How Your Council Tax Benefit Has Been Worked Out

This page will help you to understand how your Council Tax Benefit has been worked out notification.

To view further information please use your mouse to hover over the section of the bill. Please select an area to read the text version of the hover text

Further Information

The Claim Reference
How Your Council Tax Benefit Has Been Worked Out – this confirms the date from which the benefit starts and the weekly award. Also explained is the way the level of rent used to calculate your benefit had been decided.
The amount of weekly income used to calculate your benefit is explained here. It is important to check that the amounts are correct and report any inaccuracy to the Benefit Section immediately.
This is where the amount of savings declared on your form is shown. It is important to check that the amounts are correct and report any inaccuracy to the Benefit Section immediately. For working age claimants, any savings or investments valued less than £6,000 does not affect the calculation of your benefit. For claimants of a pensionable age, the value increases to £10,000. Claimants with savings or investments valued in excess of £16,000 will not qualify for any Housing or Council Tax Benefit. Please note there are exceptions to this rule for pensioners.
The allowances and premiums that make up the applicable amount are linked to the age of the claimant and any partner, if there are any children in the household and whether any of these people have an illness or disability. The values are decided by the Department for Work and Pensions.
This explains how your weekly benefit is calculated.

The award of Housing and Council Tax Benefit is affected by a number of things such as the number of people in your household, any capital or savings held, the amount of income received and how much rent and (or) council tax is paid. If any changes occur then it is important to remember to tell the Councils Benefit Section.

The simple thing to remember is; if your income goes down then your benefit is likely to increase. If, however, your income goes up then your benefit is likely to reduce.

By forgetting to tell the Benefit Section about a change could mean you will not be paid enough and will lose out or, you will be overpaid and we will ask you to pay it back.