Benefits

Shropshire Council's Benefits Service may be able to help you pay your rent and Council Tax if you have a low income. You may have a low income because you:

• claim benefits
• are a pensioner
• have a low wage

The three types of Benefit we can offer are:

Housing Benefit

This benefit can help you pay your rent, whether you pay it to a private landlord or landlady, to a company (including Housing Associations) or to Shropshire Council. Housing Benefit does not help with the cost of buying your home, for example, mortgage payments, or with day-to-day living expenses such as gas and electricity bills.
If you are entitled to Housing Benefit, we will pay you as follows:

If you are a Council Tenant we will pay your Housing Benefit straight into your rent account.

If you pay your rent to a private landlord (not an Housing Association), we can pay your Benefit

• to you by cheque
• to you by Direct Payment into your bank or building society account
• We can only pay your Housing Benefit to your landlord under exceptional circumstances, as detailed within our Safeguard Procedure. For more information on our Safeguard Procedure, follow the link at the bottom of the Local Housing Allowance - Claimant information page or the bottom of the Local Housing Allowance - Landlord information page.

If you pay your rent to a Housing Association, you can choose to have your Housing Benefit paid:

• to you or your landlord by cheque
• to you or your landlord by Direct Payment into your or your landlord’s bank or building society account

Council Tax Benefit

This benefit can help you with your Council Tax payments to Shropshire Council. Any Council Tax Benefit you get will be paid directly to your Council Tax account. You will then be sent a new bill which will confirm the new amount of Council Tax you should pay. If you do not have any Council Tax to pay after your benefit has been used to reduce your account, your new bill will show this.

Second Adult Rebate

This benefit can also help you pay your Council Tax to Shropshire Council.
You can only get it if you are single (single, separated, divorced, widowed) and have other adults resident with you.
You cannot get this Benefit if you have a partner (including a civil partner) unless they are disregarded for Council Tax purposes. In order to get Second Adult Rebate, the other adults living in your home must have a low income.
Any Second Adult Rebate you get will be paid directly to your Council Tax account and you will be sent a new bill showing the reduced amount of Council Tax you must pay. For more information on Second Adult Rebate, please follow the link on this page.

Effect on other Benefits

Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit and Second Adult Rebate will not affect your entitlement to any other Benefits you may be claiming.

Please note:

If you claim another benefit and you have a change of circumstances that will affect both that benefit and your Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit or Second Adult Rebate, you must tell:

• the department dealing with that benefit

and

• Shropshire Council about the change

For information on how to claim these benefits, please follow the link on ‘How to make a claim’ on this page.

For other related benefits pages, please follow the links on this page.

Please follow the link on this page to find out how to contact the Benefits Service.

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