When you complete a New Claim form for Housing Benefit you will be asked whether you wish for your claim to be backdated. If you do you need to explain why or what prevented you from making the claim from the date you wish the claim to be backdated to.

You can also put the request in writing detailing why you failed to claim earlier than you originally did if the request was not made when the initial claim was completed.

As of April 2016, a working age customer cannot have their Housing Benefit backdated more than four weeks before the request is made. For claims made for Council Tax Reduction from the 1st April 2018, the maximum backdate for working age customers is one month which falls into line with the HB regulations.

A customer or partner who has reached Pension age will automatically have their claim considered for the 3 months before the date of claim.

Your backdate request will be considered by the benefit department and you will be notified by post of the department’s decision and also your right of appeal if you disagree with the decision.