Housing Benefit

When will your benefit start?

Your Housing Benefit entitlement will normally start from the Monday after we receive your completed form. We cannot start paying until we have all the information we need, so please make sure you send in your form, and any information we ask for, as soon as you can.

We can sometimes pay you from an earlier date, if:

  • you tell us that you are intending to claim, and then make your claim within a month
  • your claim is linked to a claim for benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions
  • you are claiming after your partner has died, and they were claiming for your household when they died
  • you are claiming because you have separated from your partner, and they were claiming for your household until your separation
  • you are over state pension credit age, and would have qualified for help in the 3 months before you claimed
  • you are under state pension credit age, and can show good cause for us to backdate your housing benefit