Changes in Your Circumstances

You must tell us straight away if there has been a change in your circumstances or details that may alter your existing Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit entitlement,

Telling another government department - such as the Inland Revenue, Job Centre Plus or the Department for Works and Pensions - does not mean that we will be notified about the changes.
If you receive pension credit you must tell the pension service about any changes. If you don't tell us about a change you could lose benefit or be overpaid Housing/Council Tax Benefit.

Changes you must tell us about

Tell us straight away if: -

• any of your children leave school, leave home or stop getting Child Benefit
• anyone moves into or out of your home (including lodgers and subtenants)
• your income or the income of anyone living with you (including other benefits), changes
• your savings or investments change by more than £250
• you, or anyone living with you, become a student, go on a youth training scheme, go into hospital or a nursing home, go into prison, or get, change or leave a job
• your rent changes
• you move home
• you or your partner are going to be away from home for more than a month
• you receive any decision from the Home Office
• anything else you have told us about changes.

You must tell us about these changes in writing - a phone call is not enough. You need to let us know what has changed and the date the change took place, giving as many details as possible. We usually need some proof of any changes and we require original documents.

You have one month from the date of the change to tell us. If you delay in telling us about any of these changes, you may lose money that you are entitled to or you may get too much benefit which you will have to repay.

You must make sure that you tell us about these changes. Don't rely on someone else to pass the message on, unless you cannot contact us because you are ill. In this case you must ask someone else to contact us. If your rent increases, don't rely on your landlord to tell us. You need to tell us soon as you are told about the increase.

It is an offence not to tell us about any change of circumstances that affects your benefit. We may take court action against you and if we pay you too much benefit, you may have to pay it back.

To tell us about a change in your circumstances, please use the |on line change of circumstances form or print a copy of the change of circumstances form. If your change in circumstances is a change of address, |please print a copy of the change of address form.

If you are a landlord, please complete the on line |landlord change of circumstances notification or use our |printable form for Landlords.

Alternatively contact: -

|Customer Services: 01372 474060

Address: -

Elmbridge Borough Council
Civic Centre
High Street
Esher
Surrey KT10 9SD

For further Information please |email the Housing Benefits Team