Advice, Benefits and Council Tax

In 2013, benefits are changing. You might have heard of this being called "Welfare Reform". These changes could affect you.

• Local Housing Allowance changes- this will affect Housing Benefit for people with private Landlords (not Housing Association tenants).

From April 2013 the following changes will affect working age people who claim Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit:. Pensioners will not be affected.

• Council Tax Reduction- a new local scheme which has replaced Council Tax Benefit.
• How many bedrooms do you have?- changes to the number of bedrooms a customer is now allowed when calculating their Housing Benefit – this has only affected Housing Association tenants.
• Benefit cap– setting a maximum amount of Benefit a household can get.
• Personal Independence Payment (PIP)– this is a new benefit to replace Disability Living Allowance, and may affect some of the benefits from the Council you already get.
• Community Care Grants and Crisis Loans - these are grants and loans for general living expenses. It was administered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) but has now been replaced with a new local scheme.