Date from which housing benefit is awarded
When housing benefit will be awarded from.
Date of claim: general rule
As a general rule housing benefit is awarded from the Monday following the 'date of claim'.[1] For example, if the date of claim is a Tuesday, housing benefit is awarded from the following Monday. However, there are two important exceptions to this rule, the 'Week One Yes' rule and when tenant has a daily rental liability - both are explained below.
Date of claim: working age claimants
A claim for housing benefit is generally treated as being made on the:[2]
day that the local authority receives the form, or
day the claimant requested the form (by telephone, for example), so long as s/he then returns it within one month, or
date a partner died or left her/his home, so long as the claimant's form is received within one month of that event, or
first day of the claimant's entitlement to income-based jobseeker's allowance, income support, universal credit or pension credit.
Date of claim: pensionable age
The date of claim for housing benefit for a claimant of pensionable age is three months before the claim is made, although it can only go back to when the claimant (or partner) became of pensionable age, and to when the claimant became liable for rent.[3] Although, if the claimant is awarded state pension credit (guarantee credit) (SPC), and the housing benefit claim is made within one month of the claim for SPC, the date of claim is the date s/he was awarded guarantee credit (which is up to three months before the claimant contacts the Pension, Disability and Carers Service to make a SPC claim).[4]
The age at which a claimant, whether male or female, ceases to be a housing benefit claimant of working age increases in line with the state pension age for women,[5] and the state pension age for women increases from 60 to 65 in the period up to April 2018, thereafter both men and women's state pension age will increase from 65 to 66 by October 2020.[6] The state pension calculator on Gov.uk can be used to calculate a claimant's pension age.
'Week One Yes' rule
The first exception (also known as the 'Week One Yes' rule) works as follows.[7] If the date of claim falls in the same week (Monday to Sunday) that the claimant's liability for rent begins - and the claimant moves in during that week - then her/his benefit week begins on the Monday of the week in which the rent liability arises. However, housing benefit will be calculated on a daily basis within that week, starting from the first date of actual occupation of the property.[8] For example, if the claimant becomes liable for rent on a Monday and moves in and claims benefit on the Wednesday of the same week, then housing benefit is awarded from the Wednesday and calculated on a daily basis for the rest of that week.
Daily rent liability
The second exception applies to all tenancies with a daily rent liability, including hostels and certain other accommodation provided by a local authority under its statutory duties to the homeless.[9]Where a person is living in such accommodation, her/his housing benefit entitlement can begin from the day on which s/he moved in, even if her/his claim is not made in that week. For example, this would enable a person moving in over a weekend - and who is therefore unable to make her/his claim in the same week - to receive housing benefit for her/his entire stay.
Last updated: 27 January 2020