Backdated housing benefit claims

The rules depend upon whether the claimant is of working age or pension credit age.

Working age claimants

A claim for housing benefit for a claimant of working age can be backdated for a maximum of one month.[1]

A working age claimant must have a good cause for their late claim throughout the period for which backdating is requested.

Pension age claimants

A claim for housing benefit for a claimant who has attained the age to qualify for pension credit can be backdated for a maximum of three months.[2]

The Gov.uk state pension calculator can be used to calculate when a claimant will qualify for pension credit.

A pension age claimant does not have to ask for the claim to backdated or to demonstrate a 'good cause' for a late claim. They only need to qualify for housing benefit and be of pension credit age during the period in question.[3]

If claimants of working age can show they had 'good cause' (a good reason) for not making a housing benefit claim for a period during which they were entitled to it, the local authority must backdate the claim.[4]

Examples of good cause might include if the claimant:

• was waiting for a decision about another benefit

• was too ill to claim and too ill to ask someone else to claim on their behalf

• did not understand they could claim, for example because of age or communication difficulties or because they were wrongly advised that they were not entitled to housing benefit

If the housing benefit claim is for accommodation in a hostel where the rent is payable on a daily basis, the claimant does not need to show 'good cause'. In all cases, housing benefit for a hostel is awarded back to the date that the claimant moved in.[5]