Housing benefit for pensioners - changes in circumstances

You must tell the council's benefits service straight away if your circumstances change after you have made your claim.

Although you can report changes by telephoning your area benefits office you will normally be asked to confirm the change in writing and sometimes, depending on the type of change, provide evidence of it.

If you are getting pension credit (guarantee credit)

You must report changes in your income direct to the pension service, who in turn will tell the council if your pension credit entitlement is affected, and the date of the change.

However there are some changes that you must still report straight away to the council:

• Changes to your rent (unless you are a council tenant):
  • if you stop being charged rent, and date it stopped
  • if your rent and / or service charges increase or decrease, the new amount and the date of change.
• Changes to your non-dependants:
  • if someone joins your household, their name, date of birth, income and date they moved in
  • if someone leaves your household, their name and date of leaving.
• Changes to your own circumstances:
  • if you go into hospital, the date and location
  • if you go away temporarily, the date you go and the date you intend to return.
  • if you change address permanently and the date you moved.

If you are getting pension credit (savings credit) only

You must report changes in your income direct to the pension service, who in turn will tell the council if your pension credit entitlement is affected and the date.

However there are some changes that you must still report straight away to the council:

• Changes to your rent (unless you are a council tenant):
  • if you stop being charged rent, and date it stopped
  • if your rent and / or service charges increase or decrease, the amount and the date of change.
• Changes to your non-dependants:
  • if someone joins your household, their name, date of birth, income and date they moved in
  • if someone leaves your household, their name and date of leaving.
• Changes to your own circumstances:
  • if you go into hospital, the date and location
  • if you go away temporarily, the date you go and the date you intend to return
  • if you change address permanently and date you moved.
• Other changes
  • if the value of your capital/savings increase to more than £16,000
  • if the income/capital of your partner (unless they are included in your pension credit claim) changes
  • changes in any child tax credit that you receive
  • changes in any child benefit you receive
  • changes in your household composition (if someone joins or leaves your household).

If you are not getting pension credit

Examples of the types of changes in circumstances that you must tell the council about are given on the back of every benefit award letter issued by the benefits service.

The most common types of changes are also listed below - but there are others. If you are unsure whether or not to report a change, always report it anyway.

Please remember that you must still tell us about any changes that occur, even if your benefit is paid direct to your landlord and/or if you get income support and/or jobseeker's allowance. You cannot rely on your landlord, the social security office or jobcentre to report changes for you - it is your responsibility.

Examples of changes that you must report straight away include the following.

If you or your partner:

• start work or start working more hours
• stop working or start working less hours
• have an increase in earnings (including self-employed earnings) the amount and date it increased
• have a decrease in earnings (including self-employment earnings) the amount and date it decreased.

If you or your partner:

• stop or start getting income support, and the dates
• stop or start getting income-based jobseeker's allowance, and the dates
• start getting retirement pension, and the amount and date it started
• start getting a private (works) pension or annuity, and the amount and date it started
• stop getting a private (‘works’) pension or annuity, and the date it stopped
• start or stop getting incapacity benefit or maternity benefit/allowance or paternity benefit/allowances, and if the amounts of these change and the dates
• start or stop getting child benefit or a guardian's allowance and the dates
• start getting a different amount of any of the above and the date the new amount started
• stop or start getting income support and the dates
• stop or start getting income-based jobseeker's allowance and the dates
• start getting retirement pension and the amount and date it started
• start getting a private (works) pension or annuity and the amount and date it started
• stop getting a private (works) pension or annuity and the date it stopped
• start or stop getting incapacity benefit or maternity benefit/allowance or paternity benefit/allowances and if the amounts of these change and the dates
• start or stop getting child benefit or a guardian's allowance and the dates
• start getting a different amount of any of the above and the date the new amount started.

If you or your partner:

• start getting child tax credit or the amount changes
• stop getting child tax credit
• start getting working tax credit or the amount changes
• stop getting working tax credit.

Your rent:

• if you stop being charged rent, and the date it stopped
• if your rent and / or service charges increase or decrease, the amount and the date of change
• (however, council tenants do not have to report changes in rent and tenancy).

Other changes:

• if you go into hospital, the date and again when you are discharged
• if you are taken into custody or held on remand or are released and the dates
• if while in custody you are sentence to a period in prison
• if you go away from home and the dates and address you are living at while you are away
• if you change address permanently and the date you moved
• if someone joins your household / comes to live with you and the dates
• if someone leaves your household / stops living with you and the dates.

Time limits on reporting changes in circumstances

Some changes in circumstances could mean you will get more housing benefit - for example if your income decreases. These are called 'beneficial changes'. In these situations you must make sure you tell the council’s benefits service within one calendar month of the date of the actual change in order to get the full benefit of the increase. However, if it is a change that you need to report directly to the pension service, the time limit is only one week. For more advice contact the pension service.

If you delay reporting the changes that you are required to report to the council any longer, any extra benefit due to you will only be awarded from the Monday after you actually report the change, and will not normally be backdated.

Some changes in circumstances will mean you get less housing benefit. In these situations you must make sure you tell the benefits service straight away. If you don't, you will be paid too much benefit, and you will have to pay this back. There are no time limits on how far back the benefits service can go to create overpayments.

Reporting changes in circumstances to the council’s benefits service

You can:

• write a letter to your area benefits office, enclosing your evidence of the change(s)

or

• visit your area benefits office to report the change(s), and provide the evidence in person.

Contact us & further information

For more specific advice please contact your area benefits office.