Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit are national welfare benefits which help people on a low income.

Housing Benefit is paid to people with a low income who pay rent. Council Tax Benefit is paid to people with a low income who pay Council Tax.

There are two types of Council Tax Benefit:

• Main Council Tax Benefit
• Second Adult Rebate

Both Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit are means-tested benefits. This means that when we work out your benefit, we have to take account of things like your income, investments and savings.

Local councils run the Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit schemes, using government rules.

There are many different ways to make a claim for benefit:

1. Simply fill in our online claim form

The online form has been specially designed to be easy to fill in and only asks questions which are relevant to your circumstances. It also highlights any errors, so you can be confident you have filled in the form correctly.

2. Make an appointment at one of our offices

Simply phone us on 0161 912 3302 or e-mail newclaims@trafford.gov.uk quoting your name, address and phone number. If you make an appointment we will check your form, verify your evidence and aim to assess your claim while you wait. This means you know exactly how much benefit you will receive and when it will be paid.

3. Download and fill in a paper version of the claim form

Once you have completed the form you will need to either post it to us at PO Box 65 Sale, M33 6BY or take it into any Access Trafford Office.

4. If you are aged 60 or under and want to claim one of the following benefits:

• Income Support
• Employment Support Allowance
• Jobseeker's Allowance

You can claim your Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit at the same time, by calling Jobcentre Plus on 0800 055 6688. You do not need to make a separate claim.

You can check whether you are likely to qualify for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit by filling in our online benefits calculator.

You can claim Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit for you and your family. Your family includes you, your partner and your dependent children. A partner is someone you are married to, or someone you live with as if you are married to them.

From November 2009, income from Child Benefit will no longer be taken into account when calculating entitlement to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit. This will mean many more families will now be entitled to claim benefit.

You can claim if:

• you pay rent to a private landlord or a housing association
• you pay Council Tax on your home;
• you are on a low income; or
• your savings are less than £16,000 - the only exception to this is if you get the guaranteed part of Pension Credit.

You might be on a low income if you and your partner get:

• a low wage for working full time or part time;

State benefits, for example:

• Income Support;
• Jobseeker's Allowance;
• Pension Credit;
• Incapacity Benefit;
• Statutory Sick Pay;
• Statutory Maternity Pay; and
• State Retirement Pension

Special rules

Special rules apply to the following people who claim Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit:

• Students
• People who have to go through immigration control
• People in hospital
• Prisoners
• People in residential care and nursing homes
• Young people aged 16 or 17
• People who have to maintain two homes

If you fall into one of these categories, you should contact us for more information.

The following people cannot get Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit:

• People who do not have a rent liability
• People who have over £16,000 in savings and investments, unless you get the guaranteed part of Pension Credit
• Most full-time students, although there are some exceptions to this.

If you are not sure, you can always phone for advice.

If you make an appointment you do not need to fill in a form. We will do it for you.

You could also contact your local citizens advice bureau for help.

If you have difficulty making a claim because you have a disability, we may be able to visit you at home. Please contact us directly for help.

You should claim as soon as possible because you may lose benefit if you delay. If you apply late and ask us to pay for a 'backdated' period, we might not be able to pay you for that period. This is because there are strict rules telling us when we can and when we can't pay for a backdated period.

If you are 60 years of age or over, you may qualify for an extra 3 months benefit prior to the date you made your claim.

In all cases we need to see proof of the following for you and your partner:

• Identity (We need to see two forms of identity for you and your partner. This can include a passport, birth certificate, driving licence, recent gas or electricity bill etc.).
• National Insurance Number (such as a wage slip, National Insurance Card or letters from the Tax office etc.).
• Evidence of all income for anyone else who lives with you, (including your children or, for example, a grown up son or daughter or other relative or friend).

If you do not receive Income Support, Job seekers Allowance (income based), Employment Support Allowance (income related) or Guaranteed Pension Credit we will also need to see proof of your:

• Savings and investments (We need to see up to date proof of all your current accounts. if you have savings above £6,000 we also need to see proof of any savings accounts, stocks, unit trusts, shares, national savings etc... We need to see two consecutive months of bank statements).
• Income and benefits (We need to see 5 consecutive wage slips if you are paid weekly, or 2 wage slips if you are paid monthly. We also need to see proof of any benefits or other income you receive, such as an award letter).
• Proof of your rent (such as your tenancy agreement).

You can take them to any Access Trafford Office or if you rent from Harvest Housing Association, Irwell Valley Housing Association, Manchester Methodist Housing Association or Trafford Housing Trust you can take your documents to your local housing office.

That depends on your income and whether you have other people living in your house. If you or your partner receive Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance or the guaranteed part of Pension Credit.

As long as you are liable for rent and Council Tax, you will usually qualify for the maximum amount of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.

If you are a private tenant and receive Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance or the guaranteed part of Pension Credit, you may not qualify for full help with your rent.

This is because most private rents are assessed by the Rent Officer Service, who consider whether your rent is too high for the property or the area and whether your property is too large for your needs.

There are also rules limiting the amount of Housing Benefit we can pay to single people who are under 25 and who have no children living with them.

You should get a pre-tenancy determination before you agree to rent a private property.

