Existing claim

Once your Housing and/or Council Tax Benefit has been assessed we will notify you of your entitlement.

The information we provide in the notifications we send to you is specified by legislation. We appreciate that this may mean our notifications can be confusing at times. Please do not hesitate to contact the Benefit Section on 01372 732269 if you have any questions.

Changes

You must always remember that it is your duty to notify the Benefit Section of any errors or omissions in the assessment of your benefit, and of any changes in your circumstances or those of the people living with you.

Changes that must be notified include:

• If people join or leave your household: Members of your household do not necessarily need to be at your address each day of the week in order to be considered living with you. They may be your partner or just living within your household
• Changes to employment: You must notify the Benefits team at the Council if any member of your household starts or end a job or if they have an increase or decrease in their earnings. You should also tell us about any unpaid work they may do
• If any benefits change: Any change to benefits, credits or pensions or any other unearned income for you or any other member of your household must be notified
• If your capital changes: You must tell us if you have has a change in the capital you have. This might be in a bank or building society account or could be property in the UK or abroad or any other sum of money
• Change of address: You must notify us if you move to another address.

The above list is not exhaustive. If a change occurs and you are not sure if it will affect your benefit you should report it anyway.

You can use this form to do this:
Change of Circumstances form (pdf - 200kb)

Failure to promptly advise changes can result in overpayments that will be recovered from you and/or action that may include prosecution in court.

Where a change reduces the benefit you get, we must always go back to the appropriate date. Where a change increases the benefit you get, we may only go back to the appropriate date if you tell us within one month of the change.

You contact the Benefit Section on 01372 732269, or visit the enquiry counter between 9am and 4:30pm Monday to Friday at the Town Hall.

What if I think my benefit is wrong?

We can send you an explanation about the calculation of your benefits. We can look at your award again. And an independent tribunal judge can be asked to consider if your benefit is correct. Please see appeals section for a step by step guide to the procedure for lodging appeals.

Backdated benefit

Your award will normally start from the Monday after we receive your claim form. Once you have been notified about the start of your award, if you wish to claim benefit from an earlier date please follow this link: backdated benefit.

Moving home

Where you are already on benefit and are thinking of moving home, you should contact the Benefit Section. Depending on when you originally claimed, upon moving home you could find your benefit award being assessed under a new set of rules.

Ordinarily we would ask you to complete a new application form to make sure we have all the information about your new home that we need.

No longer able to deal with your own affairs?

If you are unable to manage your affairs, you can appoint someone to act for you.

This appointee is then responsible for everything relating to your claim. This includes signing all forms and reporting changes of circumstances. Appointees have specific duties and may be liable, for example, for the repayment of any overpayments.

If you would like an appointee to act for you, please complete the authority form by following the link to appointee form.

Going back to work?

The Job Centre may be able to offer advice regarding how such a change would affect your benefits. See also www.direct.gov.uk for information on benefits you might still be entitled to when working.

If you are planning to start work inform the Benefit Section immediately.

You may still qualify for help on your new income – we will ask for details.

You may be eligible to continue to receive your current rate of Housing and/or Council Tax Benefits for an additional four weeks irrespective of your new income. Please see extended payments.

Someone else moving in or out?

Always inform the Benefit Section when the size of your household changes. For Council Tax it may affect your liability for the charge and any Single Person Discount. For Housing Benefit it may affect the rent figure we can use in our calculations because the size of the property you are allowed might be different. For either benefit these people might have to be treated as helping you towards your household costs and deductions made from your award accordingly.

Remember – someone does not have to be staying with you every day of the week to be treated as living with you.

Additional help

If due to exceptional circumstances you are having difficulty paying your rent or Council Tax, you might be able to receive additional help through Discretionary Housing Payments. Funds are limited and only the most exceptional cases can be helped, but if you want to learn more please click on this link discretionary housing payments.

Getting into arrears?

Advice and information can be sought from both the Citizens Advice Bureau (01372 720205) and the Council’s Housing team (01372 732000).

If your rent is in arrears of eight weeks or more it might be possible to pay your Housing Benefit direct to your landlord. See ‘payment options’ on the following link payment options, also the above section ‘Additional help’. 

Renewing your tenancy?

If your landlord reduces the rent to an affordable amount (e.g. the LHA rate) and this helps you to retain your tenancy, it may be possible to pay your Housing Benefit direct to your landlord. Please contact the Benefit Section for more details.

Email: benefits@epsom-ewell.gov.uk