2. When your claim will start?
Your Housing Benefit claim will normally start from the Monday following the date that you first contacted us.
Backdating
Benefit can't normally be backdated, so it's important that you complete an application online as soon as possible.
If you think you should have claimed from an earlier date, you'll need to ask us to backdate your claim. You'll need to give a good reason why your claim is late. This is known as 'good cause' and must be continuous for the period you want benefit backdated.
- Each backdating claim is considered on individual circumstances.
- We'll consider other things which may have affected your ability to claim such as your age, health and other circumstances.
- Benefit can only be backdated for up to one month unless you are of pension age, in which case we may backdate up to three months.
Not knowing you could claim Housing Benefit is not normally considered to be "good cause".
We will write and tell you the outcome of your backdate request.