What is Housing Benefit?

Backdating claims

If you are under pension qualifying age:

From 1 April 2016 any requests for backdated Housing Benefit may only be awarded up to one month.

You can request backdated Housing Benefit on your claim form. You must be able to show that there was a good reason why you did not make your claim earlier.

If you are over pension qualifying age:

If you claim Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Support we would normally start your claim up to three months before the date you made your claim.

We can only do this if you had to pay rent and/or Council Tax for this period and are entitled to claim.

We will write to you for the details of your income and circumstances during this period if we do not have them.