Benefits - report a change of circumstances

You need to tell us straight away about any change that could affect your housing benefit and Council Tax Support.

It may not affect the amount, but you still need to let us know.

You must tell us even if you have told another agency, for example the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) or the Pension Service.

You must tell us if you're moving, even if it's to another flat in the same building.

If you are away for more than four weeks you must also tell us.

Extended payments when returning to work

If some of your benefit entitlements come to an end because you have taken up employment, or increased your hours of work or your earnings, you may be able to continue receiving housing benefit and Council Tax Support for an additional four week period.

Extended payments are automatically calculated and issued to you if you are eligible, once you have told us of your change in circumstances. If you think you are not receiving the entitlements and should be, let us know.

What will happen if you don't tell us about changes straight away?

• we may pay you the wrong amount
• we may not be able to backdate your claim and you could lose out
• you might be overpaid and will have to pay it back

If you don't tell us about changes when they happen you may be committing benefit fraud.

The sooner you tell us, the less chance there is of you being overpaid housing benefit and Council Tax Support which you may have to pay back. You can ask us to suspend paying your claim until we reassess it, if the change is likely to reduce your housing benefit and Council Tax Support.

Information for landlords

If we pay housing benefit to you, you have a legal duty to tell us about changes that may affect the tenant’s entitlement or how we pay you.

Examples of changes you should tell us about are:

• if your tenant moves out
• if your tenant changes accommodation (including changing rooms or flats within the same building)
• if there is a change in the rent you charge them
• if somebody else moves in, and
• if your own circumstances change (for example, you change your address or bank details), if we are making the payments directly into your bank account.

You are committing a criminal offence if, deliberately or without a reasonable excuse, you do not report a change of circumstances which is included in the regulations. We don’t expect any landlord to interfere with their tenant’s affairs, only to report changes they become aware of.

Get in touch if you need to tell us about a change.

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