Housing benefit for young people

This content applies to England only.

Housing laws vary between England and Scotland. This page applies to England only. Get advice relating to Scotland

If you are between the ages of 16 and 25 and thinking about claiming housing benefit, find out more about how your age will affect your claim.

This page explains how housing benefit can be different for young people. If you're interested in claiming housing benefit, you may also want to read the section on what is housing benefit?

How much housing benefit will I get?

Unless you are receiving jobseeker's allowance or income support, it is unlikely that you will get enough housing benefit to cover all your rent. You will probably have to make up the difference from your own money.

How is my housing benefit worked out?

The housing benefit department will work out the maximum amount of rent that they are willing to pay for your property - this is called your 'eligible rent'. They will do this by looking at how big your home is compared to your needs and the cost of similar properties in your area. Sometimes you may have the 'single room rent restriction' applied as well (see below).

Once the housing benefit department have worked out what your eligible rent is, they will work out how much money you should be able to pay from any income that you have, for example, wages, welfare benefits and savings.

The amount of benefit you will get will be the difference between your eligible rent and how much the housing benefit department thinks you should pay towards the rent.

For more information, please see the section on how housing benefit is calculated.

Single room rent restriction

If you are single, under the age of 25 and rent from a private landlord, you will normally only be entitled to enough housing benefit to cover the average cost of a single room in a shared house in your area. This is the case even if you have a place of your own. This rule is known as the 'single room rent restriction'. It may not apply to you if you:

• are a single parent
• are living with a husband, wife, civil partner or partner (including a same sex partner)
• rent from the council or a housing association
• are under 22 and have spent time in care since the age of 16
• are severely disabled
• live with a non-dependant (eg in a shared house)
  
• have lived in the same place since 2 January 1996 or earlier and have been claiming housing benefit non-stop since then (breaks of less than four weeks do not count).

If you were able to pay your own rent when you moved into your home and you have not claimed housing benefit in the past year, the single room rent will not be applied for the first 13 weeks if you claim housing benefit.

If the single room rent restriction is causing you financial hardship, you could try to claim a discretionary housing payment.

There are no deductions made from the single room rent for charges that would not be paid by housing benefit if you were over the age of 25, such as charges for heating, hot water, lighting or cooking.

What if I've left care?

If you've left care and you're still under the age of 18, you probably won't be able to claim housing benefit as you will still be entitled to support from social services. Once you reach 18, you should be able to claim housing benefit provided you meet all of the usual criteria. You will be exempt from the 'single room rent' (see above) until your 22nd birthday.