Child Benefit payments, from November 2nd 2009, were no longer taken into account when working out how much Housing Benefit and Council Benefit you are entitled to.
This means:
If you get less than the full amount of Housing Benefit and Child Benefit now, it should increase from November.
If you don’t get Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Benefit now, but are on a fairly low income, you might now be entitled to some so CLAIM: contact your Local Authority’s Housing Benefit Office.
Your rent and Council Tax bills could drop by as much as :
- Up to £13 a week if you have one child
- Up to £21.58 a week if you have two children
- Up to £30.16/ week if you have three children
- Up to £38.74/ week if you have four children
- Up to £47.32/ week if you have five children.
These figures depend on how much Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit you are currently getting. (For example if you already get the maximum amount of both unfortunately you won’t be any better off.)
Here’s two families who will be better off when they claim:
Josh and Sal have two kids. The rent for their home is £80 a week. Josh works full time bringing home £275 a week earnings. They also get £96 a week Tax Credits and £33.20 a week Child Benefit . They applied for Housing Benefit last year but were turned down because of their income.
But on 2nd November 2009 they put in a new claim and now only pay £74 a week rent because they are entitled to £6 a week Housing Benefit .
Shafi has two children and works full time, bringing home £196a week. She gets £141 a week Tax Credits and £33.20 a week Child Benefit . Her rent is £80 a week. She hasn’t been able to claim Housing Benefit until now, but from 2nd November if she claims, she will be entitled to about £14 a week, so she’ll only have to pay £66 a week rent.
An estimated 400,000 children are living in poverty because their families are not claiming the benefits they are entitled to!!
DON’T MISS OUT- CLAIM NOW!!
