How your circumstances affect Housing Benefit

The amount of Housing Benefit you get depends on your circumstances. Housing Benefit is to help you pay your rent if you have a low income. The amount of help you get depends partly on how much income and savings you have. This is why we ask you so many detailed questions about your income and savings. It's also why we ask you to provide evidence of what you tell us about your income and savings.

If your circumstances change you should tell us immediately.

Adults (non-dependants) who live with you may affect your benefits

Someone over 18 who lives with you may affect how much Housing Benefit you get because they are expected to pay towards housing costs. They can be:

• Relatives
• Friends
• Children who have left school or college and who you no longer get Child Benefit for

They are called non-dependents. We take set amounts off your benefit for them based on their income. Even if your non-dependent doesn't give you anything for housing costs, or you don't want to take anything, the law says that we still have to take the set amounts off your benefit. There are some exceptions when we don't take any deductions for non-dependents.