This will tell you how much rent we can take into account when we work out your benefit.

In all other cases

You might still qualify for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit. In this case, we will work out your benefit by taking account of all your income, savings, investments and rent. If you are a private tenant, we also have to take account of what the Rent Officer says when we work out your benefit.

If you get Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance or the guaranteed part of Pension Credit. For Council Tax, you will get the full amount as benefit after any deductions for non-dependants have been taken off.

For Housing Benefit, you will get the full amount after we have deducted things like:

• any charges for any non-dependants who live with you;
• service charges

Don't forget that if you are a private tenant, the amount of Housing Benefit you get might also be affected by the Rent Officer's assessment of your rent.

In all other cases

We work out your benefit by comparing the money you get each week with your 'applicable amount'. Your applicable amount is what the Government says you and your family need to live on each week.

The applicable amount will be higher for some people - for example, if you are disabled or if you are a one-parent family. When we have worked out what money you get each week, if it's less than, or the same as, the applicable amount, you will usually get the maximum benefit.

But don't forget, if you have any non-dependants living with you we might have to make deductions from your benefit for them. Please see the section called 'What if there are other people living with me?' - it tells you what non-dependants are.

And, for private tenants, the amount of Housing Benefit you get depends on your Local Housing Allowance rate.

If your income is less than, or the same as, your 'applicable amount', you should claim Income Support, Employment Support Allowance, Jobseeker's Allowance or the guaranteed part of Pension Credit as you might get more help.

We count any money you have coming in. This includes things like:

• social security benefits;
• works pension; and
• wages

We count the money you earn from work after money has been taken out for:

• tax and National Insurance contributions; and
• half of any money you pay into a pension fund

We do not count the first:

• £5 of the money you earn each week, if you are single;
• £10 of the money you earn each week, if you are a couple;
• £20 of the money you earn each week, if you are disabled; or
• £25 of the money you earn each week, if you are a single parent.

We also do not count things like:

• Disability Living Allowance;
• Attendance Allowance; and
• Mobility Allowance.

These are just a few examples. Sometimes, we ignore different amounts from other types of income and benefits.

That depends on how much you have. Government rules say that if you, and your partner if you are a couple, have savings or investments of more than £ 16,000, you cannot get Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit.

The only exception to this is if you or your partner get the guaranteed part of Pension Credit. If you or your partner are under 60 and have £10,000 or less, it will not affect your claim.

If you or your partner are under 60 and have between £6,000 and £16,000, it will affect how much benefit you will get. For every £250 (or part of £250) you have over £6,000, we add £1 to the money we count each week when working out your benefit.

This is called 'tariff income'. If you or your partner are over 60 and have £6,000 or less, it will not affect your claim.

If you or your partner are aged 60 or over, we will only use tariff income if you have between £10,000 and £16,000. For every £500 (or part of £500) you have over £10,000, we add £1 to the money we count each week when working out your benefit.

If you have friends, relatives or anyone over 18 living in your home, you may get less benefit. These people are called 'non-dependants'. We may take an amount out of your benefit for each non-dependant who lives in your home.

Non-dependants do not include:

• your partner;
• a child you get Child Benefit for;
• people under 18;
• people in full-time education; or
• people on youth training schemes

We will not take any money out of your benefit for non-dependants if:

• you get Attendance Allowance;
• you get the care part of Disability Living Allowance;
• you are registered blind;
• the non-dependant is a paid carer provided by a charitable or voluntary organisation;
• the non-dependant is under 25, and on Income Support or income-based Jobseeker's Allowance; or
• the non-dependant is getting Pension Credit

If you qualify, your benefit will usually start from the Monday after you tell us you want to claim as long as we get your claim form back within one month of us sending it to you. But, if you think your benefit should start earlier, you need to write to us and tell us:

• the date you think your benefit should start; and
• the reason why you did not claim earlier

If you get benefit from an earlier date, it is called 'backdating'. You must show that there was 'good cause' for not having made your claim earlier, and the maximum time we can go back is 6 months if you are aged 60 or under or 3 months if you're aged 60 or over from the date you ask us to backdate your benefit. Read more about backdating your benefits.

If you rent your property from a private landlord you will (in most cases) receive Local Housing Allowance. This is paid directly into your bank account. We cannot usually pay Local Housing Allowance directly to your landlord. For more information visit our Local Housing Allowance page.

If you rent your property from a social landlord, such as Trafford Housing Trust, you can ask for your Housing Benefit to be paid directly to you or to your landlord.

If you receive Local Housing Allowance or want your Housing Benefit paid directly to you the easiest way to receive payments is straight into your bank account. This means you receive your benefit on the day that it is due and you can set up a standing order or direct debit to pay your rent.

If you do not have a bank account, why not open one? As well as receiving your Housing Benefit faster and more securely, a bank account will give you a route to many other banking services. Even If you cannot open a current account, you may be able to open a basic bank account.

For more information about Basic Bank Accounts visit the Financial Services Authority website.

Please note that Housing Benefit cannot be paid into a Post Office Card Account like some other benefits. You will need to have an account with a high street bank.

You and your landlord (if they are paid directly) can register to receive your benefit letters by email and/or register to view your claim online. This provides details of your benefit award and payments.