We will be carrying out maintenance work on our online system for Council Tax, Benefits and Business Rates from 7pm on Friday 21 February to 6am on Monday 24 February. This means it will be unavailable during some of this period. We apologise for any inconvenience.

If you (or your partner) are of working age, you may not be able to make a new claim for Housing Benefit. Instead, you will need to apply for Universal Credit to help pay your rent. You can find out whether you need to claim Housing Benefit or Universal Credit. For more wide-ranging advice regarding your finances, you may find this Money Navigator Tool helpful.

Housing Benefit

Before you apply for Housing Benefit, you need to check your eligibility. If you (or your partner) are of working age, you may need to claim for Universal Credit instead to help with your rent.

Find out if you can claim and how much you might get Find out who can claim Housing Benefit, and what the amount you might get.
Claim Housing Benefit Find out what you need to make your Housing Benefit claim, and then make your claim.
Submit your evidence for Housing Benefit Find out what documents you need to send us for Housing Benefit claims and how to send them.
Change in circumstance for Housing Benefit If your circumstances change, you have one month to tell us about it for Housing Benefit purposes. You will also have to give us evidence of the change.
Appeal our decision about your Housing Benefit claim If you disagree with our decision claim, you have up to one month to tell us.
Housing Benefits overpayments If we pay you too much Housing Benefit, you will have to repay the money to us.
Our current Local Housing Allowance rates Find out our Local Housing Allowance rates if you rent from a private landlord.
Impact of introduction of Universal Credit on Housing Benefit claims The DWP has introduced Universal Credit into Chelmsford Job Centre. This means you will not be able to make a new claim to us for Housing Benefit.
Housing Benefit non-dependant deductions Find out about our Housing Benefit non-dependant deductions.

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