Make a new claim

If you are on a low income and need help to pay your rent, in most cases you will now need to apply for Universal Credit from the Department for Work & Pensions.

However, if you need to claim:

  • Housing Benefit
  • Council Tax Support
  • Second Adult Rebate

Then you can use the form below to apply to us:

If you are self-employed you will also need to complete an earnings declaration:

The following guide will help you complete your earnings declaration:

If you do not have access to a printer please call us and we will post a form to you.

We will probably need some additional evidence to support your claim, which is all detailed in the form.

We are only able to accept original documents (not photocopies). If you bring documents in to our offices we will photocopy them immediately and give them back to you. If you send documents by post, we will photocopy them and return them to you the same day. You can bring documents in to The Shoreham Centre or Portland House.

There is a checklist in the claim form to ensure you're provided everything we need. It's really important to check this, to prevent any delays in processing your claim.

If we do not receive all the proof we need to process your claim within one month we will have to cancel it.

Restarting a claim

If you have made a claim in the last 26 weeks which you wish to restart, you can save time by completing a Rapid Reclaim form, rather than starting again.

You can only do this if:

  • you have previously been awarded Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Support because you receive Income Support or Job Seeker's Allowance, and
  • you cancelled your claim because you started some short-term work, and
  • you are now re-claiming Income Support or Job Seeker's Allowance, and
  • also want to reclaim Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Support, and
  • the rest of your circumstances are the same as when you last claimed

If more than 26 weeks have passed or your circumstances have changed, you will need to start a new claim.

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Page last updated: 27 October 2022

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