Help and advice on your entitlement and how it is calculated.
If you rent from a Housing Association or registered social landlord (for example Shoreline Housing Partnership or Longhurst and Havelok Homes), we will normally use the rent they charge and take off anything that is included for extra services, such as water rates or heating charges.
We will look at all of your income, including income from bank accounts, savings, earnings or benefits.
Earned income
Earned income is any income that you earn from employment. We work out your income from earnings by looking at the money you earn from employment and then taking off your tax, National Insurance contributions and half of any payments you make to a private pension. We will then take away a set amount depending on your circumstances. The table below shows you the set amounts that have applied since 5 April 2010.
| Amount that we take off weekly |
Circumstances |
| £5 |
Single |
| £10 |
Couple |
| £25 |
Single parent |
| £20 |
Any of the following apply.
- You are entitled to Enhanced Disability Premium
- You are entitled to Disability Premium
- You are entitled to Carer Premium
- You have a certain job, for example you are an auxiliary coastguard
|
| Maximum £175 |
You have at least one dependent child who is looked after by a registered childminder. |
| Maximum £300 |
You have more than one child and they are looked after by a registered childminder. The maximum of £300 applies if you have at least two dependent children who will be under the age of 16 before the first Monday in September. |
Unearned income
Unearned income includes things like Child Benefit, tax credits, pension credits and private pensions. We ignore some benefits, for example we ignore Disability Living Allowance, War Disablement Pension, War Widow’s Pension and maintenance payments you get for children. You should still tell us on your application about all benefits and maintenance payments you receive, and supply the relevant evidence.
Income from savings and investments
If you have savings or investments worth more than £16,000, you will not qualify for Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit unless you receive Pension Credit (Guaranteed Credit).
If you are aged 60 or over and have savings and investments between £6,000 and £16,000, the council will add £1 a week for every £500, or any part of that, to your assessed income.
If you are aged 60 or under and have savings and investments of between £6,000 and £16,000, the council will add £1 a week for every £250, or any part of that to your assessed income.
Savings and investments include all bank, building society and post office accounts as well as stocks, shares, income bonds or property.
Boarder income
If you are getting money from a lodger or boarder (a boarder is someone who pays you rent for a room and gets at least one cooked or prepared meal a day), we must take this into account. We will take off the first £20 of the weekly rent and then half the rest of the rent.
For example, if your lodger pays you £50 a week, we will first take off the first £20. This leaves £30. We will then halve this, leaving £15.
Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance (income-based) or Employment and Support Allowance (income-related)
If you get Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance (income-based) or Employment and Support Allowance (income-related), you will get maximum Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit (or both).
Pension Credit
If you get Guarantee Credit, you will get full Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit, or both, with any non-dependent deductions taken away.
If you have savings only, you will still be able to claim Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit, or both, but this will depend on your income and so on. This means that we will add the entire amount for your savings to the calculation for Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit, or both.
What is a non-dependant?
‘Non-dependant’ is a term used for any adult in the household, for example grown-up children, relatives, friends of the family and some lodgers. The amount of Housing Benefit you get assumes that any non-dependants help you to pay the rent, so we will make a deduction based on their age, circumstances and income.
If you would like to claim Housing Benefit please do not wait, as you may lose benefit if you do.
To make a claim you can download a claim form from this site, visit any of the council's customer access points or contact the Housing Benefit team on the number to the right of this page.