Benefits Housing Benefit and The Council Tax Reduction Scheme for People of a Working Age Revenues & Benefits Service Information Booklet
Contents Page How do I access the service? 3 What is Council Tax Reduction and who can claim it? 4 What is Housing Benefit and who can claim it? 4 How do I make a claim? 5 Am I able to backdate my claim to an earlier period? 7 How much Council Tax Reduction will I receive? 7 How much Housing Benefit will I receive? 7 What is a non-dependant and how do they affect my claim? 9 How do you calculate my benefit and reduction entitlement? 9 Can you reduce my Council Tax Bill any other way? 9 Paying your benefit or reduction 10 What if my circumstances change? 12 Useful Contacts 15 2
What is this leaflet about? We have written this leaflet for people of working age. In this leaflet a person of working age is anyone who has not yet reached the qualifying age for pension credits It is intended as a quick reference guide. If you want more detailed advice please contact us. How do I access the service? We have tried to make our service as easy to access as possible. We operate a face to face enquiry counter that has fully trained staff available to answer your queries. Civic Centre Revenues Service Enquiry Counter Opening Times Monday to Friday 8:30am 4:30pm You can also email your query direct to us at benefits@mansfield.gov.uk. We aim to acknowledge your email within 48 hours and reply direct within 10 working days. Alternatively, you can contact us by telephone on 01623 463463 and choosing option 2 Telephone Service Opening Times Monday to Friday 9:30am 4.30pm 3
What is Council Tax Reduction and who can claim it? If you are on a low income and liable to pay Council Tax, we may be able to give you help towards this. You can claim Council Tax Reduction if: You have to pay Council Tax on your home You are in receipt of a low income What is Housing Benefit and who can claim it? If you are liable to pay rent on the property you live in and you are on a low income, we may be able to assist you in paying your rent. You can claim Housing Benefit if: You are paying rent to live in your home You are in receipt of a low income You won t be entitled to Housing Benefit if any of the following applies: If you have sold your home within 5 years you may not be able to claim Housing Benefit. Please contact us for further advice. Anyone who lives in the same house as their landlord and who is a close relative of the landlord who is charging them rent Anyone whose tenancy - the Council believes has been created to take advantage of the Housing Benefits Scheme. Anyone who has no liability to pay rent 4
Anyone living in residential accommodation The majority of full time students (contact us for further advice) Anyone with a long tenancy over 21 years, contact Jobcentre Plus (Social Security office) if you require help with housing costs in this type of case. If you are in any doubt as to your possible entitlement please contact us. How do I make a claim? If you will also be claiming Income Support/Job Seekers Allowance or Employment Support Allowance When you contact Job Centre Plus you will be asked whether you also wish to claim Housing Benefit. Your Job Centre Plus will take down all the information needed for your claim for Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance and Employment Support Allowance as well as some information for your Housing Benefit. The information obtained from you with regards to your claim will then be passed to us. However it is important to remember that Job Centre Plus will not pass on any details in respect of claiming Council Tax Reduction. You will need to ask us for an application form to apply for this separately. You will still need to provide certain information to us, for example: Proof of your rent and tenancy agreement Proof of bank accounts or of other capital Tax Credits War Pensions 5
The income/capital of any non-dependants Authorisation to speak to your landlord We will contact you for any additional information that we need. If you are not claiming Income Support/Job Seekers Allowance or Employment Support Allowance You can pick up a claim form from the Civic Centre or by phoning us on 01623 463463 and choosing option 2 for benefits. Or the application form can be downloaded and printed from our website at www.mansfield.gov.uk/benefits. Please use black ink to fill in the claim form. We cannot accept a claim form that has been completed in pencil. If you make a mistake, just cross it out and put the right answer next to it. Do not use correction fluid or tape. Please return the completed form to us with as much proof of your income and savings as possible. If you cannot provide the proof now then return the form immediately and bring the proof in at a later date. If you are claiming Housing Benefit we will also need to see your fully signed tenancy agreement. Am I able to backdate my claim to an earlier period? In special circumstances you can also apply for benefit to start before the date you applied. This is called backdating a claim. You will need to write in and provide relevant evidence showing continous good cause as to why you did not apply earlier. The maximum time backdating can be considered for is 3 months. 6
