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Backdating Housing and Council Tax Benefit

Can you backdate my Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit?

I am 60 or over. When will my benefit start?

If you, or your partner, are over 60 and qualify for Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit (or both) we can backdate your benefit up to 52 weeks before the date you made your claim (as long as you were entitled to benefit for that period).

If you are 60 or over and you are entitled to benefit from a date before you claimed, we will give you your benefit automatically. We do not need to know why you did not claim sooner to backdate your benefit.

For us to work out how much benefit you will be entitled to, you will need to give us proof of your income, savings and rent for the period you want to claim. Please contact us if you think your claim should start from an earlier date.

I am under 60. When will my benefit start?

If you qualify for Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit (or both),we will normally pay your benefit from the Monday after you asked us for an application form (as long as you return the application form within one calendar month of contacting us).

Sometimes we can pay benefit for a period before the date you claimed. This is called backdating. The law says we can backdate your benefit for up to 52 weeks. However, you must have a good reason why your claim is late. This is known as 'good cause'.

What is considered to be 'good cause'?

We will look at each case individually. 'Good cause' is a reason that prevented you from claiming benefit earlier. Good causes may include the following, depending on the circumstances.

- You were ill and no-one else could claim for you.

- You were waiting for a decision about another benefit

- You were given the wrong advice by an official organisation who said you were not entitled to Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit (or both).

- You did not understand that you could claim, perhaps because:

• Of your age;
• You did not know how benefits work;
• You have language difficulties;
• You have difficulty understanding technical documents; or
• Some other reason

- You did not claim immediately after leaving hospital, prison or long term care.

- You were not able to manage your own affairs and had no-one to help you.

- A close relative died.

These examples are only a guide to help you. They are not a full list of possible reasons. If you forgot to claim, or did not know you could claim, this would not be a good reason on its own. To qualify for backdated benefit, you must be able to prove you had 'good cause' and why you did not claim earlier.

Here are some examples

You were ill from January to March and only claimed benefit in March when you were better. You did not claim before because you had no-one to help you. In this case we may backdate your benefit to January.

However, if you were ill from January to March and had no-one to help you make a claim, but you did not claim until May, we would not backdate benefit to January because you were not ill from January until May.

How do I claim backdated benefit?

If you think you have good cause for making a late claim, you should tell us in writing straight away. You must tell us the period you want to backdate your benefit for and tell us why your claim is late. We will need to see proof of your income, savings and rent payments for the period you want to backdate your benefit for and any proof to support your reasons (for example, medical certificates or hospital letters).

What happens then?

We will decide if we can backdate your benefit based on the information you give us. We will write to you and tell you our decision. If we decide not to backdate your benefit, we will tell you why.

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Other pages you may find useful

• Council tax - annual notification (PID 57)