NFDC HOUSING COUNCIL TAX Claim form CL1_notes

A guide to making your claim for
Housing Benefit
Council Tax Benefit
These notes tell you
how to fill in the claim form (form CL1).
If you or your partner are working, you will also need to fill in form CL4.
If you are a private tenant you will also need to fill in form CL2.
what sort of evidence we need from you – without all the information
we cannot pay you benefit! This is usually original documents, as we
do not accept photocopies, and includes things such as pay slips,
bank statements, pension pay slips and tenancy agreements.
what happens after we receive your claim form
what changes you need to tell us about
If you do not understand the form, need help to fill it in, or want to tell
us about a change in your circumstances, please call us on 01590
646121.
If you are making a new claim, to speed up the time it takes us to
deal with your claim we can do a “New Claim interview”. If you
telephone our office on 01590 646122 we will tell you what
information to bring and arrange an appointment for you to see a
member of staff. Provided we have all the information we will try to
do your claim within 2 days.
If you prefer to bring your documents to us in person rather than
sending them in the post, you can visit one of our local offices. See
inside for addresses and opening times.
There are severe penalties for not telling us about changes and for giving wrong
information. Please keep safely any letters we send you about your benefit.
Benguide 2/12

1 About your claim
'What date did you move in?’
If you have not yet moved in, please say so. You
need to tell us in writing as soon as you have
moved in.
'What are you claiming help with?'
- Council Tax bill: Tick the box if you (or your
partner) are responsible for paying the Council Tax.
If anyone else is also liable to pay the council tax,
use the space on the back of the form to tell us
their names.
- Rent - Council home: If you rent from the
Council, tick this box.
- Rent - Housing Association: Remember you
must fill in form HA Rent as well.
- Rent - Private Landlord: Remember you must fill
in form CL2 as well.
'Evidence of identity' (ID)
For new claims we have to see two forms of ID for
you (and your partner if you have one), from the list
below - we cannot accept photocopies.
Bank statements - in your name and recent
Birth certificate issued when birth registered.
Driving licence.
Letter from a solicitor, social worker, probation
officer, or HMRC.
Insurance policies.
Marriage certificate issued on the wedding day
National Insurance Number card or Medical card
Passport.
Utility bill - in your name and recent
Wage slips from current employer.
If you cannot provide evidence of your ID from the
above list please contact our office.
2 About you and your partner
'You and your partner’
If you are a couple, decide who you want to be the
'Claimant'. If you have made a claim before with
our office please keep your claim in the same
name. We can decide differently if we see fit. A
couple is two people who are married to each other
or two people of the opposite or same sex who are
living together as if they were married.
'National Insurance Number'
We must have evidence of your National Insurance
Number (and, if you have a partner, your partner’s).
'Are you (or your partner) working full time’ (on
average, 16 hours a week or more) ‘or part time’
(on average less than 16 hours a week). You also
need to fill in form CL4, giving details of your
earnings and provide pay slips.
If you are getting Income Support or Jobseekers
Allowance you must tell them straight away if you
or your partner are working.
'Are you in legal custody?’
If you are, you will have to tell us the length of your
sentence and when you expect to be released.
'Are you (or your partner) a student?'
'student' means a person, who is attending a
course of study at an educational establishment. If
you say 'yes', we will write to you for more
information. Please enclose the Grant Award
notification.
'Have you come to live in the UK within the last
five years?'
If this applies to you or your partner, we may need
to ask you for more information.
3 About dependant children
Put down the details of any child or young person
aged up to 20 years old you are responsible for and
who normally lives with you. Usually, this is
someone you get Child Benefit for.
Sometimes a child or young person spends time in
more than one household. In this case, please
contact us for more information.
The form provides space for up to four children. If
you have more than this, please tell us in the space
on the back page of the form.
4 About other people who live with
you
Put down on the form details of everyone else who
lives in your home that you have not already put on
the form. For example, this may be a grown-up
son or daughter, a friend, or a relative. All the
details we ask for about others in your home are
important and might affect the amount of benefit
you get.
'Relationship to you or your partner'
This might be your mother, father, an adult son or
daughter, a relative or a friend. Or it might be a
Lodger or a Boarder (that is, someone who pays
you rent to live in your home).
