Understanding your benefit award letter
How Much will you be Paid?
The benefit notification letter will tell you:
- When your benefit starts
- How much it is
- How it has been worked out
There may also be descriptions on your award letter that you do
not understand, these items will be the name of the figures used in
your benefit calculation. To help you understand what these
are we have provided the following descriptions below.
Applicable Amount
This is the amount of money the Government says someone in your
current circumstances needs to live on. If you get less than this
amount you may also qualify for other welfare benefits. If
you think this is the case you can either speak to one over our
advisors or take a look at the
DirectGov website.
Income Disregards
Depending on the type of income or benefits you are getting,
some of the money can be ignored when your benefit is worked out.
This figure is shown separately as an Income Disregard.
Excess income
If you income is more that than which the government determines
you need to live on is more, then the difference is known as excess
income. If you have excess income then your are expected to
use this to contribute to your council tax and any rental
costs.
Tariff Income from Capital
This is calculated as follows:-
If you are under 60 years of age the first £6,000 of your capital
will be disregarded. For each £250.00 (or part of) above this
figure, we must add £1.00 to your weekly income.
If you are over 60 years of age the first £10,000 of your capital
will be disregarded. For each £500.00 (or part of) above this
figure, we must add £1.00 to your weekly income.
Non Dependant Deductions
These are deductions made from the amount of benefit payable to
you. This will be because you have another adult living in the
property who is not your partner, such as a grown up child (aged 18
and over). The deduction amount is based on their gross income and
will vary based on how much this income is. If we do not know what
there income is then we will have to make a maximum deduction so it
is important to provide us with this information.
Appeals
You have the right to ask for your claim to be looked at again.
If you disagree with the decision made or any of the figures we
have used in your benefit calculation, you must put this in writing
and make sure it reaches us within one month of the date on the top
of your benefit letter.
What if I don’t get enough benefit?
Discretionary Housing
Payments are additional payments made by the Council to help
people with their rent and Council Tax. These payments are separate
to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit and are allocated from a
set budget. This means that any award payable to you for a
short period only.
To be considered for a Discretionary Housing Payment you must
already be in receipt of the benefit which you need ‘topping up’,
we cannot award you a discretionary payment towards your rent if
you do not already get Housing Benefit.
In order to make a claim for a discretionary housing payment you
will be asked to complete a financial statement that will ask about
all of your income and outgoings.
We hope the above information will help you to understand your
benefit award letter but if there is something you do not
understand please do not hesitate to contact us so that we can
discuss this with you.
