Housing and the cap
Housing Benefit: who can still claim it, and how the council works it out
Closed to most working-age tenants, Housing Benefit is still the way pensioners and people in supported or temporary housing get help with rent.
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Housing Benefit is paid by your council towards rent, and in 2026/27 it is mostly a benefit for older tenants. You can make a new claim if you have reached State Pension age, or if you live in temporary accommodation arranged by the council, a refuge, or supported or sheltered housing that provides care, support or supervision. Everyone else below State Pension age claims Universal Credit instead. There is no fixed amount: the council starts from your eligible rent, which for a private tenant is capped at the Local Housing Allowance of your area, and for a working-age social tenant is cut by 14 % or 25 % for spare bedrooms. It then takes away 65 % of any income above your allowance, £238.00 a week for a single pensioner who reached State Pension age from April 2021. Anyone on the Guarantee Credit of Pension Credit gets full eligible rent. Savings above £16,000 stop a claim unless you get Guarantee Credit, and an adult son or daughter at home can reduce it by £20.40 to £131.45 a week.
What an adult living with you takes off Housing Benefit
Deduction a week
£105.20
| Rent Housing Benefit can still meet | £34.80 a week |
| Deduction a month | £455.87 |
| Deduction a year | £5,470 |
Lowest band £20.40, highest £131.45. Your council checks whether an exemption applies to your household.
Who can make a new claim in 2026/27
Housing Benefit has been closing to new working-age claims since Universal Credit arrived, and GOV.UK now allows a new claim in two situations only. The first is age: a single person who has reached State Pension age can claim, and so can a couple if both have reached it. The second is the type of home. Temporary accommodation arranged by the council (a bed and breakfast, for instance), a refuge for survivors of domestic abuse, and sheltered or supported housing such as a hostel that provides care, support or supervision are all paid through Housing Benefit, whatever the age of the tenant. A working-age tenant in one of these homes still claims Universal Credit for living costs, and Housing Benefit for the rent alone.
If your supported housing gives you no care, support or supervision, the rent goes into Universal Credit like any other tenancy. And if you leave supported or temporary housing while below State Pension age, Housing Benefit ends and you move to the Universal Credit housing element.
When the answer is no
Even at State Pension age, some tenants cannot get Housing Benefit: people with savings over £16,000 who do not get Guarantee Credit, homeowners paying a mortgage, anyone renting from a close relative they live with, full-time students, Crown tenants (including service family accommodation) and people whose immigration leave says no public funds. A couple where one partner is under State Pension age is also refused, unless their joint claim started before 15 May 2019.
How the council arrives at your eligible rent
For a council or housing association tenancy, eligible rent is the rent plus compulsory service charges, less anything that pays for heating, hot water, lighting or cooking. Working-age social tenants then lose 14 % of it for one spare bedroom and 25 % for two or more, under regulation B13 of the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006; pension-age tenants are not affected. The spare room rules list who counts as needing a room.
For a private tenancy, the council compares your rent with the Local Housing Allowance for your area and the bedrooms your household needs, and uses the lower of the two. The allowance is frozen at its April 2024 level for 2026/27. The rates of every area are on this site in monthly form; Housing Benefit uses the same levels expressed weekly. A private tenant on Housing Benefit without a break since before 7 April 2008 keeps the older rent rules until moving or losing the claim.
A pension-age claim worked through
Take a single tenant who reached State Pension age in 2023, renting a flat for £140 a week. She gets the full new State Pension of £241.30 and a workplace pension of £40, and has £12,000 saved. The first £10,000 of savings is ignored and the rest counts as £4 a week of income, so the council counts £285.30. Her allowance, set for people who reached State Pension age from 1 April 2021, is £238.00. She is £47.30 over it, and regulation 51 takes 65 % of that from her rent: Housing Benefit is £109.26 a week, leaving her to pay £30.74.
For a single person who reached State Pension age before April 2021, the allowance is £256.00, and for a couple £383.35 or £363.25. Anyone getting the Guarantee Credit of Pension Credit skips the arithmetic: the council pays the whole eligible rent, less any non-dependant deduction. The Housing Benefit calculator runs the same steps on your figures.
Grown-up children and other adults at home
An adult who lives with you but is not your partner, such as a son, daughter or friend, is a non-dependant, and the council assumes they pay something towards the rent. It takes a fixed weekly amount off your Housing Benefit, larger the more they earn. The figures come from the DWP rates table for 2026/27.
| Non-dependant’s gross weekly income | Deduction a week |
|---|---|
| Aged 18 or over, not in paid work | £20.40 |
| In work: Less than £192 | £20.40 |
| In work: £192 to £278.99 | £46.85 |
| In work: £279 to £364.99 | £64.35 |
| In work: £365 to £484.99 | £105.20 |
| In work: £485 to £604.99 | £119.85 |
| In work: £605 or more | £131.45 |
The council asks for proof of what the non-dependant earns. A daughter earning £400 a week gross costs a pensioner £105.20 a week, over £5,470 a year, which is why it pays to tell the council when her hours fall.
Savings and income the council counts
Below State Pension age, the first £6,000 of savings is ignored; at State Pension age, the first £10,000. Above £16,000 there is no Housing Benefit unless you get Guarantee Credit. Pensions, earnings and other benefits count as income, and so does your partner’s. You will be asked for recent payslips, two months of bank statements, proof of other income and your tenancy agreement.
Extra help when Housing Benefit falls short
If the benefit does not cover your rent, ask the council for more. In England this help now comes from the council’s Crisis and Resilience Fund, running from 1 April 2026; in Scotland and Wales, apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment. Councils decide who gets these payments and how much, and you do not need to be on benefits to ask. In Northern Ireland, Housing Benefit is run by the Housing Executive, which also handles Discretionary Housing Payments.
Claiming and challenging a decision
Claim through your council, or as part of a Pension Credit claim: the Pension Service passes the details on, which saves filling in two forms. If you disagree with the decision, ask the council to look at it again, then appeal to a tribunal. The GOV.UK Housing Benefit guide has the full list of changes you must report, from a lodger moving in to a stay in hospital.