'Do they work more than 16 hours a week?'
We need to know their gross income because it
may affect the amount of benefit you get. If you do
not say, or do not provide this information, you may
get a lower amount of benefit.
If you have a lodger or boarder (where rent
includes meals) we may not need to know their
income. Tell us in Section 10 of the form how
much they pay you.
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‘Evidence of their income and earnings’
We only need to see evidence of their income or
earnings if it is less than £394 per week (before
deductions). If working, we need to see payslips
for the last 5 weeks, 3 fortnights or 2 months.
If they are receiving any state benefits, we will need
to see a recent benefit entitlement letter or a recent
bank statement showing the amount.
5 About money, savings, investments
and property
We ask about any money you have such as
savings, shares and property, other than the home
you live in, and we call this 'capital'. If you have
capital of more than £16,000 you may not be able
to get benefit.
If you have more than £6,000 (£10,000 if you are of
pensionable age) you should tell us if there is a
particular reason why you think we should not
count all of it for a period of time. This might be, for
example, because you are about to buy another
home to live in.
If you are on Income Support, Jobseekers
Allowance (Income Based) or Employment and
Support Allowance (Income Related) you do not
have to provide evidence, provided that you have
told them.
You must tell us everything and write in the
amounts. Tick “No” in all the boxes that do not
apply.
Evidence
You must provide evidence of all your capital. You
will need to provide original documents (we cannot
accept photocopies), including.
Bank, Building Society and Post Office
statements or up-to-date pass books for the last
two months if you are making a new claim –
even if the accounts are overdrawn. If you do
not have the statements, tell us when your next
statement is due and send it to us as soon as
you receive it. We can accept print-outs from
cash-machines whilst you are awaiting
statements.
A letter on headed paper from your bank or
building society showing
- the account numbers.
- account balances for each account.
-the dates of recent transactions
- information on regular credits you get.
Original documents showing proof of ownership,
for example, dividend statements detailing
bonds, unit trusts, stocks and shares.
If there are regular or large transactions into the
account which are not easily identifiable, please
explain what these amounts are.
6 About Pensions
Write down how much you (and your partner) are
entitled to (this may be different to the amount you
actually get), and to say how often it is paid.
Evidence
For each pension, you need to provide one of the
following:
an award notification showing the amount of
State Pension and/or Pension Credit you get.
letter from the pension provider, showing the
current rate of pension.
current bank statements showing the payment
of the pension.
If you and your partner get more than one pension
or annuity, you must tell us about all of them.
‘War Disablement Pensions’ and ‘War Widows
Pensions’
We need to see evidence of how the pension is
made up. The pensions office should have
provided you with a letter showing this. If you are
unable to provide this, we will need to get in touch
with the pensions office and this may take us some
time to get a reply.
‘Increases in pensions’
You must always tell us when you get an increase
in a pension. On the claim form, we ask you to tell
us when your pension is due to go up. We have to
review your benefit from the date of the increase
and we may write to you nearer the time – however
it is your responsibility to tell us about any changes.
7 About State Benefits - due to
sickness, injury or disablement
Evidence
In all cases, we need to see evidence of the
amount you are entitled to (this may be different to
the amount you actually get). For each benefit, you
need to provide one of the following:
an award notification or letter, showing the
current rate of benefit.
Post Office statements showing the amount of
the last benefit payment received.
current bank statements showing the payment
of the benefit.
8 About other State Benefits and Tax
Credits
We ask you to put down how much you (and your
partner) get, and to say how often it is paid
Evidence
In all cases, we need to see evidence of the
amount you are entitled to (this may be different to
the amount you actually get). For each benefit, you
need to provide one of the following:
an award notification or letter, showing the
current rate of benefit
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Current Post Office statements showing the
amount of the last benefit payment received.
current bank statements showing the payment
of the benefit.
Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit
Her Majesty’s Revenues and Customs deal with
claims for Working Tax Credit (WTC) and Child Tax
Credit (CTC). Put down the amount of any
WTC/CTC you get and say if this is a weekly or
four weekly amount. We may need to see the
original award notification showing the current rate
of WTC/CTC.