How much Council Tax Reduction will I receive? This will depend on how much and what type of income you receive and your family circumstances. If you receive Income Support or Job Seekers Allowance (Income Based) then you will have a small amount to pay. However, this may be affected if you have non-dependants living with you. How much Housing Benefit will I receive? Before we can work out your Housing Benefit we have to decide the amount of rent that we will use in our calculation. If you are a Council Tenant We will use the full amount of rent that you are charged in our calculation less any deductions which may have to be applied due to under occupancy. If you are under occupying your property by 1 bedroom you will have 14% deducted from your Housing Benefit before the calculation is worked out. If you are under occupying your property by 2 or more bedrooms you will have 25% deducted from your Housing Benefit before the calculation is worked out. The amount of Housing Benefit we award will then depend on the type and amount of your weekly income, your savings, family circumstances and whether any non-dependants live with you. Housing Benefit does not cover any Garage, Insurance or Heating charges. 7
If you are a Housing Association Tenant Your Housing Benefit calculation will also be affected by under occupancy. 14% will be deducted before Housing Benefit is calculated if you are under occupying your property by 1 bedroom. 25% will be deducted if you are under occuping your property by 2 or more bedrooms. If your rent includes charges for other services we have to decide whether the charges are eligible for Housing Benefit. This means that we will only calculate your entitlement based on your actual rent less under occupancy deductions and not all of the other charges. For example, your Housing Benefit cannot cover the following charges: Gas and electricity Heating, lighting, hot water Water rates Meals and laundry However, Housing Benefit can cover charges for services such as any charge for maintaining/cleaning or lighting a shared area. Shared areas include areas like staircases and landings. We can also reduce the amount of rent your Housing Benefit will cover if we decide that the rent being charged is too high. If you rent your property from a private landlord From 7 April 2008, all new claims and changes of address for privately rented properties are dealt with under the Local Housing Allowance Scheme, unless meals are provided. We have designed a specific leaflet which details of this scheme and how it operates titled Local Housing Allowance for Private Tenants. Copies of this leaflet are available from the Civic Centre. Alternatively, 8
you can download or view a copy of the leaflet from our website, http://www.mansfield.gov.uk/lha. What is a non-dependant, how do they affect my claim? To calculate your benefit, we need to know who else lives with you. A non-dependant is another adult who is not a partner, including a civil partnership, joint-owner or joint-tenant and who doesn t pay you rent but who lives with you as part of your household. In many cases a grown up son or daughter. If you receive Attendance Allowance, the care component of Disability Living Allowance or are registered blind, a non-dependant living at your address will not affect your entitlement. When we calculate your benefit or reduction it is assumed that nondependants pay towards your rent and Council Tax, even if they do not. If you would like more information on whether a non-dependant will affect your claim please contact us. How do you calculate my Housing Benefit entitlement or Council Tax Reduction? If you are in receipt of Income Support or Job Seekers Allowance (Income Based), you will usually receive the maximum amount that can be awarded and most of your Council Tax, less any nondependant charges. If you do not get Income Support or Job Seekers Allowance (Income Based), the amount of Housing Benefit or Council Tax Reduction depends on the size of your household (how many people live in your home) and your income. If you, or any of your family, are disabled, you 9
may get more Housing Benefit or Council Tax Reduction. The size of your household will affect the applicable amount for your claim, which the Government set. The applicable amount is the lowest amount of money the Government think you need to live on. Can you reduce my Council Tax Bill any other way? Yes. As well as Council Tax Reduction we can reduce your Council Tax with any other discounts, exemptions and Disabled Relief that you may be entitled to. For more information about Council Tax discounts, exemptions and Disabled Relief, please see our Council Tax Discounts, Exemptions and Disabled Relief leaflet. Paying Housing Benefit or Council Tax Reduction Council Tax Reduction Scheme If we award you Council Tax Reduction we will pay it onto your Council Tax account. This means that you will pay a reduced amount each month. We will send you a new bill giving you full details once we have worked out your Council Tax Reduction. Housing Benefit if you are a council tenant If you are a council tenant, we will pay any Housing Benefit you are entitled to onto your rent account. This means that you will pay no rent, or a reduced amount each week. Housing Benefit if you are a housing association tenant We will pay your Housing Benefit to you, or to your Housing Association. We normally pay benefit into a bank or building society account. 10
