Benefits

If you receive income support or you are on a low income you may be entitled to Housing or Council Tax Benefits to help with your payments.

Council Tax Benefit

If your name is on the Council Tax bill you can apply for Council Tax Benefit. The amount of benefit will depend on the amount of Council Tax you pay. We will need to know about your income, your savings and details of those who live with you. If you are entitled to Council Tax Benefit this will be shown as a deduction from your bill.

Housing Benefit

If you pay rent for your home, whether to the city council, a housing association or to a private landlord, you may be entitled to help with your rent payments through the Housing Benefit Scheme. If you are a tenant of a housing association or other private landlord, any benefit you are entitled to will be paid to you. But in certain circumstances benefit can be paid directly to your landlord. If you are a council tenant any benefit is credited directly to your rent account to reduce the amount of rent you need to pay.

How do I know if I can get Housing or Council Tax Benefit?

If you're not sure whether you qualify for Housing or Council Tax Benefit our benefits calculator will help you.  Answer a few simple questions and it will tell you whether you're entitled to benefit and roughly how much you might get.  Please click here to view the benefits calculator.

How do I claim Housing or Council Tax Benefit?

You can only apply on an application form. You can get a form in the following ways:

• Request a form by telephone: call (01782) 232982 and a form will be sent to you by post;
• Request a form by email: send your request to benefitservices@stoke.gov.uk and a form will be sent to you in the post; or
• Collect a form from one of our offices:
  • Benefit Services reception, Swann House, Boothen Road, Stoke-on-Trent
  • All local centres 

Registered Social Landlords who work with us: 

• Download a form: To download the form and application notes, please see Related Files below.

Can I get help to fill in my form?

If you have any questions or need help with filling out your form, contact our Customer Services team on (01782) 232982 or call in at one of our offices.  Or you could email any questions to us at benefitservices@stoke.gov.uk

It is important that you return the form quickly because we normally only pay you from the Monday after your claim is received.  Don't hold onto your form just because you don't have all the supporting evidence - you can send this separately at a later date if necessary.

Your completed form can be returned in the following ways:

By post

Benefit Services
PO Box 186
Swann House
Boothen Road
Stoke on Trent
ST4 4RY

By hand

To any local centre or other recognised office.

What do I have to provide with my form?

The form will tell you where you need to provide documents in support of your claim. Where documents are needed these must be the originals – we can't accept photocopies. Please don't post valuable documents to us – if you take them to any of our offices we will copy them and return the originals to you straight away.

If you are making a new claim for Housing and / or Council Tax Benefit, you will have to provide proof of your identity and that of your partner (if you have a partner).

We will need proof of the following items:

• Your income - This is the amount of money you have coming in each week. Certain types of income are totally or partially ignored when working out your income for benefit purposes.
• Your savings - This is the total of your own and any partner's savings and investments. If the total is more than £16,000 you will not be entitled to benefit. If the total of your savings is less than £6,000, it will not be taken into account when assessing your benefit entitlement. Where savings are between £6,000 and £16,000 a level of income is determined based on the actual amount of savings you have.
• Your household - Benefit entitlement can also be reduced by members of your household, such as adult children. This is based on the assumption that people living with you, who are not dependent on you, will be making a contribution to your household expenses.

What should I do if I don't have all of the documents asked for on the application form?

If you don't have everything that the form asks you to send in don't wait until you have got it - send us the form straight away.

How much benefit will I get?

The amount of benefit you get will depend on your income, size of your household, the amount of your rent and council tax and other personal circumstances.

• Housing Benefit does not cover all charges that may be included in your rent. Gas, electricity and water rate charges are usually excluded. 
• If you rent from a private landlord we will have to refer your rent level to the Rent Officer Service. They will provide us with figure for your rent – we will not be able to pay benefit above that figure. 
• If you have lodgers, grown up children or relatives living with you they are expected to pay towards the rent and your benefit may be reduced. This will depend on the amount and type of their income.

When will my benefit start and end?

Benefit will normally start from the Monday after we receive your claim form.  Once to start to receive benefit you must tell us about any change in your circumstances.  Your benefit will end if you:

• Move to an address outside the Stoke-on-Trent area
• Do not reply to our enquiries (we will always tell you how long you have to reply)

You can get more information about benefits from the following links:

• For Housing and Council Tax Benefits visit the DWP website 
• For other benefits visit the DWP website
• If you are a pensioner you can get details about your benefit entitlements from the Pension Service website

You can also get advice from other organisations such as the Citizen's Advice Bureau website.

What happens if my circumstances change?

If your circumstances change we need to know as soon as possible. These changes could include:

• changes to your income (wages, maintenance, benefits, works pension, tax credits or any other income at all); 
• changes in the amount of savings you have, including the number of stocks and shares you own; 
• changes to your household when people join or leave; 
• changes to the income of other people in your household;
• changes to your rent (private or housing association tenants only); or 
• if you move, have to live away from home, become a student, go into hospital, or get a new landlord.

You should tell us in writing straight away.

How do I get my claim backdated?

Normally we start your claim from the Monday after we receive your application form. You can ask for a backdate of benefits if there is a reason why you were unable to apply for your benefit earlier.

In order for a backdate of benefit to be allowed you will have to show 'good cause' why you did not apply earlier. There is no formal definition of 'good cause', each case will be decided according to its own individual situation.  Some examples of when you may have 'good cause' are:

• If you did not immediately claim benefit after leaving hospital
• If you were ill and had no-one to make a claim on your behalf.
• If you did not understand that you could claim benefit perhaps because of age, inexperience or language difficulties.
• If you have suffered a recent family bereavement.

The maximum period that a benefit claim can be backdated is 52 weeks from the date we receive the backdate request.

What happens if I have to go away from my home?

If you are temporarily away from home for any reason and intend to return, you can still get Housing and Council Tax Benefit for up to 13 weeks.   For certain reasons you can be away for up to 52 weeks and still get Housing and Council Tax Benefit. These reasons include:

• being in hospital; 
• looking after a sick person;
• looking after a child while their parent or guardian is in hospital; 
• trying out residential care to see if it would suit you; and 
• being remanded on bail, but not yet tried and found guilty.

If you are going to be away, we would prefer you to tell us about this in advance.

Contacting Benefit Services

If you have any questions or need further advice on Housing or Council Tax Benefit , contact our Customer Services team by phone on (01782) 232982 (minicom 01782 238171, textphone 07786 200700)  or call in at one of our offices.  Or you could email any questions to us at benefitservices@stoke.gov.uk

Our office at Swann House, boothen Road, Stoke on Trent, ST4 4RY is open 8.45am to 5pm Monday to Thursday and from 8.45am to 4.30pm on Fridays.