Apply for Housing Benefit

This page tell you how to claim Housing Benefit from the London Borough of Redbridge together with the evidence you will need to provide in order for your claim to be considered.

Housing benefit has been replaced by Universal credit . Most people will no longer be able to claim Housing Benefit to help to pay their rent and must claim Universal credit to get this support. However, there are a few exemptions.

Anyone who is liable for Council Tax can apply for help to pay this by clicking Council Tax reduction tab.

Making a claim for Housing Benefit

If you are working age you will need to apply for Universal Credit for help with your rent. Remember that you may lose money if you delay claiming Universal Credit.

You should apply for Housing Benefit if:

You are living in temporary accommodation provided by Redbridge Housing Department. This could be inside or outside of Redbridge. BUT if you have been placed in Redbridge by another Council, you will need to apply for Housing Benefit from that Council or:
You are living in supported accommodation - your rent includes a charge for care, support and supervision that is more than minimal and is provided by an English non-metropolitan council, or a housing association, or a not-for-profit voluntary organisation, or a registered charity or:
You and your partner are of pension age.

You do not qualify for Housing Benefit if:

You have savings over £16,000 as a couple or a single person
You are a full time student. Unless you are disabled or lone parent or a couple with children where one of you is a student. Please note the non-student partner must make the claim.
You are not the person who pays the rent
You are seeking asylum
You are living in the UK under a sponsorship agreement
You are a homeowner

If you need to apply for Universal Credit and are the person responsible for paying council tax you may be entitled to Council Tax Reduction.

Apply for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction

When you get to the end of the form you will see a list of documents needed to support your claim. Please upload the documents or if you do not have them to hand please send them as soon as possible to housing.benefits@redbridge.gov.uk

What proof do you need to see to support my application

You will be required to provide the following documentation to support your application:

National Insurance Number for you and your partner

National Insurance number card
P60 or payslips
Letter from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

The benefits team will contact you if they require any further documentation.

Other evidence you may be required to submit

Capital, savings and investments for you and your partner
Earnings for you, your partner and any other non-dependants living with you
Self-employed earnings for you and your partner
Other income for you, your partner and other adults living with you
Childcare costs
Benefits, allowances or pensions for you, your partner and any other adults living with you
An acceptable Universal Credit monthly statement (PDF 109KB)

The document you provide must show:

Payment period
Claimant's name(s)
All Allowances for the claimant's circumstances
Any earnings that are taken into account
All Deductions for the claimant's circumstances
Total payment for the month

The best way to provide this document is to download your UC statement by:

Logging into your Universal Credit account/journal
Go to the Statement summary page
Then click into the most recent monthly statement; it will come up on your screen
*Then "Save as PDF"
Save the document to your device (laptop, computer or phone)

You can then attach the document to an email and send it to housing.benefits@redbridge.gov.uk remember to include your surname and benefit reference in the subject field of your email.

Although you can use 'screenshots', this can be very time consuming as we require all sections, not just the payment amount, and if you do not send all the sections and your monthly award is unclear, it will not be accepted.

Submit evidence to support your Housing Benefit claim

Files must be in GIF, JPG, JPEG, PDF or PNG format and be a maximum of 20mb in size.

You could:

take a steady, clear photograph of your documents with your smartphone or tablet
scan your documents using your home printer if it has scanning capabilities

You can either upload your proof in the online application form or email your documents to us at housing.benefits@redbridge.gov.uk.

To find out more about the information we collect from you and how we use it, please review the privacy notice

To make a new claim - You will be able to upload supporting evidence as part of this process (if you are on Universal Credit you will also need to upload your latest statement showing the breakdown of your entitlement).

Go back to a claim you have started

To go back to a claim you have started you will need:

Name
National Insurance Number
Citizen Access benefit key
You will be required to answer three security questions