Housing benefit - new claim

Am I eligible?

Housing Benefit is based on your household, income and capital but you cannot claim if you:

• own the property you live in
• pay your rent to a close relative who lives in the property with you
• have savings in excess of £16,000, unless in receipt of Guaranteed Pension Credit.  

Council Tax Benefit is also based on your household, income and capital.

To see if you are entitled to Housing and Council Tax Benefit just use the benefits calculator and follow the instructions.  If you want to continue and make a claim complete the Housing and Council Tax Benefit claim form.

If you want to claim Council Tax Benefit as well as Housing and Council Tax Benefit then you only need to complete one application form. We will work out your entitlement to both these benefits at the same time.

If you are already claiming Housing and Council Tax Benefit and are moving to another property in Derby you need to complete a change of address form as this is treated as a change in circumstances.

Do I need to apply directly to Derby City Council?

People who do not need to apply direct to Derby City Council

You may have already made your claim for Housing and Council Tax Benefit when you applied for one of these benefits...

•  Income Support
•  Job Seeker's Allowance Income Based
•  Employment Support Allowance
•  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 and Council Tax Benefit. They will tell you if they are going to send you a form and where to send the form back to.

People who must apply direct to Derby City Council

If you have not made a claim for one of the above benefits then you need to complete an application form. You can download our housing benefit claim form and print this.  Then complete, sign and send it to Derby Benefits. Please note that if you download the form after 17th December 2012, you will need to return it to the Council House.

If you want:

• us to send you a form, then contact us
• advice and help in completing the form, contact us or Derby Advice
• details about the maximum amount of rent we can pay, please look at the pages about Local Housing Allowance.

The next steps

You will need to provide evidence to back up the information in your claim.

If you can provide all the proof we need straightaway your claim will be processed more quickly.

If you haven’t got everything we need, send in what you have now and you can provide the rest later.

Where can I get further advice from?

You can also get free, independent advice and help from the Derby Citizens' Advice and Law Centre at Stuart House, Green Lane, Derby.

You can also download our Social Sector Size Limit - Frequently Asked Questions .

Housing Benefit - changes for tenants in private rented accommodation

Housing Benefit has changed if you rent your home from a private landlord – please see the factsheets below:

• Housing Benefit changes factsheet - Arabic
• Housing Benefit changes factsheet - Chinese
• Housing Benefit changes factsheet - English
• Housing Benefit changes factsheet - Gujarati
• Housing Benefit changes factsheet - Polish
• Housing Benefit changes factsheet - Punjabi
• Housing Benefit changes factsheet - Russian
• Housing Benefit changes factsheet - Somali
• Housing Benefit changes factsheet - Spanish
• Housing Benefit changes factsheet - Tamil
• Housing Benefit changes factsheet - Urdu

Privacy notice

We treat all the information you provide in confidence and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. For more information about the Data Protection Act and our policy to keep all information received through Derby Advice and Derby Direct, download our Data Protection Act 1998 - policy statement.  

Useful forms

• Benefits calculator
• Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit and Free School Meals claim form (pdf, 687kb)

Downloads

• Food banks and distribution in and around Derby (pdf, 23kb)

Useful links

• Benefits calculator