What to do if your benefits are cut

If your Housing Benefit has been cut – perhaps because of the benefit cap or a spare bedroom – you might be worried about falling behind with your rent.

Housing benefit is one of six benefits that’s being replaced by Universal Credit.

If you’re worried about finding the money to pay your rent – talk to your landlord to see whether there are any options available to you.

Do you rent a social housing property? Then your council or housing association might talk to you about transferring to a smaller home – if any are available. And they can advise you on whether any extra financial help might be available to you.

You might be able to apply to your council to help top up your Housing Benefit in the short term with a Discretionary Housing Payment.

They’re available to people who are facing a shortfall between their benefits and housing costs.

Contact your local council to apply for a Discretionary Housing Payment.

Renting out your spare room might be a possibility.

If you do decide to go down this route, there are a few things you need to know:

• Having a lodger would mean you’re no longer considered as having a spare room when it comes to assessing your Housing Benefit or Universal Credit. 
• If you’re on Universal Credit, any money you get from sub-tenants and lodgers under the rent-a-room scheme will not be counted as income up to the tax-free allowance of £7,500. This means it is a great way to supplement your income.
• However, if you're on Housing Benefit, apart from the first £20 a week, the extra cash you get in rent is likely to be deducted – pound for pound – from your benefits.
• You’ll have to check your tenancy agreement allows you to sublet a room.
• Your contents insurance might not be valid if you take in a lodger. Make sure you check with your insurer that you’re still covered.

If you’re already behind with your rent, it’s important to speak to your landlord straight away.

You might be able to agree with them where you pay them the money you owe, bit by bit.

If you need advice on how to deal with your landlord or you’re worried about losing your home, you can call Shelter or Citizens Advice. Or Housing Advice NI in Northern Ireland.

• If you’re struggling to pay the rent, you can get free advice from Shelter. Find out more on the Shelter website
• Or you can talk to someone at Citizens Advice
• If you live in Northern Ireland, get advice on the Housing Advice NI website

Local councils have their own Council Tax Reduction Schemes.

In some areas, you won’t have to pay anything towards your Council Tax bill. While in others, you might have to pay a percentage of it.

It’s worth checking your council is charging you the correct amount of Council Tax.

Make sure your home has been put in the right band, and check whether you qualify for any exemptions or discounts.

You can choose to spread your payments over 12 months instead of 10. Contact your local council and ask them to set up monthly payments.

You might be able to apply to your council for a Discretionary Housing Payment to help with your Council Tax payments. There’s more information in the ‘Housing Benefits cuts’ section of this guide, above.

If your benefits have been sanctioned, there are things you can do. You can:

• check the sanction is correct, and challenge it if not
• apply for a hardship payment from the Jobcentre
• get help with essential costs from your local welfare scheme.

If you you’re worried about falling behind with bills, or keeping up with debt repayments, there’s lots of free, confidential help and advice available.

Work out how much money you have coming in. Then list all your outgoings.

Think about how much money you need to pay for the basics.

Remember that bills like your rent or mortgage, your Council Tax and your gas and electricity should be your top priority.

Is there any way of reducing your expenditure? Are there any bills where you think you might be able to get a better deal?

Read our Money saving tips to see if there’s any savings you can make.

For practical, everyday money-saving tips, check out our My Money guides.