Housing benefit and Council Tax support - new claim

People at state pension age

If you and your partner are state pension age, you are not affected by Universal Credit.

For help with your rent and/or Council Tax, you can claim Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Support.

If you are not sure whether you and your partner are state pension age, you can use the Government's pension age calculator.

People at working age

If you need help with your rent, you can apply for Housing Benefit if you are in one of the following groups:

you are single and state pension age
you and your partner are state pension age
you are living in Specified Accommodation (and you need care, support or supervision)
you have been placed in temporary accommodation by the Council.

If you are in one of these groups, you need to make one joint claim for help with your rent and Council Tax. You can do this by completing our Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support online claim form.

If you are not in one of the above groups, you need to make two separate claims, one for help with your Council Tax and one for help with your rent:

(a) For help with your Council Tax you must claim Council Tax Support from the Council by completing our Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support online claim form.

Council Tax Support is our local reduction scheme to help you pay Council Tax for the home you live in. Both tenants and home owners, including those on low income, benefits and Universal Credit can claim Council Tax Support, as long as you have a liability to pay Council Tax.

We will assess your entitlement to receive help with your Council Tax, as long as you provide the information we ask you for.

If you qualify for help, we will reduce your Council Tax bill.

(b) For help with your rent, you must apply online to claim Universal Credit from the Department of Works and Pensions (DWP).

The DWP will assess your entitlement to receive help with your rent as part of your Universal Credit claim, as long as you provide the information it asks you for. Do not delay making your claim, as you could lose out on help with making your rent payments.

Universal Credit will not give you any help with your Council Tax so it is very important that you also make a separate claim with the Council, for Council Tax Support, if you have a Council Tax liability.‌

Council Tax Support

Council Tax Support can be claimed by people on a low income, including those on Universal Credit, to reduce their Council Tax payments.

If you are liable for Council Tax, you can claim help with your Council Tax Support.

Apply online

Making a Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax claim

Supporting information

Please email your supporting information to enquiries.benefits@derby.gov.uk. If you have been asked to provide original documents, we need to see the original documents - if your email is not accepted, you will be contacted by one of our assessors.

How do I tell you about a change in my circumstances?

If you have already made a claim and want to tell us about a change in your circumstances, including a change of address, please visit our change of circumstances advice page.

Can I save a form?

If you have already started your online claim and wish to save it, please make a note of the reference, you can then complete your saved application form. Once completed, you can access your submitted application at any time.

Before you start your claim

If you are thinking about making a brand new claim for benefit, it is very important that you read all the following information on this page before you start your claim. This will help make sure you have all the right information to hand before you start and will make claiming quicker for you.

What information will I need to make a Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Support claim?

Before you start your claim please gather together details of your identity, plus all the income and capital that you will need to tell us about for both you and your partner, if you have one. This will include:

National Insurance numbers.
Wage slips (if you are paid weekly you will need your last five; if you are paid fortnightly you will need your last three; if you are paid monthly you will need your last two).
If you have over £6,000 capital (or over £10,000 if you are a pensioner) copies of your last two months' bank statements for all your accounts and details of any other capital that you have.
Details of all your other income and benefits.
Details of your rent if you are claiming Housing Benefit.
Details of any child care costs you pay out.

If we need any further information from you, we will tell you as soon as possible after you have submitted your claim to us.

How quickly do I need to provide information after I have submitted my application?

Please provide any information we ask for as quickly so that we can deal with your claim in the quickest possible time.

You will have a month from the date you submit your application to provide the information we need. If you do not provide this information on time we will cancel your claim.

Do I need to provide original documents?

We will tell you if we need original documents or if we can accept copies.

Do not send original documents through the post. These can either be taken to your Local Housing Office, or brought to the Council House, Corporation Street, Derby DE1 2XG.

People who may not need to apply direct to the Council - Pension Credit

You may have already made your claim for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support when you applied for Pension Credit.

Sometimes the Department for Work and Pensions may need to send you an extra application form to complete so that you can claim Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support. They will tell you if they are going to send you a form and where to send the form back to.

What if I'm part of a couple and one of us is a pensioner and the other is at working age?

If you are claiming as part of a couple where one of you is a pensioner and the other is of working age and you decide to make a claim with the Council, the pensioner should be the claimant when making the claim. This is because our claim form will automatically do a 'Better Buy' calculation during your claim to see if you would be better off receiving a Second Adult Rebate instead of Council Tax Support.

I am an appointee for a claimant. How do I apply?

An appointee is a person who has been appointed to act on behalf of another - either by the Court of Protection or by Derby City Council’s Benefits section - for the purposes of claiming and receiving benefits. If you have been appointed by the Court of Protection, we will need to see proof of the terms of the Court Order.

We treat an appointee as if they were the claimant. If you are an appointee you should indicate this when asked on the claim form.

Can I get help with opening a bank account?

If you require help with opening a bank account, advice is available on the Money Advice Service website.

Free School Meals and Pupil Premium

You may also be able to claim Free School Meals and Pupil Premium for full-time pupils.

You must be receiving Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Support at the same time.