You are reading a single comment by @MrDrem and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@MrDrem
If your pay has been cut due to reduced hours or having to isolate, or anything else, please remember that these benefits are there for you to claim. Housing Benefit will help to cover your rent, and Council Tax rebate is there to help cover your Council Tax.
You can claim them whilst you are working, and they should be responsive enough to change week by week as your pay alters (doesn't always work like that, and things will be delayed).
Places online that you can check your entitlements (I can't personally vouch for these, and thanks to all that have provided links to them)
I'm going to try and put a list of where the online claim forms are for each council in the second post on this thread. It'll take a while, but I'll try to get them all there over the weekend.
If you need help with an application or have a query, shout. If I can help I will. I've not done assessment for a number of years, but I do still work supporting the teams so I'll do my best. If there are other people here who are actively doing assessment, feel free to help out too!
Claims start from the Monday following the day on which you contact the Council, providing you complete the process within a month, otherwise it's the Monday after you get the form in. I would strongly suggest contacting by email, as this provides you with proof that you contacted them, and that it was regarding a benefit claim.
Claims can be backdated if there is a good reason for you not having claimed earlier (not being aware that you couldn't claim isn't a good enough reason usually, having got Covid19 and being too ill to put in a claim likely would be).
If you are already claiming, please remember to notify of change of circumstances as soon as possible, as that Monday following rule also applies here.
Some Councils have been switched to Universal Credit for Housing costs, but you will still need to claim with them for Council Tax Rebate. I'll try to note the situation as far as I can below.