Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit
Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit are national
welfare benefits that are administered by your local authority.
They help people on low incomes to pay their rent and Council
Tax.
Housing Benefit
Housing Benefit is a means-tested welfare benefit intended
to help claimants with their rent. The main legislation that
governs it is the Social Security and Benefits Act 1992 and from
that there are two regulations that help its operation, the Housing
Benefit Regulations 2006 for working age claimants and the Housing
Benefit (Persons who have attained the qualifying age for state
pension credit) Regulations 2006 for those over 60.
Council tenants receive Housing Benefit as a rebate,
reducing the amount of rent the tenant has to pay. Private tenants
receive their benefit directly as they are expected to manage
their own finances. In some cases this isn't possible and an
arrangement is set up so that the private landlord receives the
benefit instead - see the 'Private landlord information' page
(left) for more details.
Housing Benefit is only available to those who are liable for
paying the rent of the accomodation and have a permanent
residency in the UK. Only in the circumstance that a person is
unable to manage their own affairs can another person within the
household submit a claim on behalf of that person and become liable
for the benefit.
Council Tax Benefit
Council Tax Benefit is assessed in a similar way to
Housing Benefit (differing only in the way the calculation for the
instalments are worked out) and helps claimants with the payment of
Council Tax. The benefit is paid as a rebate on the Council Tax
account and the claimant never receives the money
directly.