Ashfield District Council: Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit

Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit

If you claim Jobseeker's Allowance, you may also be eligible to claim Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.

If you are claiming income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, you should fill in the claim forms you received with your Jobseeker's Allowance claim pack and take them with you to your New Jobseeker Interview.

If you are claiming contribution-based Jobseeker's Allowance, you should ask for claim forms for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit direct from your local council and return the completed forms to them.

Alternatively, you can download a claim form for Housing and Council Tax Benefit.

Once you have downloaded the form, print it out, fill it in, and return to the address at the top of the form together with the requested supporting documents.

Note that the form is 22 A4 pages long (199KB) and is in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format.

If you are unable to print the form and would like to order a copy, or if you require any advice or assistance with completing it, please contact the Revenues Division.

If you get income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, you may get up to the maximum amount of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit allowable. If you do not get income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, the amount of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit you get depends on the amount of eligible rent or council tax that you pay, how many people live with you, your personal circumstances, how much money you have coming in and how much you have in savings.

For more information about Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, you can obtain the leaflets:

RR1 "Help with your Rent"
CTB1 "Help with the Council Tax"
RR2 "A Guide to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit"

These leaflets, and others, are available from your local Social Security office or Council Offices.

Further information is also available from our "Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit" section.

Extended Payments

If you start a job after being out of work for over six months and in receipt of income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit may continue to be paid at the existing rate for four weeks.

The benefit will be paid whatever your earnings, provided your job is expected to last five weeks or more.

Ask an Employment Service Adviser for more information.