Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction

Backdated claims

For Housing Benefit the decision can be backdated for a maximum of 3 months for people of pension age and up to 1 month for working age customers.

For Council Tax Reduction the decision can be backdated for a maximum of 3 months for people of pension age and up to 6 months for working age customers.

If you have a good reason for not claiming in time then you may ask for the claim to be backdated. A claim can only be backdated if you can demonstrate a good reason for failing to claim earlier. You also need to show that this reason affected the entire period you are asking for your claim to be backdated.

If you are making a new claim, you do not need to make a separate claim for backdated payments. If you no longer qualify for this benefit, but have done in the past, please contact us.