Yes you can, by registering for Self Service.  You can also register if you are a landlord, and will be able to see benefit awards and payments for tenants that we are sending you payments for (but you will not be able to see any of your tenant's personal information).  If you are liable to pay Council Tax you can also register to see details of your account including payments, discounts and exemptions.

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In order to claim Housing and/or Council Tax Benefit, you will need to fill in a claim form and submit it to the Benefits Section at the Council.  You will also need to provide original documents to confirm your income, capital (savings), rent and details of other people who live with you.  Details of the evidence and information you need to supply is explained throughout the Council's claim form, but if some of it's missing we will write to you confirming what else we need to assess your claim.

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Worthing residents should claim Housing and/or Council Tax Benefit from the Benefits Section within the Customer Services & Waste Management Service at the Town Hall.  Other benefits are administered by the Department for Work & Pensions, The Pension Service or HM Revenue & Customs.  Please follow this link for further details.

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Housing Benefit helps to meet some or all of your rental payments, and applies to tenants of both Housing Associations and private landlords.  It cannot help towards mortgage costs.

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Housing and Council Tax Benefit are "means tested", which means that (for you and your partner, if you have one) we must look at

• The money that's coming in.  This includes earnings, some benefits, Tax Credits and private pensions, but we may be able to reduce the amount of income that we take into account if you pay for child care
• Your capital (bank & building society accounts, bonds, stocks & shares and second properties)
• Your circumstances.  This includes your age, whether you have any disabilities and other people that live with you

Specifically for Housing Benefit, we must also look at the amount of rent that you pay and the size of your property (taking into account any other people who live with you).  For an estimate of the amount of Housing and/or Council Tax Benefit that you may be entitled to, please use the Benefits Calculator.

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If you're a private tenant, we will usually pay by BACS transfer straight into your bank account, whereas if you're a housing association tenant you have the choice of whether we send payments to you or your landlord.  In some circumstances we may pay your landlord even if you want us to pay you (e.g. if you have rent arrears of eight weeks or more).

Council Tax Benefit is "paid" by crediting your Council Tax account (which will reduce your on-going monthly instalments).  Please follow this link for further information.

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If your tenant's Housing Benefit claim is assessed under the rules for Local Housing Allowance, payments will usually be sent to your tenant but there are some circumstances when we can send payments to you.  Please see the Landlord frequently asked questions page for further details.

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Yes.  Subject to assessing your income, capital (savings), other people who live in your household and rent (for Housing Benefit), you can be working full time and still claim benefit.  You could be working as an employee or on a self-employed basis.

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Yes.  Although you cannot receive Housing Benefit, you may still be able to claim Council Tax Benefit or Second Adult Rebate provided you are liable to pay Council Tax.  We may also be able to award Housing Benefit if you partly own your home and also pay rent on a shared equity basis.

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This depends on your circumstances.  Most students are not eligible for Housing Benefit because the Government expects that they will use their loan or grant to meet their housing costs.  However, if you are a lone parent, disabled, aged at least 60 or receive Income Support or income-based Job Seeker's Allowance, you may be entitled so please contact us for further details.  If you are a full time student, you may be exempt from paying Council Tax.

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This depends on your immigration status and whether you are "habitually resident" in the UK.  If you have been allowed into the UK but have "no recourse to public funds" then you will not be eligible for Housing or Council Tax Benefit, but you may be entitled to benefit if you

• Have been granted asylum or refugee status; or
• Have been given indefinite or exceptional leave to remain in the UK; or
• Are a worker from a country within the European Economic Area

You will normally need to have been living in the UK for at least two years before you can claim benefit.  Please contact us for further advice if you're not sure whether you might qualify for help.

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When too much benefit is paid it's known as an "overpayment" for Housing Benefit and "excess benefit" for Council Tax Benefit.  Any overpayment can be recovered unless it was caused by our mistake and you couldn't reasonably be expected to have known about it.

Excess benefit is recovered by adding the money back to your Council Tax account (and then your monthly instalments will increase - please see the "How to Pay Council Tax" page).  Overpaid Housing Benefit is usually recovered by reducing the amount of future payments or by sending you or your landlord an invoice.

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Unless the law requires us to disclose information to someone else, we will not do so without your permission.  This means that if someone else contacts us on your behalf (e.g. a relative or a support worker) we will not be able to speak to them unless you have given us your written authority to do so.  Please download a form from the Information leaflets and forms page of our website if you want to give your permission.

