4. Amount of benefit
The amount of housing benefit (HB) you get depends on the maximum rent the local authority will pay and on your income compared with the amount the law says you need to live on. The amount you get may be reduced if your total income from benefits is above a certain level (see here). To work out your HB, go through the following steps.
Step 1: capital
If your capital is over £16,000, you cannot get HB unless you are over pension age and get pension credit (PC) guarantee credit (see here). Some kinds of capital are ignored. For details, see CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook.
Step 2: maximum rent
There is a maximum amount of rent the local authority is prepared to cover. This may be less than the actual amount of rent you pay - eg, if you pay service charges that are not covered by HB (see below), or if your rent for HB purposes is reduced because you have a spare bedroom (see below).
HB does not cover some items included in rent, such as charges for:
- water or sewerage;
- fuel. Either the actual charge specified in the rental agreement or a fixed rate is deducted;
- meals. If these are included in your rent, the local authority may deduct a fixed rate;
- services. Some are included (eg, cleaning communal areas, provision of a laundry room and TV signal relay, including free-to-view TV but not an individual satellite dish or set-top box) and others are not – eg, sports facilities and TV rental.
See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook for details of the deductions.
Discretionary housing payments
If your HB does not cover your full rent, you may be able to get a discretionary housing payment from your local authority. These can be paid if you get HB and need additional help with your housing costs – eg, to make up the shortfall in rent due to HB being reduced because you have a spare bedroom, or because of financial hardship. They are usually awarded for a temporary period, beyond which you have to reapply.
Step 3: deductions for non-dependants
An amount is deducted from your maximum rent if you have a non-dependant living with you.
A ‘non-dependant’ is someone, usually a friend or adult relative, who lives with you but not on a commercial basis. A deduction is made to reflect an assumed contribution from them to the household, whether or not they pay anything. There is no deduction for:1
- a full-time student during the academic year (whether or not they work);
- a full-time student during the summer vacation (but there is a deduction if they start working 16 hours or more a week, unless their student support covers the summer vacation);
- a full-time student at any time if you or your partner have reached pension age;
- a joint occupier or joint tenant;
- a resident landlord;
- a sub-tenant;
- your partner or dependent child;
- anyone under 18;
- anyone under 25 if they get universal credit (UC), provided they do not have any earned income for UC purposes;
- someone who gets a youth training allowance;
- someone who normally lives elsewhere;
- someone in hospital for more than 52 weeks or in prison;
- a live-in paid carer from a voluntary organisation;
- someone on PC.
No deductions are made for your non-dependants if you or your partner are registered blind or get the Scottish adult disability living allowance (SADLA) care component, adult disability payment (ADP) daily living component or pension age disability payment.
For anyone else, fixed deductions are made based on the non-dependant’s income. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook for details and amounts. Note: if your non-dependant is working, you should provide the local authority with evidence of their gross income. If you do not, the local authority may make the highest deduction.
If you or your partner have reached pension age and do not get UC, the deduction is not made until 26 weeks after the non-dependant moves in with you. Likewise, if their income goes up, increasing the deduction, the increased deduction does not take effect for 26 weeks.
References
- 1
Regs 3 and 74 HB Regs
Step 4: getting a means-tested benefit
If you get UC or PC, HB is the amount worked out at Step 3 – ie, your maximum rent less any amount for non-dependants. In this case, you do not need to continue with the rest of these steps.
Step 5: not getting a means-tested benefit
If you do not get UC or PC, you must compare your income with your weekly needs.
Step 6: work out your applicable amount
This is an amount for your basic weekly needs. It is made up of:
- personal allowances;
- premiums;
- a work-related activity or support component if you have limited capability for work (LCW).
It is usually possible to find out what the new rates will be from the beginning of December. Check the DWP website at gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-work-pensions for a press release on social security uprating. For the amounts, see here. The rates are weekly and are from April 2026. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook for more details.
Personal allowances
Your personal allowance is paid at the single, lone parent or couple rate depending on your situation and age. You also get a personal allowance for any dependent children.
Premiums
The following premiums may be added to your personal allowance(s), if you meet the conditions:
- a carer premium, if you are entitled to carer support payment (CSP). If you are entitled to CSP but not paid it because it overlaps with another benefit (eg, new-style ESA), you still qualify for a carer premium. You get two carer premiums if both you and your partner qualify;
- a family premium, if you already have an existing claim that includes a child. It is not included in an existing claim if you later have a child, or in new claims from 1 May 2016;
- a severe disability premium. This is for severely disabled people who live alone or who can be treated as living alone. You qualify if you get the middle or highest rate of the SADLA care component or the daily living component of ADP paid at either rate and no one gets carer’s allowance, carer support payment or the carer element of UC for looking after you. You do not get the premium if you live with another person aged 18 or over (eg, a friend or parent), unless they are separately liable for rent, you only share a bathroom or hallway, or in some other circumstances. See CPAG’s Welfare Benefits Handbook for details. If you have a partner, you do not qualify unless your partner also qualifies in their own right or is certified as severely sight impaired or blind. If you both qualify, you get two premiums;
- a disabled child premium for a child getting child disability payment;
- an enhanced disability premium for disabled adults and children getting disability benefits at certain levels;
- a disability premium if, broadly, you get certain disability benefits (eg, ADP), or you are certified as severely sight impaired or blind, and for 28 weeks after coming off the register. Note: you do not get a disability premium if you have been assessed as having LCW for new-style ESA and you (ie, not your partner) are the HB claimant.
Components
Your applicable amount may include a component instead of a disability premium if you have LCW. You may get either:
- a work-related activity component if you claimed ESA before 3 April 2017 and have LCW; or
- a support component if you have limited capability for work-related activity (see here).
Step 7: work out your weekly income
Chapter 13 explains how your loan, grant or other income is taken into account and how to work out your weekly income.
Step 8: calculate your housing benefit
If your income is less than or the same as your applicable amount, HB is the amount worked out at Step 3 – ie, your maximum rent less any amounts for non-dependants.
If your income is more than your applicable amount, work out 65 per cent of the difference. Your HB is the amount worked out at Step 3 (ie, your maximum rent less any amounts for non-dependants) minus 65 per cent of the difference between your income and applicable amount.
Example
Maria (25) is studying full time for a National Certificate in animal care. She gets ADP standard rate mobility component and HB. She is eligible for HB as a student because she can get a disability premium in her HB. Her course lasts for one year (40 weeks in total). She lives in homeless accommodation. Her rent is £185 a week. She has a bursary maintenance allowance of £5,022 per year. She works part time and earns £80 a week.
| Maximum rent | £185 |
| Applicable amount (£95.55 + £44.85 disability premium) | £140.40 |
| Income (bursary - £125.55 x 40 weeks) | £5,022 |
| Less (books and equipment) | £390.00 |
| Less (travel) | £303.00 |
| Equals | £4,329 |
| Divided by 40 weeks for weekly income | £108.23 |
| Add earnings £60 (£80 - £20 earnings disregard) | £168.23 |
| Subtract applicable amount from income (£168.23 - £140.40) | £27.83 |
| Calculate 65 per cent of the difference | £18.09 |
| Deduct from maximum rent (£185) to give weekly HB | £166.91 |
Maria can get HB of £166.91 a week during her course. She needs to pay the shortfall in her rent of £18.09 a week from her income.