Housing Benefits & Council Tax Benefit
If you wish to claim help with your rent or council tax you may be able to claim housing benefit or council tax benefit. You do not have to be receiving any other benefits, just be on a low income or low wage. You may be able to claim help if other people live with you who are on a low income, this is known as second adult rebate.
Please get in touch with us in order to claim or alternatively download the Housing and Council Tax Benefit claim form (PDF, 199KB) to help you complete the application form please use the 'help notes' (PDF, 117KB).
We also have an online calculator so you can see how much housing benefit or council tax benefit you may get.
If you pay rent to a private landlord you can check how much rent may be met by housing benefit and what size accommodation your household needs by using our local housing allowance calculator (MS Excel, 4.8MB).
Already getting housing benefit and council tax benefit?
Don’t forget to tell us about any changes in your circumstances (PDF, 195KB) or those of any other people who live with you. You can use our online form.
Delamere House Customer Service Centre Refurbishment
Delamere House
CSC
and reception is being refurbished and will be closed from 15th January until mid April 2010, to enable essential work to be carried out and to remodel the centre.
The Customer Service Centre will be closed from 3pm and Delamere House reception from 4pm on Friday 15th January 2010.
The refurbishment will create a great new multi-purpose centre for customers, who will benefit from a new layout and more convenient queuing system.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
For benefit and Council Tax enquiries, customers can use the following Customer Service Centres:
- Crewe Customer Services Centre Access Shop, 19 Earle Street, Crewe, CW1 2BJ (Revenues & Benefit enquiries appointments only, telephone - 01270 537189)
- Crewe Planning Customer Service Centre, Municipal Buildings, Earle Street, Crewe, CW1 2BJ
How to pay Council Tax bills/ Parking fines:-
- By Post to Cheshire East News, Municipal Buildings, Earle Street, Crewe, CW1 2BJ
- Pay online
- Council Tax bills can also be paid at your local post office
- At Nantwich Customer Service Point, Civic Hall, Market Street, Nantwich
- Or call our payment line on 0300 123 5039
- Lyceum Theatre
Cold Weather Payments
During this very cold weather the Department for Works and Pensions are committed to helping vulnerable customers to heat their homes. Therefore they are continuing Cold Weather Payments, which provide £25 towards eligible customers’ heating costs during each seven-day period of very cold weather. There is no need to claim this money, eligible customers are paid automatically. (This payment is over and above Winter Fuel Payments made to those over 60.)
For further information about this scheme and to use the post code search to confirm if you area is eligible for these payments please visit the Directgov website. Or to view frequently asked questions about this scheme please view the FAQ Cold Weather Payments Fact Sheet (PDF, 53KB).
Latest information
The Benefit Take-up Team at Cheshire East Borough Council are committed to ensuring that our residents receive the benefits to which they are entitled.
- By encouraging take up, the benefits service can improve the financial position of residents and reducing unnecessary stress for vulnerable members of the community.
- The take up of benefits helps to improves the local economy and eases the pressure on services dealing with long term poverty.
There are many reasons why people do not claim the benefits to which they are entitled. The barriers to claiming include:
- Lack of knowledge
- Stigma associated with claiming
- Bad experiences in the past when dealing with benefit claims
- Believing it is a complicated process
- Lack of personal contact during the claims operation
We will seek to encourage all customers to claim benefits they are entitled to. However, there is recognition that certain groups may need specific focus and expertise. These may include;
- The elderly
- Owner-occupiers
- Disabled groups
- Lone parents
- Working families on low income
We will be holding events across the Borough in the coming weeks that will give information about the Benefits that are available.
In and Out of Work Project
A new process called ‘The In and Out of work Project’ has been introduced at the Job Centre Plus from 14.12.09. This process aims to make it easier for certain customers to claim in and out of work benefits without the need of reporting the same information to many departments.
Research has shown that the new process enables quicker benefit payments, avoids duplication for the customer and increases the customer’s confidence which in turn can encourage people back into work.
More information on the In and Out of Work Project can be found on the Directgov website.
What this means for you
If you currently claim Income Support and are a lone parent who is required to attend a work focused interview or you claim Job Seekers Allowance and you are returning or have returned to work, contact the Job Centre Plus on 01625 603861. They will be able to accept all of the relevant information required and aid you in claiming all benefits you may be entitled to.
Additional information
If you have any comments about the Benefits Service or about the pages on the web site relating to Housing and Council Tax Benefit, please complete a comments form (MS Word, 117KB)
Free Computers for low income families
More than a quarter of a million families will be able to claim free computers and internet access under the new Home Access programme. This programme is designed to boost the achievements of children from lower income families.
Home Access is a government drive which will help low-income families to get access to a computer and the internet to get online at home.
The Home Access programme will allow 270,000 families with children in years 3 to 9 to apply for grants to buy computers and broadband connections from approved suppliers.
If you are a low income family receiving certain benefits you could qualify for a grant to buy a computer and/or a minimum of one years’ internet access.
Depending on what you need, the grant allows eligible families to buy one of the following packages:
- full package (a computer, one year's internet access, service and support)
- a computer with service and support only
- one year's internet access only
More information can be found about this programmed on the Home Access website.