Further information about data matching can be found on the National Fraud Initiative page of our website.

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You can either ask for a written explanation about the decision, ask for the decision to be looked at again, or appeal against the decision.

If you want to ask for a decision to be looked at again or want to appeal against a decision, you must do this in writing (usually within one month of the decision).  Please see the appeals section of the website for further details.

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Most people who are liable to pay rent and/or Council Tax can claim Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Benefit.  The main restrictions apply to people who are students or who have recently arrived in the UK.  In addition, people who have capital (savings in bank or building society accounts, stocks & shares or a second property) will not be able to get any help.

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Generally, benefit starts from the Monday following the date that we receive your claim form.  However, if we receive your claim form in the same week (Monday to Sunday) that your tenancy started and you have moved in, then your benefit will start from the beginning or your tenancy or the date you moved in (whichever is the later).

If you are awarded Income Support, income-based Job Seeker's Allowance or income-related Employment & Support Allowance by the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) and we receive your claim form within one month of your date of claim with the DWP, then your Housing or Council Tax Benefit will start from the Monday after the start of your DWP benefit.

If you are aged 60 or over and we have details of your circumstances for three months before we receive your claim, your entitlement will automatically be backdated three months.  Otherwise, if you are aged under 60, you can claim backdating for up to six months but will have to show "good cause" (i.e. a good reason) for submitting a late claim due to factors such as ill-health or a disability.  Ignorance of the right to claim benefit will not, in itself, be sufficient.

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This depends on your circumstances.  In most cases, if you rent from a private landlord and not a housing association, your Housing Benefit entitlement will be worked out using rules called Local Housing Allowance.  Please follow this link for further details.

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Savings (known as capital) includes bank & building society accounts, stocks, shares, bonds and the value of second properties.  If you have savings of more than £16,000 you will not be entitled to Housing or Council Tax Benefit unless you receive Guaranteed Pension Credit.

For customers aged under 60 the first £6,000 is ignored and then £1.00 per week "tariff income" is assumed in the benefit calculation for every whole or part £250 above this figure (up to the maximum of £16,000).  For customers aged 60 and over, the first £10,000 of capital is ignored and then £1.00 per week "tariff income" is assumed in the benefit calculation for every whole or part £500 above this figure (up to the maximum of £16,000).

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Other adults (apart from your partner, if you have one) living with you will probably affect the amount of benefit that you get.  For further information, please see our website page about non-dependants.

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If you are a private tenant, it's likely that your benefit claim will be worked out using rules called Local Housing Allowance (LHA).  Our LHA webpage provides further information including the current rents that will be used in the benefit calculation.  You can then use the Benefit Calculator to provide an estimate of how much benefit you may be awarded.

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In most circumstances we can continue to pay benefit for up to 13 weeks whilst you are away from home provided you intend to return there.  Even if you are going to be away for less than 13 weeks you should still tell us about it, if possible before you go.  Some people can continue to receive benefit for up to 52 weeks (e.g. hospital patients and remand prisoners).

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If you pay childcare costs to a nursery, a school or a registered child minder some of all of these costs may be deducted when we work out how much income you have.  We may also be able take childcare costs into account if you are paying someone to look after your child in your home, provided the carer isn't a relative.  The maximum weekly amount that can be deducted is £175 for one child or £300 for two or more children.

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The law says that you must tell the Benefits Section at the Council straight away if there are any changes in the information that's been used to work out your benefit entitlement.  You should tell us immediately in writing and, where possible, provide original documentary evidence of your new details (e.g. if your wages have changed, you should provide new wage slips).  If the change means that you are entitled to more benefit and you don't tell us about it within one month, we may not be able to award you extra benefit from an earlier date.

Please also see the question & answer below about the kind of changes you must tell us about - if you're still not sure whether or not you need to tell us about a change, please contact us for further advice.

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You need to tell us about any change that affects your benefit.  Please see our Changes in Circumstances webpage for further details.

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If you don't tell us about a change straight away, we are likely to carry on paying you benefit at the same rate and this may be wrong.  We will then change the amount of your benefit (or stop it completely) and you will be asked to repay any money that you weren't entitled to.

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We take fraudulent claims very seriously.  Please see our webpage about Benefit Fraud for further details.

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If you need help or advice, please contact us.  Alternatively, Adur & Worthing Citizens Advice may also be able to help.

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