Housing and Council Tax Benefit - An Overview

If you do not provide all the evidence we need, we might not be able to pay you any benefit. We need the same evidence for your partner, if you have one, and for any other adults living in your property.

If you cannot provide all the evidence straight away, send the form back to us as soon as possible and send or bring in the evidence at a later date. We can start to process your claim, but we may not be able to pay you any benefit until we have all the evidence.

Any documents supplied to support your claim must be originals; photocopies are not acceptable. If you do not wish to send original documents, you can take them to one of our Reception areas, where your documents can be verified and copied.

Can I get my claim backdated?

If you have claimed Housing and/or Council Tax Benefit, but would have claimed sooner if you could have, you can ask us to backdate your claim for Benefit. This means that we could treat your claim as if we received your claim form on an earlier date.

For details of how long we can backdate your claim and for more information, visit backdating section.