Claim Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Support

Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support is a Government scheme designed to help people on low incomes pay their rent and Council Tax. 

New benefits claims

Help with your rent

Following the introduction of Universal Credit to our area in 2018 it is now the case that if you are renting your home, on a low income and need to make a new claim for help with your rent, you will now likely be required to make a new claim for Housing Costs through Universal Credit.

You can only claim Housing Benefit through your local authority if any of these apply:

• You are single and have reached State Pension Age.
• You are in a partnership and you have both reached State Pension Age.
• You are in Council placed emergency housing or certain types of exempt or specified accommodation.

If you fall into the categories listed above you can start a new claim for Housing Benefit today

If this list does not apply to you then you will need to make a claim for your housing costs through Universal Credit. Please follow the links below to find out more and make a new claim online;

• Apply for Universal Credits on GOV.UK
• Find out more about Universal Credit

Make a claim for Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Support

If you need to make a new claim for Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Support, please click on the link below to start a new claim today. 

Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support Application Form

You will be able to submit evidence to support your claim at the end of the application process by uploading documents saved on your computer. You will in all cases need to provide evidence of all income or benefits received into your household to enable us to process your application.

Any evidence to support your claim can be scanned or photographed and sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you do not have evidence to upload at the time of application. Alternatively, you can drop relevant evidence in at Trinity Street Housing Advice Centre, Trinity Street Worcester, WR1 2PW. 

Help to complete your application

Our Contact Centres will continue to provide support for people who do not have access to online facilities or who need assistance to make a claim. Additional computers will be provided in our centres for people to make claims and staff will provide face-to-face help.

We can also provide support to our customers via our telephone contact centre, except for bank holidays.

With effect from 1 August 2022, there will be a temporary change to the opening times of our Revenues and Benefits Telephone Service Centre. Our Advisors will be available to speak to you between 10am and 3pm Monday to Friday.

This temporary change has been implemented to allow all of our staff resources to be focused on amending and updating our customers’ accounts/claims with the changes advised to us just prior to and during our system upgrade in July.

Please note that the opening hours of our Customer Service Centre remain unchanged.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused during this time. We do intend to keep disruption to services as minimal as possible but would ask for your patience while we complete this essential work.

You can e-mail the evidence required to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. quoting your claim number in the subject heading.

How much would I get? 

Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support are means-tested benefits. The amount you receive can depend on:

• your income;
• your savings;
• the size of the property, the amount of your rent; and
• who else lives with you

You can get an estimate of your housing benefit using an online Benefits Calculator.

You can e-mail the evidence required to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. quoting your claim number in the subject heading, or you can hand in your documents at Customer Service Contact centre.

If you are already receiving housing benefit or council tax support but the benefit payment amount does not cover your total rent/council tax bill, then you may be able to get extra help for housing costs by applying for a Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP). DHP’s are not benefit payments.

For details of other benefits to which you may be entitled, visit Gov.uk or  Citizens Advice. You can also find what the rates of benefit are by visiting Rightsnet.

How we pay your Housing Benefit

We cannot pay your benefit by cheque, if you do not have a bank account you can open a basic bank account.