Housing and Council Tax Benefits for self-employed people

Benefits for self-employed people

If you are self-employed and receiving a low income, you may qualify for Housing Benefit (HB) and/or Council Tax Benefit (CTB.)

To find out if you qualify to recieve benefits, check your entitlement on our Benefits Calculator or Contact Us, also see our Benefit changes - April 2011.

To claim for HB and/or CTB, please complete and return the Benefit Claim Form together with the Self Employed Earnings Information form.

If you are unable to supply six months' worth of audited accounts, you can use the Self Employed Earnings information form to give us details about your self-employment.

To support the details on your form, we need:

• Staff costs
• Capital set-up costs
• Running costs (e.g. telephone and stationery)
• Rent, rates and mortgage payments on premises
• Stock purchases
• Business fuel costs
• Marketing costs
• Legal costs
• Insurance
• Subscriptions
• All business and personal bank accounts

If you have the following items, please include them too;

• Last tax return
• Proof of registration with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
• Proof of registration with National Insurance (NI) for contributors or the Small Earnings Exemption

If it is a new business, you need to include your estimated earnings.