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Benefits

Find out about Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, Winter Fuel Payment and benefit fraud, as well as our benefits calculator.

For help or advice, our Benefits Team can advise on Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction.

For help with the Household Support fund, please email hsf@westberks.gov.uk. For assistance with Universal Credit (UC), please visit the GOV.UK website, or contact the UC helpline.

You can also find out about Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) on the Housing pages and other financial support on our Cost of Living pages.

5 November 2024: Essential Maintenance 

On 5 November 2024, Document Management software for Revenues and Benefits will be down for essential maintenance.

On this day, we will not be able to access information to respond to your query if it relates to documents or correspondence you have sent to, or letters issued by, the Council Tax or Benefits teams.

Please note that our main Council Tax and Benefits processing software will be unaffected, and we will therefore still be able to access records relating to Council Tax demands and registration, as well as entitlement to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction.

This disruption is only anticipated to last for one day and we are therefore expecting all services to return to normal on 6 November 2024.

 

Apply for the Household Support Fund

Information about an application form for the 2023/24 Household Support Fund.

Claim Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Reduction

How to claim a reduction in rent through Housing Benefit and/or a reduction in Council Tax through Council Tax Reduction.

Housing Benefit

  1. About Housing Benefit
  2. Housing Benefit Overpayments

Council Tax Reduction (CTR) Scheme

Find out about the Council Tax Reduction Scheme for 2023/24, including eligibility and Exceptional Hardship Fund.

Appeal a Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Reduction decision

What to do if you disagree with our decision about your entitlement to Housing Benefit and/ or Council Tax Reduction.

Calculate your Council Tax Reduction and Housing Benefit

Use our online benefits calculator to estimate how much Council Tax Reduction and/or Housing Benefit you might receive.

Ask for advice about Housing Benefit or Council Tax Reduction

Help for new or existing Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Reduction claims.

Universal Credit

An introduction to Universal Credit (paid by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)), eligibility, where to make a claim, and where to get support.

Reporting benefit fraud

How and where to report Housing Benefit or Council Tax/Council Tax Reduction fraud.

Winter Fuel Payments

Information about the Government's Winter Fuel Payments, to help those born before 25th September 1957 with heating their home in winter.

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