9 State Benefits and Tax Credits
We need to know if you are waiting to hear about a
claim for a State benefit and/or Tax Credits. As
soon as you find out the result of your claim, you
must tell the Council straight away as it might affect
the amount of benefit we are awarding you.
10 About income
Money from employment
If you or your partner are working you will need to
fill in form CL4 and provide payslips.
We need to know if you are paying for child care, or
making a parental contribution to a son or
daughter’s student maintenance grant, as you may
get extra benefit.
‘Maintenance you receive (other than for a
child)’
You will need to provide original documents to us
from the following list:
the Court Order,
a letter of agreement from the person paying the
maintenance,
recent bank statements showing the amounts
you are receiving.
It should be clearly shown that the payment is not
for a child.
‘Maintenance for a child’
Although we disregard this, you will need to provide
original documents to us from the following list:
the Court order or a recent Child Support
Agency letter notifying the amount payable,
a letter from the person paying the
maintenance,
recent bank statements showing the amounts
you are receiving.
We may need to ask you more questions. Please
provide whatever supporting documentation you
can in advance.
‘Money you get from Boarder or Lodgers’
Please ask your Boarder or Lodger to sign a letter
stating the amount they pay, how often and what
the amount includes.
‘Charitable or Voluntary Payments Other money
you get’
It may not be easy to get evidence of this so please
provide whatever you are able to. We may need to
discuss this further with you.
11 Anything else you need to tell us
Use the space on the form to give us any extra
information or to explain something about your
claim. Use a separate piece of paper if you need to.
If you know of any future changes in your
circumstances please tell us. This will help to avoid
any overpayments of benefit which you will have to
pay back.
12 About when your benefit starts
New claim
If this is a new claim, benefit will normally start on
the Monday after we receive the form in the
benefits office. Sometimes we can award benefit
from an earlier date if you have good cause for not
claiming earlier. If you want us to consider
awarding you benefit from an earlier date, you will
need to tell us, in writing, when you want your
benefit to start from and your reasons for not
claiming earlier.
To speed up the time it takes to work out your
benefit you can ‘phone our New Claims Team on
01590 646121 and make an appointment for an
interview at the Town Hall, Lymington. You will be
told what you need to bring. Provided you bring all
the documents we need we will aim to work out
your benefit within 2 days.
Claim after finishing Income Support or
Jobseekers Allowance
As long as we get your claim within one month of
the date you stopped being entitled to either of
these benefits, there will be no break in your claim.
If you have told us about a change of
circumstances and we have asked you to fill in
another claim form because of that, benefit will
normally change from the time that the change
happened.
‘Money from renting out a property’
You will need to provide original documents to us
from the following list:
your copy of the lease or tenancy agreement
recent bank statements showing the amounts
you are receiving.
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Before you send your
claim form to us
Please make sure you have filled in all
the sections on the form and signed the
declaration at the end.
Where we ask about income, be aware
that if you leave spaces blank we will
take this to mean you are declaring that
you have no income of that kind.
At Section 5 of the form (about money,
savings, investments and property)
please make sure you have put a tick in
all the boxes.
Any documents you provide as
evidence must be originals as we
cannot accept photocopies.
Do not delay sending in the form, even if
you cannot provide any of the evidence we
need. But make sure you have said why you
cannot, and when you expect to be able to do
so.
It is your responsibility to make sure we
receive your form. If we do not receive it, or
receive it late, you may lose benefit unless
you can show that there was a good reason.
Make sure you have given us all the
evidence we ask for in this guide (or
said why you cannot, and when you
expect to be able to do so).
Make sure you have also filled in form
CL4 if you (or your partner) are working.
Make sure you have filled in form CL2
with details of your rent, if you are a
private tenant.
Remember - you need to have properly filled
in the claim form and provide all the evidence
we ask for before we can work out how much
benefit you will get.
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What happens after we
receive your form
First, we will check to make sure you have
sent us all the evidence we need (original
documents).
We realise that any documents you send to us
are important to you and will send everything
back to you as quickly as we can.