Housing Benefit if you are a private tenant From April 2008 there is a new way of working out Housing Benefit for private tenants, called Local Housing Allowance (LHA). Under this new system, you will receive a standard allowance based on the size of your household. We will publish these allowances in advance at the Civic Centre and on our website www.mansfield.gov.uk/lha so that you can find out how much rent Housing Benefit could pay before you rent a property. As well as changing the way we work out Housing Benefit, this new system changes the way we pay it to private tenants. You will no longer be able to choose to have payments made to your landlord. We will pay your Housing Benefit entitlement by BACS direct into your bank account. The Consumer Financial Education Body have designed a leaflet that explains how almost anyone can open a bank account. This leaflet is available free from either our offices or the Consumer Financial Education Body Helpline by phoning 0300 500 5000. The circumstances where the authority will consider paying the claimant s LHA directly to the Landlord is as follows: If the tenant is unlikely to pay their rent because they have rent arrears and have consistently failed to pay their rent; have previously absconded from a property leaving rent arrears; have multiple debts or a history of failing to manage their affairs. The tenant is unable to pay their rent because they are classed as a vulnerable tenant. 11
The current benefit regulations allow the authority to pay the rent direct to the landlord where there are arrears of 8 weeks or more. This provision still continues and this policy document has no effect on this provision. The Council may decide to pay a landlord rather than a tenant, if the tenant: Has learning disabilities Has a mental health problem, physical disability or medical condition which impairs their ability to manage their finances. Has literacy difficulties or is unable to speak English Is dealing with addiction to drugs, alcohol or gambling Is fleeing domestic violence Has recently been released from prison Has severe debt problems Is an undischarged bankrupt Is unable to obtain a bank account Has a history of homelessness Has a history of non-payment of rent Can show that direct payment to them will cause difficulties which could lead to them losing their tenancy. This is not a complete list. For more information regarding payments under Local Housing Allowance please see our Local Housing Allowance for Private Tenants leaflet. Copies of this leaflet are available from the Civic Centre. Alternatively, you can download or view a copy of the leaflet or our policy direct from our website, http://www.mansfield.gov.uk/lha. 12
What if my circumstances change? You must tell us immediately. Most overpayments of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction (or the formercouncil Tax Benefit) occur where people do not tell us immediately of changes in their income and household. We don t want to have to claim money back from you later and you may even qualify for more benefit if your circumstances change. Our aims We aim to pay your claim within fourteen days of receiving all the nformation. You can help by providing proof of your income, savings and your tenancy agreement with your claim form and also by replying to any enquiry letter we do need to send quickly. 13
WE CAN ALSO COPY THIS LEAFLET INTO LARGE PRINT FOR YOU IF YOU HAVE SIGHT DIFFICULTIES If you have hearing problems we can arrange a signer to be present. Contact us so that we can arrange an appointment for you at the Civic Centre. Minicom (Text Phone) We have a text phone facility at the Civic Centre for the deaf or hard of hearing. If you wish to contact us by this method the number is : (01623) 463444 Interpreter we can arrange for an interpreter for most languages. Contact us so that we can arrange an appointment for you at the Civic Centre. We hope you find this leaflet useful. If you have any suggestions or ideas on how we can improve the information in this leaflet, please let us know. Revised February 2013 14
Useful Contacts 24 hour telephone payments : 01623 428632 Online payments service www.mansfield.gov.uk/payments Council Tax enquiries : 01623 463144 :counciltax@mansfield.gov.uk Direct Debit payments and billing enquiries : 01623 463162 :counciltax@mansfield.gov.uk Council Tax Recovery enquiries : 01623 463346/463347/463180 : recovery@mansfield.gov.uk Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction Scheme enquiries : 01623 463463 : benefits@mansfield.gov.uk Sundry Debtors. : 01623 463153 : debtors@mansfield.gov.uk Chief Cashier : 01623 463111 : revenues@mansfield.gov.uk Disabled Relief enquiries : 01623 463144 :counciltax@mansfield.gov.uk Fraud hotline : 0800 952 0599 : fraudhotline@mansfield.gov.uk 15
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