North Ayrshire Council

Housing Benefit helps social housing tenants, on a low income, pay all or part of their rent.

If your home is let by a local authority, registered housing association, private landlord or other registered provider you may be eligible to claim Housing Benefit.

If you rent from a private landlord visit our Local Housing Allowance page.

Please note: Housing Benefit doesn't cover the costs of:

• fuel for heating, lighting, hot water or cooking, even if these are included in the rent you pay
• water and sewerage charges
• mortgage payments
• ground rent and maintenance charges
• meals included in your rent

Can I get Housing Benefit?

To qualify you must:

•  be on a low income
•  be the person responsible for paying the rent

You can claim Housing Benefit whether you're:

• working
• unemployed
• retired
• disabled
• single
• married
• in a civil partnership (PDF, 23kb).

You can claim if you don't receive any other benefits or haven't made any National Insurance contributions.

Please note you may not be entitled to Housing Benefit if you:

• have come to live in the UK from abroad
• are a full time student
• live in residential care or a nursing home
• have savings over £16,000

How much benefit will I get?

If you're of working age, how much benefit you get depends on:

• your circumstances
• how much rent you're due to pay
• the number of bedrooms you need

Housing Benefit rules allow 1 bedroom for:

• every adult couple (married or unmarried)
• any other adult aged 16 or over
• any 2 children of the same sex under 16
• any 2 children regardless of sex under 10
• any other child
• a carer (or team of carers) who don't live with you but provide you or your partner with overnight care

This is known as the size criteria measure.

If you're of pension age, how much benefit you get depends on your circumstances and how much rent you're due to pay.

Apply

Apply for Housing Benefit

You'll need evidence to support your claim (PDF, 130kb).

For help or information, please contact us.

Please note, if you:

• are married, in a civil partnership or living with a partner, you can only make 1 claim for both of you
• live with other people, who you share the cost of the rent with you, you can claim benefit - this will only be calculated on your share of the rent
• are away from home for a period of time we may still be able to help, see the away from home rules (PDF, 249kb)

To work out Housing Benefit entitlement we look at:

• all the money you and your partner have coming in - eg earnings, benefits, tax credits, pensions
• savings (PDF, 17kb) you and your partner have
• your circumstances

Payment calendar of Housing Benefit by BACS (PDF, 92kb).

What if the amount of benefit I'm entitled to isn't enough?

If the amount of benefit you're entitled to isn't enough to pay your rent, we may offer you Discretionary Housing Payment.