Benefit - Frequently asked questions

• If you pay rent and are on a low income you can claim Housing Benefit
• If you pay Council tax and are on a low income you may be entitled to Council Tax Support

When we work out the amount you're entitled to we look at:

• How much money you have coming in
• Your personal circumstances and the amount of rent and or Council Tax you have to pay
• The amount of savings you have
• If you have lodgers, grown-up children or relatives living with you your benefit may be reduced. This is because the Government consider that other adults should contribute to the household. The amount of the contribution depends on their age and income
• If the total amount of benefits you receive exceed the Benefit cap your housing benefit will be reduced (external link).

• If you rent from a Housing association or a private landlord we will generally pay housing benefit to you once every 4 weeks by BACS on the following dates.
• If you rent from Wealden District Council you will not receive a payment as this Housing benefit is credited to your rent account
• Any Council tax support will be credited to your Council Tax bill, thus reducing the amount you have to pay

If you disagree with our decision about your Housing Benefit you can:

• Ask for an explanation of the decision - This needs to be done within one month of the date on your decision letter. We'll then look at this and send you an explanation.
• Ask us to look at your application again -You must do this within one month of our decision letter. If your request is later than one month you must tell us in writing of the reason for the delay.
• If the decision can be changed we will send you a letter explaining what the new decision is. If the decision can't be changed we will send you a letter confirming the original decision. The letter will tell you if you can appeal. If you can and want to appeal, you must start this process within one month from the date of the letter confirming our decision.
• Appeal against the decision in writing - If you have the right to appeal, believe the decision is wrong and want to continue to appeal the decision you will need to write to us to make an appeal. You need to make sure you do this within one month of the date of our decision letter.

• If once we have told you about your award you are still struggling to pay your rent you can claim a Discretionary Housing Payment. This is a discretionary scheme to help customer short term and is based on income and expenses.

• Once we have worked out your benefit we will send you a letter telling you how we have worked them out. We have to include certain information on the letter so if you have had changes these can sometimes be long and appear complicated. Our benefit letter guide will help you understand your letters.