28 weeks or more.

You can download housing benefit forms for more information

 

Will You Include My Grown Up Childs Income?

If you have another person above the age of 18 living with you apart from your partner (we call this type of person a non-dependant) we will make a deduction from your benefit depending on their gross income.

This is sometimes dependant on your circumstances. For example if you receive Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance (care component), or you are blind or have ceased to be in the last 28 weeks we do not take deductions

These deductions fall into several bands which are set by the government.

 

I Want To Rent A Property From A Private Landlord

Before you take on a tenancy you can complete a form called a Pre-Tenancy Determination (You can download housing benefit forms for more information) This form needs to be completed by yourself and your new landlord and returned to our office.

We will then send it to our Rent Officer Service who will decide what a reasonable rent on the property is. This decision will take 3-5 working days to receive. We can then inform you of the maximum rent we could pay you and how much rent we would use in the calculation of your housing benefit.

We do not pay towards your deposit on a property but if you contact the charity Shelter (external link) they may be able to help you. 

Every year your rent details are sent to the Rent Service to determine that we are using a fair rent for your property in our housing benefit calculation to ensure we are paying you the correct amount.  This amount of rent can be changed each year by the Rent Officer as the housing market varies and your household may have changed as well.

 

Should you need further information about anything on this page please contact us at:

Benefits Section
Customer Services
Chester City Council
The Forum
Chester
CH1 2HS
Telephone: 01244 402236
Email: benefits@chester.gov.uk.