How much is your actual "contact" rent?
( Warning - excessive amounts may be restricted for claim purposes ).
Do not include charges for ineligible services such as meals and heating.

And, if applicable, enter your Local Housing Allowance.
If this is a fresh claim and the rental is from a private landlord (not a Housing Association or similar) then the LHA figure will (mainly) be used instead of the contract rent. Weekly LHA rates are on this website - they depend on the area and the number of bedrooms appropriate for the claim. If the actual rent is higher than the LHA, you pay the excess - if less, you are rewarded with a potential maximum HB of up to £15 more than the rent!
Bedroom Calculator

Please select the "rent period" ( how often rent is paid ).
Fortnightly and monthly figures are automatically converted to weekly amounts.

Enter your actual Annual Council Tax bill
(without taking off any Council Tax Benefit you already get).

Has this Council Tax bill already been discounted ?

If Yes to IS/JSA/PGC you can skip all the income questions (steps 7 to 11) because your income is assumed to be zero.

Are you (the claimant) on Income Support,  income based Jobseekers Allowance or Pension Guarantee Credit ?

Are you single or living with a partner (can be same gender) as a couple ?

Enter your age (or the age of the oldest person in a couple)

Disability applies if you (or partner) "meet" one of these qualifying conditions:

• Do you get Attendance Allowance, Constant Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, Invalid Vehicle Scheme or Motability, War Pensioners' Mobility Supplement, Severe Disablement Allowance, Incapacity Benefit (and you are the claimant, who is sick and incapable of work for at least 52 weeks) ?
• Are you registered blind (or have regained your sight in the last 28 weeks) ?

Do you (or your partner) get the highest rate of the care component of Disability Living Allowance ?

Do these two statements apply to you ? (only say "yes" if both of them apply)

1 You (and partner) get care component of Disabilty Living Allowance (middle/high rate) or Attendance Allowance or Constant Attendance Allowance  (or partner blind and you get one), and
2 No other adult lives in your home except your partner, other than disabled persons, your carer, landlord or other tenants

Is someone getting (or entitled to) a Carer's Allowance for looking after one of you or your partner, or both of you?

Does the person who is disabled (you or your partner) work an average of 16 hours or more a week ?

Are you, your partner, or both of you, being paid (or entitled to be paid) a Carer's Allowance for looking after someone ?

Is there a baby (any child aged under one) in your family ?

How many young adults aged 16 to under 19 years old do you or your partner get child benefit for ?

How many children included above are disabled and receiving Disability Living Allowance or are registered blind ?

How many of those children are in receipt of Disability Living Allowance at the highest care component rate ?

Have you been receiving Housing/Council Tax Benefit without a break since 5th April 1998?

Give figures for the claimant (and partner). Include average earnings from employment and self employment.

Be sure to enter weekly figures in the Weekly column only and Monthly figures in the Monthly column only   

How much do you and your partner earn ? (before deductions)
(Do not count expenses paid by your employer)

If you work as a childminder how much do you earn from this ?
(Any earnings from childminding need to be counted separately from other earnings)

How much Income Tax and National Insurance is deducted ?

How much do you pay towards a pension scheme ?

How many hours are you (or your partner) each working in an average week? Please select the highest.

We do not count War Pensions, charitable payments or payments made as a result of personal injury as income. So do not enter them below.

Unearned income from all other sources each week - This includes Retirement Pensions, Incapacity Benefit, Carer's Allowance and Severe Disablement Allowances. But do not include Tax/Pension/Return to Work Credits, interest on savings or Attendance, Disability Living, Mobility and Fostering Allowances or Community Care Payments.

You cannot qualify for any Housing Benefit or (most) Council Tax Benefit if you and any partner have £16,000 or more in savings and investments. The home you live in and personal possessions do not count.

Charges for registered or approved childcare can be deducted from the income of couples or lone parents in remunerative work (at least 16 hours p/w) or on Statutory Sick, Maternity, Paternity or Adoption Pay or a similar benefit (up to 28 weeks). Couples still qualify if one works and the partner is incapacitated, in hospital or prison. Costs of childcare in the child's own home by a close relative are excluded.

Enter the weekly childcare charges paid. Children count up to the September following their 15th birthday (or 16th if disabled).

Enter the weekly student loan or grant contribution which can also be set off against claimant (and partner) income.

If you do get them, enter weekly Working Tax Credit and (unless you or your partner have reached the age of 60) Child TC here.

Between you and your partner, are you working 30 hours or more in an average week ?

These so called "non-dependants" are assumed to be contributing to the household income so a deduction is made from any benefit for each one. So do enter the number of non-dependants in each of these Income Categories but skip this step if you (or your partner) is disabled due to blindness, or in receipt of the Disability Living Allowance care component or Attendance Allowance has been awarded.

Enter the number of non-dependants

in the Top Earnings Category (£369+ per week gross)

not on Income Support, Jobseekers Allowance (I.B.) or any Pension Credit and not working at least 16 hours p/w

who are under 25 and are on IS or JSA (I.B.)

who are 25 or over and are on IS or JSA (I.B.)

How your benefit is worked out.
If the Total Applicable Amount is higher than Net Weekly Income, Maximum Benefit is awarded. But if Net Weekly Income is higher than the Total Applicable Amount, 65% of the "excess income" is deducted from Maximum HB to find the award. For Council Tax Benefit, 20% of the "excess income" taper is deducted from the maximum award. NB Non-dependant deductions are also taken off at this stage.

Alternative Council Tax Benefit is often called Second Adult Rebate. It is based on the income of the non-dependants. The program calculates if you are better off with a benefit award based on your circumstances or your non-dependants.

And finally you can use the browser Print button to launch a print or change your figures and click Calculate to do it again.