Change in circumstances - Housing and Council Tax Benefit

This page tells you what to do if your circumstances have changed since completing your claim form.

You must tell us about any changes in your circumstances. This could be things like:

  • You change your address
  • Your income, or the income of anyone who lives with you, goes up or down, or you move from one type of benefit to another (for example, incapacity benefit to a pension)
  • Your savings or capital, or the savings or capital of anyone you live with, goes up or down
  • You, or anyone you live with, stop getting Income Support or income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (including if you become sick and start submitting medical evidence)
  • You, or anyone you live with, starts getting Income Support or income-based Jobseeker's Allowance
  • You, or anyone you live with, starts getting income-related Employment and Support Allowance, or Employment and Support Allowance Contributory
  • You, or anyone you live with, starts work or changes jobs
  • You, or anyone you live with, goes into hospital
  • Anyone joins or leaves your household (for example, the birth of a baby)
  • You, or anyone you live with, starts or leaves full-time education
  • The terms of your tenancy or the rent you pay to a private landlord changes
  • You, or anyone you live with, starts getting a private pension (including from Wirral Council)

You do not need to tell us about:

  • Changes in the amount of Income Support or income-based Job Seeker’s Allowance
  • Your April increase in state benefits
  • Your rent increase, if you rent your home from a housing association.

If you do not tell us about changes immediately, we will not be able to backdate the change if it leads to an increase in your Housing Benefit. This means that you will lose out on benefit to which you would otherwise be entitled.

We must recalculate your Benefit from the date the change occurred if the change leads to a reduction in your entitlement. This means we will ask you to pay back any benefit which you were not entitled to.

Wirral Council may take action against you if you give us information that is incorrect or incomplete.

Complete, sign and return your form(s) in person at any One Stop Shop, or send it by post to:

Housing Benefit Section
Wirral Council
PO Box 2
Birkenhead
Wirral
CH41 6BU

You will need to provide documentary evidence of the change (for example, wage slips if you have started work or a new tenancy agreement or letter from your landlord if your rent has increased). We must see original documents, not copies.

If you are not sure what evidence you should provide or need a new claim form, please telephone (0151) 606 2002 or call at one of our One Stop Shops for help.

We promise to prioritise your claim and aim to process it by the end of the next working day if you give us all of the relevant evidence and information we need at the time you make your claim.

Online Calculators

To help make sure you receive the benefits you are entitled to, you can use the following online tools: