Council Tax Benefit and Housing Benefit

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Welcome to our council tax benefit (CTB) and housing benefit (HB) home page. The following pages provide a range of information about HB and CTB. However, if you would like to speak to a benefit advisor please do not hesitate to contact us.

This page gives a brief introduction to both housing benefit and council tax benefit.

• If you are a tenant – whether of a local authority or a private landlord – you can get help paying your rent and council tax.
• Local Housing Allowance - From 7 April 2008 this is the new name for Housing Benefit for tenants in privately rented accommodation. For more information on LHA, please see the About Housing Benefit page.
• ESA - The Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) will replace Incapacity Benefit (IB), and Income Support (IS) claimed on the grounds of incapacity with effect from 27 October 2008. The new benefit can be claimed by people from age 16 up until they reach pensionable age, currently 60 for women and 65 for men. You can find out more information at the Department of Work and Pensions website.
• If you are an owner-occupier, you can get help paying your council tax.

You can use our benefit calculator to see if you qualify for council tax and housing benefit:

Benefit calculator

When you make a claim we ask you for certain information:

• proof of your identity
• your National Insurance number
• your income
• your savings
• your capital

We also need to see this information for your partner if you have one.

By law, the council has to issue a declaration if it wants to receive electronic benefit applications. Renfrewshire council has agreed to accept electronic benefit applications but only where these are made in the council offices. You can view or download the declaration here:

Declaration on electronic benefit applications (pdf - 241KB)

You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this document. Download Acrobat Reader here.

If you have any problems completing your benefit application form you can contact the benefits take-up officer:

• by email: special.ops@renfrewshire.gov.uk (please type 'FAO benefits take-up officer' as the subject heading)
• by phone: 0141 842 5268

You can find out more about housing benefit or council tax benefit by following the links on the top right hand side of this page.


If your circumstances change

You must tell us at once if your circumstances or those of your household change. Changes that we need to know about include: changes in the type or amount of income of anyone in the household, people moving in or leaving, or children leaving school.

If you don't tell us about these changes, you may miss out if you are entitled to more benefit, or you may receive more benefit than you are entitled to. If you receive more than you are entitled to, we may claim the money back by taking it off future payments, or by sending you a bill if you have stopped receiving benefit.


Backdating your benefit claim

We can backdate your benefit for up to 52 weeks from the date we receive a written request from you. However, you must show you had a good reason for not making the claim any sooner and that the reason existed for the whole time until the written request was made.

You can find more details about backdating your benefit by following the link on the top right hand side of this page.


Appealing against our decision about your benefit

If you don't understand how we have decided your benefit claim, you can ask us to explain it to you, and if you disagree with our decision you can ask us to look at it again. If you are still not happy after we have done this, you can appeal. Find out how to appeal by following the link on the top right hand side of this page.