Your entitlement to Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Benefit is based on the information on your form. Your entitlement will change if your circumstances change.

From 2nd July 2001 there are a number of changes to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit rules which mean you need to make sure you report things to us promptly. If you don't do this you may lose out.

The new rules mean you must tell us about changes in your circumstances as soon as possible. If you don't tell us about these changes quickly you may lose out on benefit as the increase in your benefit may not be paid from the date that the change happened. To ensure that we can amend your benefit to allow any increase in entitlement you must tell us within one month of the change happening.

For example if you do not notify us within one calendar month of an increase in your rent or a decrease in your income, you may not get the additional benefit due from the date of the change. Unless there is a good reason for not telling us of your change in circumstances your benefit will only be amended from the Monday following the date that you notify us. However, if you do not inform us of a change that causes an overpayment of Council Tax or Housing Benefit, it will be amended from the actual change date.

You can download a short PDF form to report a change of circumstance by clicking here.

What is a change of circumstance?

During the period you have been granted Benefit, the details you have given about income, capital and the people who live with you may change. These changes may affect the amount of Benefit you are entitled to. If you have any changes in your family or financial circumstances, please write to tell us about them. If you are not sure whether the change will affect your Benefit, tell us anyway.

Why do I need to tell you about these changes?

Under the regulations, most changes in circumstances affect your Housing and/or Council Tax Benefit from the Monday after they happen. (Unlike Working Tax Credit which is awarded for 6 months and doesn't change during that time).

If you don't tell us on time about a change which reduced your Benefit, and we find out later you will have received too much Benefit. This is called an overpayment (for Housing Benefit) or Excess Benefit (for Council Tax Benefit).
You will normally have to pay these back to the Council - so to avoid a large bill later, tell us about changes in circumstances as soon as they happen.

What happens after I have told you about a change?

We will write to you and tell you how the change has affected your Housing and/or Council Tax Benefit - if at all. If we haven't written to you within 2 weeks of you telling us about a change, you should contact the office to find out if we have dealt with your letter.

If your Benefit isn't changed straight away, we could be paying you too much Benefit that you would have to repay later.

Examples of changes in circumstances, which you must tell us about, include when:

• you or your partner stop or start getting Income Support or any other type of state benefit
• you or your partner start work or change jobs
• your or your partner’s wages go up or down
• your or your partner’s savings go up or down
• the number of people living with you changes
• any of your children leave school
• you move (this includes moving to another flat or room at the same address)*
• you have a child
• you or your partner go into hospital
• you or your partner go into a rest home