Applying for housing benefit

Housing benefit

You can only claim housing benefit if:

you live in temporary accommodation which has been provided by the council
your tenancy includes care, support or supervision in order for you to live in your home
you receive Employment and Support Allowance (income based), Job Seekers Allowance (income based), Income Support or Housing Benefit, and the assessment includes a Severe Disability Premium. If you have stopped receiving one of these benefits in the past month, you can still claim housing benefit
you and your partner have both reached the Pension Credit qualifying age. If only one of you has reached the qualifying age, you must apply for Universal Credit. You can check your Pension Credit qualifying age on the Government's website
you move within the borough and currently receive Housing Benefit while receiving Universal Credit for your personal income, you can carry on receiving Housing Benefit. If you do move, you must tell us about your change of address by completing our online form

If your circumstances do not match one or more of the above, you must apply for Universal Credit

If you receive Universal Credit, you need to apply for council tax reduction to help pay your council tax.

How to claim housing benefit

You can make a claim for housing benefit online.

Our online form guides you through the information you need to give us and the evidence we require to support your claim.

You can provide the evidence to support your claim by attaching it to the online form or sending it separately by email to benefits@rugby.gov.uk

Make a claim for housing benefit

If you need advice on making your claim, contact our benefits team on (01788) 533433.

Changes to your circumstances

If you're receiving housing benefit to help pay your rent, you must report any changes in your circumstances as soon as they occur. If you delay telling us, you will have to repay any money that has been overpaid to you. If you delay telling us about a change and your benefit goes up, you could lose money.

The following are examples of changes that you must tell us about:

Changes in the amount of money you or your partner receives. This could be from wages, other benefits, pensions, etc.
Changes in the amount of money received by anyone else who shares your home.
All changes to the household (ie people moving in, people moving out, baby being born, etc).
Changes to the amount of savings/capital you or your partner has.
You or your partner go into hospital for more than six weeks.
You or your partner become a student, or stop being a student.
You move to a different property to the one you claimed for.

You can tell us about a change in your circumstances by completing our online form.