Backdating of Benefit

If there has been a reason which stopped or delayed you applying for Housing or Council Tax Reduction you can ask for your claim to be ‘backdated’ so that it starts from an earlier date.

Under Housing Benefit law your claim for benefit must be made in writing. Normally we will start your claim form the Monday after we receive your application form. It is therefore very important that you can get your application form to us as soon as possible because it affects the date your benefit claim will start from.  

The Rules of Backdating Benefit

People Pension Age: If you or your partner are Pension age, we can backdate your benefit for up to 3 months.

People Under Pension Age : If you and your partner are both under Pension Age, we can backdate your housing benefit for up to 1 month, and your council tax reduction for up to 6 months, but only if there was a good reason why you could not make the claim earlier. There must have been continuous good reason why you did not claim throughout the whole period you want your claim backdated for.

If you want us to consider backdating your claim you can indicate this as part of your application or write to us.  We will need to know your name, address, claim reference and the date you want your claim to start from, as well as the reason you were late in applying for benefit.