Housing benefit for young people

This content applies to Scotland only.

Housing laws vary between Scotland and England. This page applies to Scotland only. Get advice relating to England

If you are between the ages of 16 and 25 and thinking about claiming housing benefit, find out more about how your age will affect your claim.

This page explains about the different types of housing benefit that are available for young people.

What type of benefit will i get?

There are 2 types of housing benefit that help people pay their rent. Tenants of the council or housing associations will receive housing benefit. However, if you rent from a private landlord then the housing benefit you will receive is called local housing allowance.

How much housing benefit will I get?

If you are receiving jobseeker's allowance or income support, and you are renting from the council or a housing association then it is likely you will receive enough benefit to cover your whole rent. If you are working you will probably have to make up the difference from your own money.

For more information check the page on how housing benefit is calculated. 

How much local housing allowance will i get?

The local housing allowance that you will receive will depend on the how many bedrooms you will need due the how many people are in your household and the area in which you live. However if you are under 25 and have no dependants then you will only receive the shared room rate(see below) for that area.

Once the housing benefit department have worked out the maximum amount of local housing allowance you could receive, they will then work out how much money you should be able to pay from any income that you have, for example, wages, welfare benefits and savings.

The amount of local housing allowance that you will get will be the difference between your maximum rent and how much the housing benefit department think you should pay towards the rent.

What is the shared room rate?

If you are single, under 25 and rent from a private landlord, you will normally only be entitled to enough housing benefit to cover the average cost of a single room in a shared house in your area. This is the case even if you have a place of your own. This rule is known as a shared room rate. It may not apply to you if you:

• are a single parent
• are living with a husband, wife, civil partner or partner (including a same sex partner)
• rent from the council or a housing association
• are under 22 and have spent time in care since the age of 16
• are severely disabled
• live with a non-dependant (someone over the age of 18 who is not your husband, wife, civil partner or partner).

If you were able to pay your own rent when you moved into your home and you have not claimed local housing allowance in the past year, the shared room rate will not be applied for the first 13 weeks if you claim local housing allowance now.

If the shared room rate is causing you financial hardship you could try to claim a discretionary housing payment.

There are no deductions made from the shared room rate for charges that would not be paid by housing benefit if you were over 25, such as charges for heating, hot water, lighting or cooking.