Housing benefit calculations

This content applies to England only.

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

Housing benefit is paid by the council to help people pay their rent. The rules about how much housing benefit you may get are complicated but this page may be able to help.

Note : If you live in certain parts of the UK and rent from a private landlord, you will get local housing allowance instead of housing benefit.

Housing benefit is calculated by looking at how much you can afford to pay towards your rent. The amount you will get will be the maximum rent that can be paid for your home minus the amount that you can afford to pay.

How much can you afford to pay

There are specific rules that the council have to look at when they are deciding how much you should be able to pay towards your rent.

They should first look at how much money your household needs to live on each week, taking into account:

• the number of people in your house,
• the ages of the people in your house,
• whether anyone in the house is sick or disabled, and
• whether anyone is a full-time carer

Income

They will then look at how much money there is coming in. This can include:

• wages,
• benefits and tax credits,
• pensions,
• maintenance payments, and
• grants, bursaries and student loans

Savings and investments

If you have any savings or investments these can be counted as income too. This includes redundancy payments. If you have savings of over £6,000, this will affect the amount of housing benefit you will get. If you have savings of £16,000 or more, then unless you are aged 60 or over and receive the guarantee credit of pension credit, you will not be entitled to any housing benefit.

The maximum rent that can be paid for your home

The housing benefit department will decide what the maximum rent that can be paid for your home is. This may be less than the rent that you are charged.

Remember that the amount of housing benefit you will receive will be the maximum rent that can be paid, minus the amount you can afford to pay towards your rent.

If your maximum rent is less than your actual rent charge, you will have to pay something towards your rent.

Size of the house

If your home is larger than your household needs the housing benefit department may not be willing to use the rent charge as the maximum rent. It depends on the number of rooms there are in the property and the number of people who live there. One bedroom is allowed for:

• a couple,
• a person over 16,
• two children under 16 of the same sex,
• two children under 10, or
• one child if they are an only child

Additional rooms suitable for living in (for example, a lounge or dining room) are allowed on the following basis:

• one for less than four people,
• two for four to six people, or
• three for seven or more people

If your home is considered too large for your needs, the housing benefit department will decide what the maximum rent for accommodation of the appropriate size for your household is.

The rent charged

The rent officer will decide if the rent you are charged can be used as your maximum rent. If the rent officer decides that the rent you are charged is too high, then your maximum rent will be set on the basis of other rents in your area for similar accommodation.

If you are under 25

If you are under 25, not part of a couple or responsible for any children, your maximum rent will be for a single room, rather than for your own flat or house. There are some exceptions, which you can find out about on our page on housing benefit for young people.

Service charges that cannot be paid by housing benefit

There are some service charges that may be included in your rent charge that cannot be paid by housing benefit. Service charges that cannot be paid by housing benefit can include:

• changes for meals
• personal laundry service
• personal alarm system
  
• personal support and care

Find out how much your maximum rent will be before you move in

You can check with the housing benefit department what the maximum housing benefit payment for a property would be before you move in. This is called a pre-tenancy determination.

Remember that this is the maximum housing benefit that you could be paid for that property but the housing benefit department will still have to decide whether you can afford to pay anything towards the rent yourself.

Non-dependant deductions

Your housing benefit may be reduced if you have someone living in your house who is:

• not your husband, wife, civil partner or partner (including same sex partners), and
• someone you do not claim child benefit for, and
• over the age of 18

It is assumed that these people can pay something towards your rent, whether they actually do or not.

The reduction of your housing benefit will depend on the other person's income. If they are not willing to give their income details to you, ask them to contact the housing benefit department directly.

No deduction will be made if:

• you are registered blind, or
• you receive attendance allowance or the care component of disability living allowance, or
• the person living with you is a full-time student (unless they have full-time work during the holidays), or
• the person living with you is under 25 and receiving jobseeker's allowance or income support, or
• the person living with you is receiving pension credit

Help and advice

If you do not know how much housing benefit you will get, or you are already claiming housing benefit and are not sure if you are getting the right amount, it would be a good idea to contact an adviser who may be able to tell you how much you should get.

You can get advice from a housing aid centre, Citizens Advice, your local council or another local advice centre. Use the Advice Services Directory to find agencies in your area.