Make a Housing Benefit claim

Who can claim Housing Benefit

You are eligible to claim Housing Benefit if:

• you, and your partner (if you have one) have reached state pension age
• you live in supported accommodation (any age)

You cannot claim Housing Benefit if:

• you own your home and have a mortgage
• you rent your home from a close relative who lives in the same house
• you, and your partner (if you have one) have savings or investments of over £16,000 (unless you get Guaranteed Pension Credit)

How to make a claim

Step 1: make a claim 

Alternatively you can claim by:

• Telephone: 03000 26 2000
• In person: contact us to make an appointment at one of our customer access points.

Step 2: provide documents as evidence to support your claim

When you make your claim, you will be advised what documents we need to see. Provide these documents as soon as possible to avoid delays, and within a month to ensure we can calculate your claim. You can submit your documents in the following ways:

• You can email all documents to benefits@durham.gov.uk, quote your claim reference in the subject line if known. This can include photographs of the documents.
• At a customer access point - to make an appointment, contact us.
• By post addressed to: 

Transactional and Customer Services
PO Box 238
Stanley
County Durham
DH8 1FP

Please don't send valuable items. For more information about the documents we accept, see what information you should provide.

Step 3: your claim is processed 

Once we have received all supporting documents, we will process your claim. We will write to you to confirm your benefit entitlement, telling you how much you will receive and how we reached that decision. We will then make arrangements to pay your benefit - see How is Housing Benefit paid? for more information.

How we calculate your Housing Benefit

The amount you get depends on your household circumstances. This includes the following:

• the rent you are charged
• your income and savings
• the people who live with you
• the number of bedrooms you have
• Benefit cap on households out of work

Appeal against a Housing Benefit decision

If you disagree with a decision we make about your Housing Benefit claim, you can ask us to look at the decision again.