Housing Benefit

Housing benefit is a social security benefit scheme and is available to give people on low incomes help with their housing costs.

If you live in private rented accommodation and you apply and qualify for housing benefit, you or your landlord will be sent a cheque. This is known as a rent allowance.

Examples of the kind of accommodation you can be living in are:

Furnished or unfurnished flats.
Bedsits.
Rented houses.
Hostels.
Lodgings.

You can see if you could qualify for help with your rent by using our benefits calculator for an instant online calculation. Please note that the calculator can only be used as a guide. For an accurate assessment of entitlement, you will need to complete a benefit application form - download a benefits application form in PDF format.

We aim to make our service as accessible as possible and we have an Accessibility Policy.

Express Delivery - for new Housing and Council Tax Benefit claims

If you submit a fully completed application form for benefit with all supporting evidence at our customer Services Centre, we guarantee to process your application within 24 hours.

The application form and supporting evidence will be checked by a Customer Services Advisor and then verified without delay by a Benefit Assessor. If the application is complete, it will be processed and we will telephone you within 24 hours to let you know how much benefit you are entitled to.

If you want to take advantage of Express Delivery please contact Customer Services on 0115 981 9911 between 8am and 6pm to make an appointment to submit your application. Appointments are available between 9am and 4pm.

If you receive benefit you can access your benefit account by registering through Revenues Online.

A copy of the Council's leaflets on the following topics are available below. All are in PDF format. If you would like us to send you copies of any of these leaflets in the post, please contact us.

For further information, please contact us.

Change of Circumstances

*All of the Council’s forms, policies and other communications material can be requested in large print, Braille, audio or translated into another language. For further information please contact Customer Services on 0115 981 9911 or email customerservices@rushcliffe.gov.uk.

The amount of housing benefit that can be awarded depends upon the circumstances of the person making the claim and those of other people in their household. People in receipt of housing benefit must therefore notify revenues service at Rushcliffe Borough Council in writing, immediately their circumstances change. Any person who continues to receive housing benefit without telling the Council of any change in circumstances, which happen after a claim is made, may be prosecuted.

Ring in the Changes

Did you know that you can now report changes in circumstances affecting Housing and Council Tax Benefit over the telephone?

If you would like to use this service, ring 0115 981 9911 and select ‘option 8’ to speak to a benefit assessor. This service is available from Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5pm. In certain circumstances the change can be processed during the telephone call.

You can also report changes by email to revenues@rushcliffe.gov.uk.

Please note that it may still be necessary for you to supply original supporting documents to confirm the change and if you notify us of a change of circumstances by e-mail, we will write to you if further information is required. For more information, see the directive authorising us to do this.

Some examples of changes that affect the amount of benefit that is paid are:

Income support or job seekers allowance stops.
You, or your partner/spouse start work.
Someone joins or leaves your household.
Child benefit stops.
You start to receive extra income or your savings increase.

If your circumstances change and you are not sure whether your benefit will be affected, tell us anyway (contact details). Complete the online form to report a change of circumstances.