Housing Benefit

Help with your Rent and Council Tax

If you are claiming income support, have a low income, or are of pensionable age, then you are entitled to Housing Benefit to help with the payment of your rent and Council tax.

To claim Housing Benefit, you must apply to Cardiff County Council’s Housing Benefit section. Their contact details are:

Telephone: 029 20 537 537
Fax: 029 20 877 034
E-mail: counciltaxhelp@cardiff.gov.uk
Website: www.cardiff.gov.uk/benefits

Additional infomation can be found here in both English and Welsh.

However, if you need any advice, contact our housing staff. We can give you an application form and tell you how much you will receive. We can also verify your form for you before you send it back to the Council. Also, every Wednesday we host a Housing Benefit Surgery with Cardiff Council at our Callaghan House office. You can come along and check on progress with your application, submit your application or get advice on Housing Benefit.

Useful contact point – your Housing Officer

Housing Benefit: Avoid the Problems

If you get Housing Benefit make sure that, whenever you receive renewal forms or requests for information (such as how much rent you pay), you return the form or provide the information as soon as possible.

Similarly, if your circumstances change, always tell the Council about the change straight away. As a general guide, changes in circumstances include:

• Changes in your income
• Changes in your savings
• People coming to live with you
• People leaving your household
• Children reaching the age of 18 year

Over the years, many tenants have lost Housing Benefit because they did not take the simple actions outlined above. Some have been left owing hundreds of pounds in rent because they failed to return their renewal form, or failed to provide requested information on time.

Not all our tenants face problems with their Housing Benefit and, if you follow the advice outlined below, you should avoid the pitfalls:

• Always send back your renewal form as soon as possible and certainly within 28 days
• Always provide requested information as soon as possible and certainly within 28 days
• Always let the Council know of any change in your circumstances straight away

When sending information to the Council, do one of the following:

• Give it to us. We will then copy the information to prove it has been sent out and forward it to the Council for you free of charge
• Deliver it by hand and ask for a receipt
• Send it by post, but ask the Post Office to give you a proof of posting slip. Better still, send it by Registered Post

Finally, if you need help with your Housing Benefit claim at any time, please contact our housing staff.

Useful contact point – your Housing Officer.