Housing Benefit

What is Housing Benefit?

Housing benefit is a tax-free, income related benefit to help with rent payments. It does not cover garage rent, home contents insurance, water rates, or Council Tax.

The amount you get depends on your rent, the number and ages of people living in your family and any other people living in your household. It also depends on your income and any savings or investments you may have.

The Local Authority administers housing benefit and once your application has been assessed the Council's housing benefit section will write to you telling you how much you will receive.

The benefit can be paid directly to your rent account.

To claim you will need to complete an application form. To obtain a form please contact Cherwell District Council Housing Benefits team on 01295 227000. For an online benefits estimate you can use the 'Benefits Calculator'. You can also download a 'benefit claim form'.

Please contact Janice Rowan, Charter's Financial Inclusion Officer on 0845 009 2407 if you require any further advice or assistance.

Extended payments of Housing Benefit.

Extended benefit is available for an extra 4 weeks if the Jobseekers Allowance/Income Support claim ends due to the claimant starting work, increasing the number of hours you work or wages increase.

To qualify you must have been in receipt of JSA or Income Support for at least 26 weeks or more without a break. If you have started work the job is expected to last for 5 weeks or more.

Advice Clinics

As some of you may know already, Charter has a Welfare Benefit Officer, Janice Rowan whose job it is to help Charter residents to overcome any benefit problems they may be having and also to assist and offer advice with any benefit claims that you may be entitled to make or are making and this is not just restricted to Housing Benefit. Advice can also be given on Council Tax Benefit, Working and Child Tax Credits as well as Pension Credits.

In order to help any residents with benefit claims, Janice in conjunction with Citizens Advice Bureau staff will be running weekly advice clinics from the Charter Offices at George Street in Banbury (formerly the Banbury Homes offices).

These clinics will be run on a Thursday between 10.00am to 3.00pm.  There is no need to make an appointment - just drop in.  Anything you wish to discuss at these advice clinics will be treated in the strictest confidence - all you are asked to do is please bring proof of income or benefit so that Janice or the CAB staff can help.

These advice clinics will be run between July and the end of September at which point we will review how much use is being made of them and take a decision on whether to continue with them or stop them.

Janice will also be more than happy to visit you at home or discuss any benefit/financial problems that you may have over the phone. Her direct telephone number is 0845 009 2407.  You can also contact her by e-mail Janice.rowan@sanctuary-housing.co.uk.

For ease, advice clinic details are downloadable from the documents section at the top of this page.