Benefits

Introduction to Benefits

Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit are social security benefit schemes to help pay for rent and council tax. They are assessed and paid by local councils. For information about all social security benefits check out the Department of Work and Pension website.

If you make a claim for Income Support or income-based Jobseeker's Allowance you can claim Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Benefit at the same time.

If you do not make a claim for Income Support or income-based JSA you must claim Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Benefit straight from the Council. If you would like us to send you a form please email benefits@shrewsbury.gov.uk or telephone 01743 281466. Alternatively, you can download the form in pdf format.

Housing Benefit

Housing Benefit helps with housing costs. (This means rent and some accommodation related service charges which you must pay to live in your home.) You may be able to get help for many different types of accommodation such as furnished or unfurnished flats, bedsitters, rented houses or hostels or lodgings, as long as you pay rent to a landlord or landlady.

You cannot get Housing Benefit for the cost of buying your home, for mortgage payments, or for charges relating to the provision of personal needs or day to day living expenses.

Housing Benefit is sometimes better known as rent rebate or rent allowance.

Council Tax Benefit

If you are liable for Council Tax, you may be able to get Council Tax Benefit towards what you pay. Council Tax Benefit is a rebate scheme to provide help with up to 100 per cent of the Council Tax.

Local Housing Allowance, (LHA)

Changes are being made to the way Housing Benefit is worked out, for tenants who rent their home from a private landlord. The benefit paid under these new rules is called Local Housing Allowance and affects new customers from 7 April 2008.

The rate of Local Housing Allowance used in a customer's claim will be based on household size and where they live. This may not be the same as the rent they pay; it could be more or less. It is the Rent Service's responsibility to set the LHA rates.

LHA still takes into account the customer's household income and savings. Customers must still continue to report changes in circumstances, as these will affect the amount of benefit they are paid.

Further information about Local Housing Allowance can be found by linking directly to The Rent Service 

Benefit Fraud

If you would like to report benefit fraud, you can do so anonymously by completing our online benefit fraud form, or by calling 01743 281441.

Take a look at our Fraud Awareness microsite (opens in a new window).