General information about benefits

Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit, are paid to people who pay rent, Council Tax or both and who are on a low income. You cannot get Housing or Council Tax Benefit if you, and any partner, have more than £16,000 in savings. Savings up to the £16,000 limit will be taken into account when working out your benefit. Different rules about savings apply to pensioners.

Council Tax Benefit is paid to people who pay Council Tax on their home. The benefit is paid by reducing the amount of Council Tax they have to pay to the council.

There is also another type of Council Tax Benefit, which does not depend on the claimant's own income and savings. This is called Second Adult Rebate and is awarded when the claimant has a second adult in his or her home, who is on a low income. This would usually be another member of your family or household who is not your partner, such as an elderly parent or adult child. This benefit is not available if the person pays you a rent to live in your home.

Housing Benefit is paid to people who pay rent on their home to either The Gateshead Housing Company, a Housing Association or to a private landlord. You can also claim regardless of whether you rent the whole of the property or just part of it. If you are a tenant of The Gateshead Housing Company the benefit is normally paid by reducing the amount of rent payable. If you are not a Gateshead Housing Company tenant the benefit can be paid to either you or your landlord by BACS transfer or cheque.

Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit are worked out and paid by local authorities. Other welfare benefits are paid through other agencies. For example the Job Centre Plus deals with Income Support; the Inland Revenue with Child Tax Credit and the Pension Service with, Retirement Pension and Pension Credit.

In Gateshead Council, the service which deals with Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit and works out how much benefit you are entitled to is called Revenues & Benefits.

If you want to work out how much benefit you might get you can use the benefit calculator below. Remember that this calculation is an estimate based on the information you supply and should be used as a rough guide only.

For a full evaluation, you will need to fill in a form giving us details of who lives in your home, how much income and savings you have, and, how much rent you pay. You will also need to supply proof of any income or savings details that you put on your form. Full details of what is needed are given on the form.

If you would like us to send you a benefit application form, please use the link below:

Benefit application form request

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