Claiming Housing Benefit
Housing benefit, or housing costs paid with your Universal Credit, is paid to help you with your rent. The amount of housing benefit or housing costs element you get depends on things like your income, how much savings you have, how many people there are in your household, and how much your rent is.
Under-occupied Rooms
If you’re aged between 16 and pension age, your Housing Benefit or Universal Credit housing costs element could be reduced if you have at least one extra bedroom in your house.
You are allowed one bedroom for each for the following:
- Every adult couple in the home (unless it’s inappropriate for you to share a room because of disability and one of you gets a qualifying disability benefit, in which case two rooms would be allowed - you must let Housing Benefit/Universal Credit know if this is the case)
- Every other adult aged 16 or over, including any son, daughter, stepson or stepdaughter serving away in the armed forces who intends to move back in when they return
- Two children under 10, unless it’s inappropriate for them to share a room because of disability;
- Two children under 16 of the same sex, unless it is inappropriate for them to share a room because of disability;
- Any other child (where, for example, there are three children under 10); or
- a non-resident carer or carers who regularly provide(s) overnight care for a disabled adult or child who is getting a qualifying disability benefit or attendance allowance at the lower rate. The carer(s), who must not be living with you, must be engaged to provide the overnight care and must need to stay overnight at your home on a regular basis. Only one additional bedroom is allowed, even if more than one carer is needed. For housing benefit, even if a qualifying disability benefit is not being paid, the local authority can accept alternative evidence that overnight care is needed – eg a letter from your GP. You would need to talk to Housing Benefit/Universal Credit if this is the case
If you get full or partial Housing Benefit or housing costs from Universal Credit and have spare rooms in your home, you may be under-occupying, which means your Housing Benefit could be reduced. This reduction is set at:
- 14% for one extra bedroom
- 25% for two or more extra bedrooms
Samantha and Greg have two children, Catherine who is 8 and Susan who is 6.
They live in a three-bedroom apartment and currently receive £85 Housing Benefit a week to cover the full rent.
Under the new size limit rules they would only be entitled to Housing Benefit for two-bedroom accommodation, one-bedroom for themselves and one for Catherine and Susan who would be expected to share a room because they are both under 10.
The local authority would consider Samantha and Greg to be under-occupying their current accommodation by one bedroom and would apply a 14% reduction. This would be a reduction of £11.90 per week, so Housing Benefit would be £73.10 per week.
14% of £85 equates to £11.90, so this is the amount Samantha and Gregs' Housing Benefit would be reduced by per week
Phil and Natalie live alone in a three-bedroom house, Phil works with take home pay of £210 per week and currently receive £22.20 Housing Benefit a week towards their rent of £83.00 per week.
Under the new size limit rules they would only be entitled to Housing Benefit for one-bedroom accommodation.
The local authority would consider Phil and Natalie to be under-occupying their current accommodation by two bedrooms and would apply a 25% reduction. This would be a reduction of £20.75 per week, so Housing Benefit would be £2.15 per week.
25% of £83 equates to £20.75, so this is the amount Phil and Natalies' Housing Benefit would be reduced by per week
You won't be affected if:
- You live in a one-bed flat or a bedsit
- Have a home of an appropriate size
- You and your partner both get Pension Credit.
How we pay
If you're a council tenant, your Housing Benefit is paid direct to your rent account.
If you’re a housing association tenant, you can:
- Have your Housing Benefit paid direct to your bank, every four weeks in arrears
- Have payments made direct to your landlord.
If you claim help with your housing costs from Universal Credit you will receive your housing costs direct to your bank, monthly in arrears, or, you can talk to your landlord about having payments made direct to your landlord.
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