Our Benefits Team provide help to people who cannot afford to pay their rent or Council Tax.

Housing Benefit can be paid to people who rent from the Council, a Housing Association or a private landlord. Council Tax Benefit can be paid to those who are liable for Council Tax. One application form covers both benefits as well as Second Adult Rebate (see below).

From 7th April 2008, any new claims from Private Tenants (excluding Housing Association, mobile home, houseboat, those whose tenancy started before 15th January 1989 or those where a large part of the rent is for board and attendance) will be assessed under the Local Housing Allowance scheme. For further details about Local Housing Allowances, please click on the link to the left of this page.

You may claim Housing Benefit and/or Council Tax Benefit even if you are not receiving any other type of benefit.

You may instead be eligible for Second Adult Rebate. This is another form of Council Tax Benefit, payable to single liable people who have a Second Adult living in their property who is not their partner. Second Adult Rebate is calculated on the income of the Second Adult, who must be aged at least 18 and not be paying rent to the person liable for Council Tax on the property.

You may claim as long as your capital is under £16000 (If you receive Pension Credit Guarantee your capital can be more than £16,000)

You can ask for your claim to be backdated if there is a valid reason why you were unable to apply for Housing Benefit/Council Tax Benefit earlier.

The amount of benefit you receive will be based on:-

• The amount of money you have coming in
• The amount of savings you have, including shares and bonds
• The make up of your household and your personal circumstances
• The amount of eligible rent and Council Tax you pay (certain items that may be included in your rent are excluded when calculating benefit entitlement)

If you are unsure whether you would qualify for Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit or Second Adult Rebate, please call in to Marmion House, ring the Benefits Section on (01827) 709540 or e-mail benefits@tamworth.gov.uk. Alternatively, a downloadable form is available to the right of this page.

Office Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 8.45 am to 5.10 pm

                    Please note - last appointment time is 4.50 pm

                    Friday 8.45 am to 5.05 pm

                    Please note - last appointment time is 4.45 pm

Our quality promises are;

We promise to deal with new benefit claims within 14 days of receiving all the necessary information

We promise to pay customers the correct amount of benefit first time, every time

If you have any complaints, compliments or comments to make about the Benefits Service, please use our Tell Us Scheme to give us your feedback which is very important to us. You can also contact Karen Taylor, Head of Benefits on (01827) 709529 or e mail karen-taylor@tamworth.gov.uk

Tamworth Borough Council has a duty to protect public funds and we may need to check the information for your Benefit claim with other information we hold. We may pass the information to other agencies such as The Department for Work and Pensions and Her Majestys Revenue and Customs, as allowed by law.

We may check information you have provided, including self-employed details or information about you that somebody else has provided, with other information held by us. We may also get information about you from third parties, or give them information to;

• make sure the information is accurate
• prevent or detect crime or
• protect public funds

If you want to know more about the information held about you or about the way we use it, please contact Tamworth Borough Council's Information Officer, Derek Bolton, on (01827) 709587 or e mail foimailbox@tamworth.gov.uk