If you have not sent us everything we need,
we will write to you (or telephone you) to ask
you for what we need. We will try to do this
within 5 days of receiving your claim form.
If anything changes after
sending in your claim
form
You must tell us straight away. You can
‘phone us on 01590 646121 to tell us, but
we will also need you to tell us in writing.
We will also need to see evidence of any of
the changes that happen.
These are examples of the kinds of things that
you must tell us about:
When we have all the information we need, we
will work out your benefit. We deal with most
benefit claims within 14 days of receiving all
the necessary information.
If you do not hear from us within 7 days of
sending your claim form to us, we advise
you get in touch with us to find out why.
Something may have gone wrong.
When we have worked out your benefit, we
will send a notice telling you how we worked it
out and how much you get. We advise you to
look at all the figures to make sure there
are no mistakes. You may not be getting
enough. And if we pay you too much benefit,
you could end up having to pay it back later. If
you think it is wrong, tell us why and ask us to
look at it again.
If you or your partner start or stop work
If you or your partner stop getting
Income Support, Employment and
Support Allowance or Jobseekers
Allowance (or any other state benefit)
If the amount of money you or your
partner has coming in changes
If you or your partner start getting
Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit or
Pension Credit, or the amount you get
changes
If the amount of your savings changes
– especially if they are more than
£16,000
If you or your partner stop getting Child
Benefit for a child (for whatever reason)
If someone else comes to live with you
in your home. We will need to know
their name, date of birth and income
If someone no longer lives with you in
your home
If someone living in your home who is
not your partner or a dependent child
(we call them a “non-dependent”) gets
a job or their income changes
If you move
If your rent changes
If you delay in telling us about a change
that means you get less benefit you will
have to pay this back.
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How we collect and use information
The Council will use the information collected, on the claim form and from supporting evidence, to
process your housing benefit and council tax benefit claims. The Council may pass this information to
the Department for Work and Pensions, Employment Service and Her Majesties Revenues and
Customs as permitted by law.
We may check information provided by you, or information provided about you by a third party, with
other information held by us. We may also get information from certain third parties, or give information
to them to check the accuracy of information, to prevent or detect crime, or to protect public funds in
other ways, as permitted by law. These third parties include Government departments and local
authorities.
We will not disclose information about you to anyone outside New Forest District Council nor use
information about you for other purposes unless the law permits us to.
How was our service to you?
We always aim to provide a good quality service. If you would like to comment on our service you can
do this by:
e-mailing us at benefits@nfdc.gov.uk, or
writing to us at Housing Benefits, Town Hall, Avenue Road, Lymington, Hants, SO41 9ZG, or
contact us by telephone on 01590 646121
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At these offices you can bring all your evidence documents (such as your
identification). A member of staff will take the details whilst you wait and give your
documents back to you.
Lymington
Town Hall
Avenue Road
Lymington
SO41 9ZG
023 8028 5000
If you need to, you can see a
Benefits Officer here.
8.45am to 5.15pm (4.45pm on
Fridays)
Hythe
The Grove
St Johns Street
Hythe
SO45 6BZ
023 8087 9767
8.45am to 4.30pm (Monday to
Friday)
Fordingbridge
School House
Provost Street
Fordingbridge
SP6 1AY
01425 656090
Monday 8.45am to 4.30pm
Tuesday CLOSED
Wednesday 8.45am to 4.30pm
Thursday 8.45am to 4.30pm
Friday 8.45am to 4.30pm
Lyndhurst
Appletree Court
Lyndhurst
SO43 7PA
023 8028 5000
8.45am to 5.15pm (4.45pm on
Fridays)
New Milton
Town Hall
Ashley Road
New Milton
BH25 6BZ
01425 611971
8.45am to 4.30pm (Monday to
Friday)
Ringwood
Public Offices
Christchurch Road
Ringwood
BH24 1DH
01425 472212
8.45am to 4.30pm (Monday to
Friday)
Totton
Civic Centre
Library Road
Totton
SO40 3AP
023 8086 3138
9.00am to 4.30pm (Monday to
Friday)
Fawley
Jubilee Hall
Fawley
SO45 1DF
023 80891640
9.00am to 5.00pm (Monday to
Friday)
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