Housing benefit

Please see our Benefits advice page for advice, guidance and assistance with the full range of welfare benefits. You can also use our Benefits calculator to find out how much Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit you may claim.

What is Housing Benefit?

Housing Benefit helps you pay your rent if you are on a low income. The amount of housing benefit due to you is worked out by looking at:

• How much money you have coming in.
• Your personal circumstances and the amount of rent you have to pay.
• The amount of savings you have (more than £16,000 will normally disqualify you).    

Try our benefit calculator to see what help you can get.

Who does the scheme apply to?

• Anyone paying rent.
• Tenants living in council property, privately rented accommodation (the allowance for these tenants is known as Local Housing Allowance and the rates are set separately), hostels and housing association accommodation.

How do I claim?

To claim Housing Benefit you need to fill in an application form.

You can get an application form from your nearest One Stop Shop or Liverpool Direct Contact Centre. You can also download the application form, proof of income or change of address forms below.

• Housing Benefit Application form.
• Housing Benefit Application form notes.
• Your/your partner's proof of income form.
• Change of address form.

Please note that by a partner we mean a person you are married to or a person you live with as if you are married to them, or a civil partner or a person you live with as if you are civil partners.

10 Day Promise

If you take your Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit claim form to one of our One Stop Shops, along with all the evidence required to support your claim, we promise to write to you within 10 days to tell you how much benefit you will get.

Things to remember

• Hand your application in as soon as you can.
• Provide all the supporting evidence, we cannot pay your benefit until we have seen all the evidence we have asked for.
• Use the same form to claim help towards Council Tax (Council Tax Benefit), free school meals and school clothing grants.
• You won't get any benefit if you don't claim.

The evidence that you need to provide

• National Insurance numbers for you and your partner.
• Identity (two documents per person).
• Capital, savings and investments.
• Earnings.
• Other income.
• Benefits, allowances or pensions.
• Private rent and tenancy.

Please note that you must provide original documents, not copies. Please note that we cannot pay your benefit until we have seen all the proof we have asked for.

Start date

To make sure your Housing Benefit starts from the earliest date possible, you should contact us as soon as you need benefit to tell us that you plan to claim. 

What can I do if my claim is refused?

If you are not happy with our decision about your claim for Housing Benefit, you can make an appeal .