How savings affect your claim

If you and your partner have joint capital of more than £16,000 you'll not normally be able to get Housing Benefit. This is unless you're in receipt of Guaranteed Pension Credit.

If you are under pension qualifying age:

A tariff of £1 per week will be applied for every £250 you have between £6,000 and £16,000 when we work out your entitlement to Housing Benefit. So for every £250 above £6,000 we say you have an extra £1 of income per week.

If you are over pension qualifying age:

A tariff of £1 per week will be applied for every £500 you have between £10,000 and £16,000 when we work out your entitlement to Housing Benefit. So for every £250 above £10,000 we say you have an extra £1 of income per week.

Capital includes;

  • cash
  • current accounts
  • any other bank, building society, post office or Paypal accounts
  • unit trusts
  • ISAs
  • National Savings certificates
  • shares
  • premium bonds
  • property (other than the home you live in) or land you own
  • cryptoassets