Housing and Council Tax benefits

Housing and Council Tax benefit is a Government scheme designed to help people pay their rent and Council Tax.

Housing Benefit and Council Tax benefits are a means-tested benefits. This means that the amount you get depends on things like:

• Your income
• Your savings and investments
• The size of the property (for some tenants)
• The amount of your rent
• Other people who live with you.

For general advice and guidance about Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit visit the National Benefits Leaflets website.

Anyone who rents their home from a private landlord and makes a new claim for, and is entitled to, housing benefit will have their benefit worked out using the local housing allowance rates.

Use our room calculator  to find out how many bedrooms you are entitled to, so that you can see how much local housing allowance you can claim.

Use our on line benefit calculator to work out how much you will get?

Local Housing Allowance is a new way of working out Housing Benefit for private tenants. The Local Housing Allowance rate is set for April 2012 to 31st March 2013 by the rent service who provide the "maximum allowances" for households.

The new maximum weekly Housing Benefit rates for Coventry from 1st April 2012 are;

 

• Shared accommodation £63.00
• one Bedroom accommodation £91.15
• two Bedroom accommodation £103.85
• three Bedroom accommodation £126.92
• four Bedroom accommodation £167.31

There are two types of Council Tax Benefit: Main Council Tax Benefit and Second Adult Rebate.

How much will your Council Tax be?

Second Adult Rebate

Second Adult Rebate is another way to help you pay less Council Tax. It is not based on the money you have, but on the money other people live with you have. These people are called non-dependants.

A non-dependant could be someone like a relative or a friend. You may be able to get Second Adult Rebate if there are other people living in your home who are in receipt of Income Support or income-based Job Seeker's Allowance. You can't usually claim Second Adult Rebate if you are married or have a partner.

Please note:

You cannot get Council Tax Benefit and Second Adult Rebate at the same time. If you qualify for both, we will give you the one that reduces your Council Tax the most. On Second Adult Rebate, the maximum amount that can be awarded is 25% of the Council Tax bill.

For free confidential and independent legal advice for residents in England and Wales visit the Community Legal Advice website.