Does pension credit get taken into a count with houseing benefit

maidment

I am recieving housing benefit and my daughter said she'd heard that pension credit is considered with housing benefits. Can you enlighten me please as I'm really worried now as I havent declared it.

poppy123456

Any changes in your circumstances need to be reported imediately. You'll need to ring your local council and tell them you're now recieving pension credit. I don't know if this affects your housing benefit claim, sorry.

BenefitsTrainingCo

Hello maidment - without knowing more about the detail of your situation it's difficult to advise you properly, so please repost if you would like more detailed advice. Pension credit is basically divided into two parts: guarantee credit and savings credit. If you are getting guarantee credit, even if it's only a small amount, then you would usually automatically be entitled to the maximum available help with your rent. The only factors which would affect you getting full help with your rent would be if you have other people living with you, if you are affected by the bedroom tax, or you are in private rented accommodation which is considered too expensive. If you are only getting the savings credit part of pension credit, and you haven't declared it to the Council, then it's possible that you may have been overpaid housing benefit.  You can check what you should be getting by using Scope's benefit calculator: www.scope.org.uk/support/disabled-people/benefits/check
If you think you have been overpaid, then it may be a good idea to get some advice from your local Citizens Advice or other advice agency, who may be able to help you deal with the council and negotiate the terms of any overpayment agreement. Always try and work out first whether or not you really have been overpaid before you contact the council, and try not to worry. Just get your facts straight before you do anything.
Hope this helps!

Jayne