If you receive Universal Credit
If you receive Universal Credit you must notify the Department for Work and Pensions of any changes in your circumstances through your online UC journal.
If you receive Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Reduction
If you receive Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Reduction you must notify us of any changes in your circumstances as soon as they happen to avoid any under or overpayments.
To tell us about a change in your circumstances, use the online form.
Benefits: report a change of circumstances
The types of changes you need to report are:
- a change in you or your partner's income, capital or savings
- you have another child or any of your children leave school or home
- a change in the number of people in your household or their income
- your rent changes – private tenants only
- you, or anyone living with you, becomes a student, goes into hospital or a nursing home, goes into prison or starts, leaves or changes job
- you receive any decision from the Home Office
- you change address or expect to be absent from your home for more than 13 weeks
- any joint tenants, or a member of a join tenants household (ie child or non-dependant) moves in or out
- child benefit ends for a child in your household
Note – a non-dependant is defined as someone who normally lives with the housing benefit claimant, such as an adult son/daughter, a relative, a friend or a child over the age of 16 (or 19 if in full-time education).
The specific types of changes relating to the above that may apply to you or any member of your household include:
Earned income
- change in hourly rate
- change in contracted hours
- periods of overtime
- a change in employer
Self-employed earnings
- on receipt of annual accounts
- changes to the nature of the business ie reduction/increase in number of staff unable to work due to illness etc
Students
- income changes at the start/end of course ie student grant/bursary ends and now working or claiming state benefits
Superannuation/private pension
- annual increases to your pension payments
- a change to your tax code that results in a change to your pension payment
Note: changes to your State Retirement Pension do not need to be notified.
Capital
- when your capital goes above £16,000
- when your capital goes above £6000, if you’re of working age or £10,000 if you’re of pension age
Failure to report your changes on time may result in:
- your payments being stopped temporarily
- loss of benefit entitlement
- being overpaid benefit which you may then need to pay back at a later date
To find out about Housing Benefit overpayments visit Paying back Housing Benefit overpayments.