Your award letter explained

We send award letters to people when they are awarded Housing Benefit or Council Tax Support. We appreciate that the letters can be complicated sometimes to understand but we are required by law to include this information.

You can see a picture of the award letter with the sections explained (PDF). 

Sections on an award letter

Housing Benefit or Council Tax Support award

We must tell you how much you have been awarded each week. We also tell you what your rent or Council Tax liability is before deducting any benefit. Council Tax support is deducted from your Council Tax liability, and will show on the bill as an annual amount, or sometimes less if you only became liable for Council Tax during the year. If we are recovering an overpayment from your Housing Benefit we will tell you here. 

Non-dependant deductions

These will be other people in your household who are aged 16 or above. They will normally be adult children, or other friends or relatives who live with you. We do not include lodgers or other people who may be renting in your home.
A non-dependant deduction will be a weekly amount deducted from your benefit award, based on the income and earnings level of the non-dependant. It is expected that the non-dependant will contribute this amount towards the rent or Council Tax.

Financial details

We list all of your income, for both you and your partner if you have one. It will include earnings, pensions, benefits, tax credits and any other income. We will also disregard some of your income depending on what type of income it is.

Applicable amount 

This is what we use to represent your basic living needs. The total figure contains premiums and allowances, which depends on if you have a partner, children or are disabled. For Housing Benefit these are set by the government, and locally for Council Tax Support although they will mirror national rates.

Checker

To view your account details you can use the Council tax and benefits checker page.