Benefit Claim Forms - Claim Online

• To work our if you will qualify for help with your rent and/or Council Tax use our calculator below:
• Quickcalc (External Link)

Or click on the relevant link below to take you straight to the right form:

• New Claim Form - only use if you are not already receiving Housing or Council Tax Benefit.
• Report a change in your circumstances - if you are already receiving Housing or Council Tax Benefit.
• Backdate request form - we usually only pay benefit from the time you apply. However, under certain circumstances we can go back for a maximum of 6 months.
• Child Care Costs form - if you pay for childcare from a registered provider, you may be able to get more help towards your rent and/or Council Tax.
• Self Employed form - if you work for yourself you will need to provide your latest profit and loss accounts or complete this form.
• Discretionary Housing Payment form
• Appeals form
• Local Housing Allowance (rent arrears)
• Local Housing Allowance (payments to landlord)

Our forms use the latest technology to make it quick and easy for you to fill in and submit an online benefit application. Although we ask a lot of questions, we need to make sure that everyone who claims gets the right amount of benefit.

How to fill in these forms

Please note that our New Claim form uses an electronic signature and so there is no need to manually sign the declaration page. At present, the other forms require a manual signature.

Each form will guide you through your application and make sure as far as it can that it is filled in right. If you are filling it in at a Life Centre or other council office you will only be able to submit the form and you will not be able to save it or print the signature page. In this instance, please speak to a member of staff as to how to progress your claim.

You can move through the pages by using the "Next" and "back" buttons, or directly to pages using the "Select Page" button. There is also a "Help" button for more tips.

When you have filled in your form and checked it is free of errors, pressing the "Submit" button will send it to us over the internet so that we can start processing it straight away. We will need you to print and send us the declaration page (except for new claims). If you are unable to print this, let us know.

If the form you are filling in is a new claim, the pages that are after the declaration contain information that you can keep.

Any evidence you need to supply will be listed at the end of the form.

If you are using your own computer and you do not have access to a printer, there is space on the form for you to ask us to print a copy of the declaration for you to sign and return to us.

For security and to protect your personal data, if you have submitted your form from a Life Centre computer or council office, you will need to remember to log out.

All personal data is securely encrypted for your protection. To learn more about the council's authority to accept claims via the internet see below:

• Chief Executives Direction (.pdf, 29kb)
• Summary (.pdf, 9kb)

 If you need help with your claim we can help you at these locations:

• Is there an advisor near you?

Contact Details