You can apply for housing benefit if you need financial help to pay your rent and you:
- are of state pension age (find out more about changes that affect couples where one has reached state pension age and the other has not)
- live in supported accommodation
- live in temporary homeless accommodation arranged by the council
To see what support you might get, please use the benefits calculator - the estimate given is not guaranteed and may vary when you make a claim.
If you think you are eligible for housing benefit, please use our check tool below and apply:
Check your eligibility and apply for housing benefit
If you are not eligible for housing benefit, but still need help paying your rent, you will need to:
Apply for universal credit
In addition to help to pay your rent, you may also be eligible for council tax support, which could help to reduce how much council tax you need to pay. If you apply to us for housing benefit for help towards your rent, we will automatically assess your entitlement. If however you are not eligible for housing benefit (and have to apply for Universal Credit for example), you will need to apply separately for council tax support - find out more
Our council tax and benefits system is not available between 2am and 2.15am (Monday - Thursdays) and 2am and 4am (early Saturday mornings) to allow for daily maintenance to take place. Please do not attempt to apply between these times or you may lose your data. Please also read our full privacy notice before you make your application.
